Between the Ears Baseball

Within the law, there are different degrees of certain crimes. For instance, an assault that is premeditated and planned with specific intent of harming another seriously is “first degree”, while a more sporadic or less intentional assault would be “second degree” in the eyes of the justice system. This may seem like a strange introduction to a commentary on hitting, but these degrees can be translated into an effective approach at the plate. With zero or one strike, we need to be 1st Degree hitters! We are at the plate with a plan and looking to inflict significant damage on a baseball. With two strikes, we need to surrender a bit of our own plan, but still be in attack mode just more in a reactionary capacity, which makes us shift to the 2nd Degree.  When we go to the plate, we should be in 1st degree hitting mode! We are hunting for a pitch - in most cases a fastball. When that fastball enters the hitting zone, we are taking the high quality swing we have developed over thousand...