Pitch Recognition: Drills to Help Your Hitters Recognize Pitches Better
"See the ball, hit the ball," - Pete Rose (All-Time Hit King)
Many hitting coaches and players get so caught up into the mechanics and process of hitting. These two aspects of hitting are very important don't get me wrong, but there is one critical aspect of hitting that I find is neglected. That aspect of hitting is pitch recognition. Pitch recognition is critical for a hitter to have success. If the hitter cannot recognize what pitch is coming, then he or she is going to struggle come game time. I am going to discuss about what pitch recognition is, what pitch combos work together, and drills that help teach the hitter about the different zones of pitch recognition.
Pitch recognition is the skill of picking up a signal of a specific kind of a pitch while you are hitting. Before we go into understanding how hitters recognize pitches, it is important to understand the pitch combos a hitter will often see paired together. Below I will put up two charts on how hitters are pitched. The first chart is for a right-handed hitter, and the chart below it is for a left-handed hitter. Another aspect of these charts is to understand the colors. Green means that these combo of pitches are intended to make the batter swing and miss. The Red is intended to make the batter take the pitch for a called strike. Blue means that this combo of pitches is to induce poor contact. The S means a pitch in the strike zone, and a B means a pitch outside the strike zone.
There are three kinds of zones that a hitter can pick up to understand what kind of pitch that the pitcher has thrown. Zone 1 is called the Moment of Release zone. This simply means that the hitter picks up the kind of pitch that has been thrown by the time the pitcher has released the pitch. The hitter picks up the kind of pitch by first looking at the pitcher in a relaxed soft focus. The hitter can look at the head of the pitcher or the cap insignia of the pitcher's hat when in this soft focus. Once the pitcher's hands break and the pitcher's throwing arm goes up, the hitter then goes into hard focus, where he narrows down his vision to the release point of the pitcher. This kind of hitter benefits from looking at the hand or wrist of the pitcher. For example, if a pitcher is throwing a curveball, then he will see the pitcher have thin wrist or a skinny wrist, whereas with a fastball he would see a full wrist.
Zone 2 is when the hitter picks up the spin of the pitches that the pitcher has thrown. This kind of hitter benefits from recognizing and practicing recognizing the spin of pitches. This hitter will recognize that a fastball spins backwards and a slider has dot in the middle of the ball. Zone 3 hitters recognize ball flight, and make decisions based on this ball flight. In other words, the hitter is making up his mind whether to swing at this pitch or to take the pitch.
Now that we know all of this, can all hitters hit in all three zones? Simply put the answer is no. As Dr. Peter Fadde wrote in The Sixth Tool: Training Baseball Pitch Recognition, "Dorfman theorizes that hitters are not generally good in all three zones of pitch recognition, which explains why hitters have different emphases in what they look for. Henry Aaron could be typed as a Zone One hitter for this statement that he got all the information he needed by "zooming in" on the pitcher's hand position. Other hitters use spin cues in Zone Two, such as the dot in the slider, to recognize pitches." Zone Three hitters, are like Pete Rose, they simply pick up the baseball and try to hit the inside seam of the baseball.
Not all hitters are built the same, and neither is how they recognize pitches Although each hitter recognizes pitches differently, it doesn't mean that these hitters shouldn't train their non-dominant zones. So below I am going to put in links of videos of drills that are helpful with training each zone of hitting.
A Zone One hitting drill is called the Tee Net Drill. Here is a video of this drill: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZaXYlcw1uM0. For pitches that the hitter is intending to hit he should say, "yes." On the other hand, for pitches that the hitter doesn't want to hit he should say, "no." A Zone Two hitting drill is to show your hitters a pitcher and hide the full release of the pitch After this the hitter should call out what pitch the pitcher threw. This can help a Zone One hitter, along with the Zone Two hitter by picking up spin. The second part of each pitch, will show spin so the hitter can recognize each pitch. Here is a video of this drill: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8ZYPZIwj2u0. A Zone Three hitting drill is a drill where the hitter visualizes the specific pitch he wants to hit, and then visualizes taking a pitch that he doesn't want to hit. Here is a video of this drill: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=d3xq1wmXRpg.
In summation there are plenty of drills that can teach pitch recognition, but the key is for the coach help the hitter find out what works best for him. In addition to that, you can use different zone drills to help the hitter become better at some of his weaker pitch recognition skills. One final thought, before I finish. In these videos you hear the hitter either say, "yes, yes, YES," or "yes, yes, NO." This is teaching the hitter that he should be prepared to swing the bat at any time, but to recognize what pitches he wants to hit, and lay off the pitches that he does not want to hit.
Blog Notes
Pitch Recognition Drills: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCdqa5LZk15I5Zhz0AXO1Uxw
Pitcher Pitch Recognition Videos: https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLqfRbpXMPJB4U6LvJaBAM4I3Bp1ofZ0G3
Dr. Peter Fadde's The Sixth Tool: Training Baseball Pitch Recognition: https://www.amazon.com/Sixth-Tool-Training-Baseball-Recognition-ebook/dp/B00PL2UOYE
There are three kinds of zones that a hitter can pick up to understand what kind of pitch that the pitcher has thrown. Zone 1 is called the Moment of Release zone. This simply means that the hitter picks up the kind of pitch that has been thrown by the time the pitcher has released the pitch. The hitter picks up the kind of pitch by first looking at the pitcher in a relaxed soft focus. The hitter can look at the head of the pitcher or the cap insignia of the pitcher's hat when in this soft focus. Once the pitcher's hands break and the pitcher's throwing arm goes up, the hitter then goes into hard focus, where he narrows down his vision to the release point of the pitcher. This kind of hitter benefits from looking at the hand or wrist of the pitcher. For example, if a pitcher is throwing a curveball, then he will see the pitcher have thin wrist or a skinny wrist, whereas with a fastball he would see a full wrist.
Zone 2 is when the hitter picks up the spin of the pitches that the pitcher has thrown. This kind of hitter benefits from recognizing and practicing recognizing the spin of pitches. This hitter will recognize that a fastball spins backwards and a slider has dot in the middle of the ball. Zone 3 hitters recognize ball flight, and make decisions based on this ball flight. In other words, the hitter is making up his mind whether to swing at this pitch or to take the pitch.
Now that we know all of this, can all hitters hit in all three zones? Simply put the answer is no. As Dr. Peter Fadde wrote in The Sixth Tool: Training Baseball Pitch Recognition, "Dorfman theorizes that hitters are not generally good in all three zones of pitch recognition, which explains why hitters have different emphases in what they look for. Henry Aaron could be typed as a Zone One hitter for this statement that he got all the information he needed by "zooming in" on the pitcher's hand position. Other hitters use spin cues in Zone Two, such as the dot in the slider, to recognize pitches." Zone Three hitters, are like Pete Rose, they simply pick up the baseball and try to hit the inside seam of the baseball.
Not all hitters are built the same, and neither is how they recognize pitches Although each hitter recognizes pitches differently, it doesn't mean that these hitters shouldn't train their non-dominant zones. So below I am going to put in links of videos of drills that are helpful with training each zone of hitting.
A Zone One hitting drill is called the Tee Net Drill. Here is a video of this drill: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZaXYlcw1uM0. For pitches that the hitter is intending to hit he should say, "yes." On the other hand, for pitches that the hitter doesn't want to hit he should say, "no." A Zone Two hitting drill is to show your hitters a pitcher and hide the full release of the pitch After this the hitter should call out what pitch the pitcher threw. This can help a Zone One hitter, along with the Zone Two hitter by picking up spin. The second part of each pitch, will show spin so the hitter can recognize each pitch. Here is a video of this drill: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8ZYPZIwj2u0. A Zone Three hitting drill is a drill where the hitter visualizes the specific pitch he wants to hit, and then visualizes taking a pitch that he doesn't want to hit. Here is a video of this drill: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=d3xq1wmXRpg.
In summation there are plenty of drills that can teach pitch recognition, but the key is for the coach help the hitter find out what works best for him. In addition to that, you can use different zone drills to help the hitter become better at some of his weaker pitch recognition skills. One final thought, before I finish. In these videos you hear the hitter either say, "yes, yes, YES," or "yes, yes, NO." This is teaching the hitter that he should be prepared to swing the bat at any time, but to recognize what pitches he wants to hit, and lay off the pitches that he does not want to hit.
Blog Notes
Pitch Recognition Drills: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCdqa5LZk15I5Zhz0AXO1Uxw
Pitcher Pitch Recognition Videos: https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLqfRbpXMPJB4U6LvJaBAM4I3Bp1ofZ0G3
Dr. Peter Fadde's The Sixth Tool: Training Baseball Pitch Recognition: https://www.amazon.com/Sixth-Tool-Training-Baseball-Recognition-ebook/dp/B00PL2UOYE
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