First Degree Hitting

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 thousands

of repetitions at that pitch with the intention

of driving that ball with authority. In thinking of

this from a self-talk perspective, we should be

saying YES - YES - YES! Or YES - YES - No.

The expectation is that the pitch we are looking

for is what we will get and it is in a hittable location

A hittable location needs to be more clearly defined

in terms of our 1st Degree hitting approach.

Looking at this image of home plate,

we can break the plate down into thirds.

The vast majority of pitchers are trying to

locate the ball on the outer-third of home

plate; for a right-handed hitter that is

represented by balls 6 and 7. As a hitter,

we should be prepared to attack a pitch

that is in the area that we expect most

pitchers to throw the baseball. If the

pitcher misses in the middle of the plate,

we can absolutely still be attacking that

pitch. Understandably, we may have to

be prepared to take a pitch on the inner

third (balls 1 and 2) that we were not

anticipating - that is OK. Our 1st degree

hitting plan can remain in place until

we get to two-strike count situations,

then we become 2nd degree hitters

who are more ready to adapt to the

situation but nevertheless ready to

attack with confidence once

the pitcher delivers. 

Hitting in the 2nd degree simply means

we need to be more aware and adaptable

to what the pitcher is offering. You may

be familiar with the idea that the basic

premise of pitching is trying to disturb

a hitter’s timing. To counter that, our

timing mechanism needs to be

simplified in the 2nd degree mode.

Generally, if the pitcher is trying to

upset our timing, we need to think

about staying balanced and avoid

“jumpy-ness” at whatever the pitcher

is trying to get us out with. 2nd degree

hitting can be aided by scouting reports

and self-awareness. Also important to

2nd degree hitting is adjustability

within the game at-bat to at-bat

and even pitch-to-pitch. 

Finally, the most important aspect of

2nd degree hitting is competitiveness.

Developing the mindset that you are

not going to allow yourself to be

beaten by the pitcher cannot be

measured or explained. We need

to develop this level of mental

toughness to compete at our peak level.