The Power of a Single Word

The Impact of “Just” in your two-strike approach to hitting

Hitting with two strikes is different than other counts that is a fact. If we swing and miss in other counts were still have a chance. But whiff with two strikes and you are heading for the bench. Hitters become defensive, tentative, timid, and start to guess typically.

When working with hitters before determining what physical adjustments they should consider with two strikes I ask them what is their approach? In other words, what are they trying to accomplish when they have two strikes. The number one response I hear is “I’m JUST trying to make contact with the ball.” Another answer is “I’m JUST trying to put the ball in play.”

I can’t begin to tell you how much I despise the word “JUST”. By adding that one small word to our thought process we are limiting the things we can accomplish. We are reducing our chances to succeed. The word JUST means that is the ONLY thing we are trying to do. This game is hard enough, why would we want to limit what we can do and reduce our chances of success.

Would it be nice to hit the ball hard? I mean regardless of the situation, the count, the score I think we all agree hitting the ball hard is a positive thing. If hitting the ball hard is a good thing, then with two strikes wouldn’t we want to put the ball in play and hit it hard?

Scenario, slow runner on first with one out, slow runner at the plate with two-strikes. Batter rolls a weak grounder to shortstop. Short fields it, tosses to second for the first out, over to first to complete the double play. That’s 6+4+3 = 2.

Congratulations batter, who accomplished exactly what you set out to do. You put the ball in play. We should probably put that in the good job column, right? Of course not. No one would say that outcome was beneficial to the hitting team.

That means we don’t want to JUST put it in play. The word JUST should not be a part of our two-strike approach because we want to have a lot of options and really want to create situations that give us the optimal outcome. (*Foot note: I can not personally speak about the above scenario, because there is no outcome in baseball in which I am doubled up. I got wheels baby. My motto on the ballfield is “Single for you, Double for Me”. But for the normal ballplayer the scenario laid out is plausible)

Some people may believe that the word JUST has no direct impact on our performance with two strikes. In fact, I may be accused of being semantical in my argument. So, lets examine the physical changes that occur when we modify our approach in an effort to just put the ball in play.

Since days of Little League we have all heard and done many of these with two-strikes on us….Choke Up on the Bat, Widen Your Stance, Shorten Your Swing, Plant Your Feet, Lower Your Hands, Punch At It, Defend the Plate, Move Up In The Box, Move Closer To the Plate, and so many more.

Each of these modifications are in an effort to quicken our swing. A quicker swing gives us more opportunity to adjust mid-swing and more decision-making time before we swing. While those are two statements it also creates the following: turns the swing from fluid to mechanical or robotic, changes our bat path, changes the vision angle, and reduces the amount of rotational force generated. In other words, it creates mechanics that reduce the chances of us having a positive offensive outcome to the at-bat.

We ask a ball player to modify his swing mid at-bat, we rarely practice the mechanical changes we want to incorporate into our two-strike approach swing, we minimize our power generation by disassociating the kinetic chain sequencing events and then expect them to have positive results. Even Einstein might think that is the definition of insanity.

What if we JUST got rid of the word JUST in our approach both mentally and physically? Let’s lower our hands a tad so we can get to the ball a bit quicker, let’s focus on staying more connected through the swing, let’s reduce our leg lift but still create back leg load, and most importantly let’s swing with aggression looking to do damage.

This link shows Bryce Harper hitting bombs. On the left is his more traditional stance and swing and on the right is his two-strike approach. Both show home runs. What changes do you see in his swing? What consistencies do you see between the two swings.

Harper Bombs two strike swing vs normal swing

(Video plays better if you download it from the cloud instead of using a cloud-based player)

If you JUST want to be a good player keep doing what you are doing. But if you JUST want to be a better player let’s apply the following:

• ·Just make mechanical adjustments based on how the pitcher is attacking with two strikes.

• Just practice often your two-strike swing and feel the differences, how the work or don’t work for you and adjust as needed.

• Just have a mental attitude of hitting the ball HARD and swinging with aggression.

• Just understand the situation and focus on positive swing outcomes based on that unique at-bat

• Just get rid of the word JUST in your two-strike swing approach