Trusting Your Swing at The Plate
The ability to swing your bat naturally and instinctively is critical to great hitting.
The major purpose of batting practice is to trust your swing when it’s time to play the game.
As you get more repetitions through practice, you develop a memory program for that movement.
Soon with a lot of practice, your swing becomes instinctive, natural, and feels effortless to do (you reach a state of over-learning).
An effortless reactive swing is essential for superior performance for all skill levels.
Most players don’t allow their swing to be reflexive. They focus too much on technique or controlling the path of the bat instead of reacting to the ball.
It gets even worse for many players in big games.
Their tendency is to tighten up and not trust the swing in pressure situations.
When you focus too much on how to make a good swing, you guide the bat and consciously try to force a hit.
Over control causes poor timing and throws off your natural rhythm. The purpose of practice is to build motor memory–that you can rely on in games. When you play, let your instincts take over.
Some baseball players can trust their hitting better than others.
When you trust in your swing, you forget about the mechanics of the swing. Let your creative mind take over during competition.
Once at the plate, you should react to the pitch. If you think too much about how to make a good swing, the ball will pass you before you had a chance to even make a cut at the ball. Less thinking is better.
React to the ball and let your body do what it knows how to do.
I call this reacting to what you see and skipping the mental gymnastics.
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