How to Hit Fast Pitching

by

Hitting a baseball is commonly referred to as one of the hardest things to do in sports.  Trying to hit a small ball that is being thrown by a pitcher from a relatively short distance at a high velocity is very difficult. Yet some Major League hitters turn around on 100 mph fastballs easily. How? We take a look and give tips on how to hit fast pitching. Let’s take a look at the top ways to hit fast pitching consistently and ways to help you improve your timing of high velocity pitchers. 

Ways How to Hit Fast Pitching

Here are some tips for how to prepare for fast pitching:

1. Practice against fast pitching

If you want to hit fast pitching, one of the main things you need to do is get used to seeing high-velocity pitching in batting practice. 

You will likely struggle if you are only seeing slow batting practice fastballs or only facing low-velocity pictures when you play in a game with a picture that throws fast.

I can remember being a little league player and facing this one picture from an opposing team that every hitter feared.  At the time, we all thought this player was unhittable because he threw so much harder than everyone else in the league. Looking back now, we were so in awe of him because we didn’t consistently see high-velocity pitching in practice. Most little league coaches didn’t play baseball at a high level, so they likely aren’t knowledgeable on what it takes to hit fast pitching.

Barry Bonds was one of the best at hitting high velocity pitching and here is a great clip: 

If you aren’t getting batting practice against fast pitching, I recommend finding an indoor hitting facility or batting cage where you can face fast pitching regularly. By getting reps against high velocities, your hand’s eyes, and body will be ready when you face a picture that throws fast.  It’s all about creating muscle memory and timing with hitters.  so make sure you put in the work and practice.

2. Stand back in the box

Another way to adjust to fast pitching is to stand back in the box to give yourself extra time to adjust to the pitch. While this may not work for everyone, it’s a good idea to try it out if you’re having difficulty catching up to fast pitching. 

3. Choke Up

Choking up is another popular way hitters can speed up their swings and get their Barrel quicker to the baseball.  One of the keys with hitting High-Velocity pitching is getting your bat into position as quickly as possible. Choking up on the bat helps some hitters get the bat head to the ball quicker than they would with their regular bat grip. 

Barry Bonds was one of the greatest hitters of all time and choked up on the bat throughout his career.

Here is an epic video of him breaking down why he choked up:

4. Load Early

Hitting fast pitching requires hitters to get into position earlier than they usually would with slower pitchers.  Some of the best hitters I knew didn’t excellent job of getting into Attack Mode prior to the pitcher releasing the ball, it was as if they were going into each pitch as they were ready to unload. But if they saw something out of the pitcher’s hand, they didn’t like they had the discipline to not proceed with their swing. 

On the other hand, if they went into the pitch with the mindset that they would crush the ball and they saw a pitch they liked, they were more likely than not to be in position against High Velocity pitching to get the barrel on the ball consistently. This approach takes a lot of practice and self-discipline, so make sure you spend a lot of time in the cage and get reps in.

5. Seek out live BP

It can be hard for coaches to manage all of the hitters on a baseball team and ensure each person gets enough reps. This is why it’s critical for hitters to find time outside of practice to face live pitching as much as possible. Try and network with pitchers that are looking to get bullpen work in. See if you can take live cuts off of them from time to time. As a former pitcher, I loved getting bullpen work against hitters in a batting cage or on the field because it presented a more realistic situation than throwing to a catcher by myself.

6. Work on vision training

Training your eyes to be able to pick up on high-velocity pitching is one of the most important things you can do as a hitter.  

I used to see hitters try and call out numbers written on baseballs or swing against smaller baseballs than normal to try and get an edge and train their eyes to pick up the ball better out of a pitcher’s hand.

I like this video below as it gives some practical ways to improve your ability to pick up on the baseball. 

For instance, the first tip is to make sure your head is fully turned toward the pitcher so you can get both eyes on the baseball out of the pitcher’s hand. Too often, young hitters just slightly turn their head toward the pitcher and thus make it more difficult to pick up the baseball right out of the gate.

Final Word

Getting used to fast pitching can be an adjustment at first, but it can become second nature with practice. remember, it’s critical to own your own self-development journey as a hitter. 

Coaches are busy trying to manage an entire team, so the little things you do on your own consistently will add up over time 

I hope these tips above gave you some good ideas so the next time you faced a picture throwing gas, you will be ready to take him yard!