When I work with hitters, I want them to be process-oriented over result-oriented. One of those is scalable over the season; the other leads to sleepless nights.
What is your definition of success in hitting?
The easy answer might be to get a hit?
However, there's nuance to that. If you think getting hits is the only way to evaluate yourself, it will be hard for you to reach your potential.
Let me tell you a story that will explain what I mean.
A few years ago, Joey Votto was not happy with his performance from the previous day.
He told the hitting coach, "my performance yesterday is not sustainable over a season" Don Long was the hitting coach, and he asked Joey, "why aren't you happy? You went 3-4 yesterday?"
Joey responded, "I didn't swing at strikes and wasn't on time.”
Later that day, Joey goes 0-4 at the plate. Four barrels just right at defenders.
The following day he seeks out Don Long (hitting coach) before batting practice and says, "Now yesterday was a success. That performance is sustainable over the season. I was on time and swung at my pitch every AB.”
Votto didn't believe a 3-4 night was successful because he knew the way he got those three hits wouldn't be sustainable over a season.
The point I want to leave you all with is that there are some things you can't control in this game.
So emphasizing those things to hitters (Hits, AVG) isn't going to help them get more...hits.
Process > Results
This summer, I will be running high school baseball and softball hitting groups during the week.
Please respond to this email with your name and contact information if you are interested in attending.