A Dozen Things That I Feel Every Youth Baseball and Youth Softball Batter Should Remember

By Nick Dixon

1. "Think YES, YES, YES, On Every Pitch" Be ready and prepared to hit every pitch. Convert to NO or "hold off" only when you see that the pitch is a ball.

2. Track the baseball from the time it comes out of the hand of the pitcher until it reaches the catching mitt.

3. Expect the fastball and adjust to off speed pitches. Expect the ball away and adjust to the ball on the inner half.

4. When the coach gives the runner or runners a steal sign get deeper in the batter box. This extends distance for the pitch coming in and the throw by the catcher. This slight movement may give the runner a little more time.

5. Move up in front of the batter box when the bunt might be on. Moving up in the batter box gives you more fair territory to work in when bunting the ball.

6. Never look back at the umpire after a "called" strike. Trying to show-up the umpire, or the show of any displeasure at a call, may only hurt you when you come to bat again.

7. Never speak or exchange words with the catcher. You should be concentrating on hitting the baseball when you step into the batter box. Anything else that draws your attention away from that task may cause you to get out quicker.

8. Know if the pitcher has above, average or below average velocity on his fastball. The slower the velocity, the farther you should move toward the front of the batter box.

9. Get ready to hit, now. Look for a first-pitch fastball and rip it. Be ready to attack a first pitch fastball because often times it may be the best pitch that you get.

10. Know the performance history of the pitcher facing the last several batters. If he is having trouble throwing strikes, be prepared to take some pitches. If he is struggling to throw strikes, the last thing you want to do is to go to the plate swinging at the first pitch.

11. Coaches may sometimes call a color to represent the approach they want their batters to have at the plate. Green means swing away, Red means swing only after a strike has been called. If the color is "green" attack the first pitch that you like. If the color is "red", do not swing until the pitcher throws a strike. "Red" is called when base runners are needed badly or when the pitcher has walked two of the last three batters. Green means the coach is giving you permission to swing at will. If you like it, hit it. Red means the coach wants you to take some pitches.

12. Know how tight the umpire is on the strike zone. If he is calling everything strikes, you better expand your swing zone to adapt. If he is calling the zone extremely tight, you may want to look to hit only the perfect pitch down the middle. Teams and hitters should always know how an umpire is calling and adjust.

I hope these 12 points are useful to you.

Good Luck till next time, Nick Dixon

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Nick Dixon is the President and founder of Nedco Sports, the "Hit2win Company". Dixon is also an active and full time high school baseball coach with over 25 years experience. Dixon is widely recognized as an expert in the area of baseball training, practice and skill development. Coach Dixon is better known as the inventor of several of baseball and softball's most popular training products such as the Original BatAction Hitting Machine, SKLZ Derek Jeter Hurricane Hitting Machine, Original Hitting Stick, Hit2win Trainer, SKLZ Target Trainer, SKLZ Derek Jeter ZipnHit Pro, and Strikeback Trainer. Dixon is also a contributing writer for BaseballCoachingDigest, the Baseball 2Day Coaches Journal, Batting Cage Builder, the American Baseball Directory and the Hit2win Baseball Coaches Monthly Newsletter. Dixon has 5 blogs related to baseball training including the BaseballCoachingDigest Blog, CoachesBest Training Blog, Hurricane Machine Training Blog, Batting Cage Buyers Blog, and the Bat Action Training Blog.

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