Two Secrets to Being a Great Hitter
As a former Division 1 baseball player at Illinois State University I felt I had the tools to be a professional ball player but I lacked the power it took to be a great hitter like Ted Williams.
This bothered me as I knew there were athletes smaller than myself, hitting the ball consistently farther than I was.
I soon became obsessed with finding a way to hit the ball harder and farther.
My obsession led me to study biomechanics and kinetics on the side while obtaining my M.
B.
A.
in Education: Physical Wellness.
I became a PE teacher and professional hitting instructor and found myself teaching the same, wrong hitting techniques to my student as I was taught.
I couldn't shake the feeling that something was missing from my batting lessons and it all felt wrong.
I began reading everything I could find on some of the greatest hitters in the history of Baseball.
I watched old film footage on them as well.
It was in the footage that I noticed a difference in the way those hitters swung and the way almost everyone was being taught.
The old pro's swing was, in fact, nearly opposite of common teachings.
I was at the library when I came across a thing book written by Ted Williams.
The Science of Hitting by Ted Williams revealed the first secret to being a great hitter.
Mr.
Williams' book advocated the uphill swing while the rest of the world was swinging down to the ball.
When you think about it, it is easy to see that a pitcher is on a mound higher that the hitter and he pitches the ball over-hand.
This means the ball has to go downhill to be in the strike zone.
With this being the case, it stands to reason that the bat must travel slightly uphill to match the plane of the ball.
I began to tinker with swing techniques that could emulate some of the greatest hitters of all time.
I was deeply intrigued at a level that urged me to study the science of many things; including the science of hitting.
I studied great athletes/coaches.
Phil Jackson and John Wooden were geniuses of sport psychology and motivation and were among the many I paid attention to.
All of the studying motivated me to find the hidden intelligence within Ted Williams.
This motivated me even more to link into the intelligence of Ted Williams.
I soon began to experience success and fulfillment as a hitting instructor.
My mind opened and some major secrets to hitting started to enter my thoughts.
Sometimes these secrets were introduced to me in dreams, random articles, interviewing master karate teachers, lessons with 8 year olds, or studying swing techniques used in other sports.
They came from different sources at random times and intuitively.
I knew they were the missing pieces to the puzzle.
Finally, I concentrated on putting those pieces into their rightful place.
The things I learned from interviewing masters of Martial Arts, suddenly hit me and fell right into place.
The second secret to being a great hitter was the power source.
Martial Artists are taught that their source of power is in the center of their mass, which is also their center of gravity.
The location of power comes from rotating the hips.
A slight twist in the hips in one direction is similar to pulling the string back on a bow.
Reversing that twist provides the rest of your body with the same power and speed that allows the arrow to fly from the bow.
I began combining the upward swing of Ted Williams philosophy with the power source and the results have been truly magical.
All of my students quickly improved both their batting average and slugging percentage at the same time.
This bothered me as I knew there were athletes smaller than myself, hitting the ball consistently farther than I was.
I soon became obsessed with finding a way to hit the ball harder and farther.
My obsession led me to study biomechanics and kinetics on the side while obtaining my M.
B.
A.
in Education: Physical Wellness.
I became a PE teacher and professional hitting instructor and found myself teaching the same, wrong hitting techniques to my student as I was taught.
I couldn't shake the feeling that something was missing from my batting lessons and it all felt wrong.
I began reading everything I could find on some of the greatest hitters in the history of Baseball.
I watched old film footage on them as well.
It was in the footage that I noticed a difference in the way those hitters swung and the way almost everyone was being taught.
The old pro's swing was, in fact, nearly opposite of common teachings.
I was at the library when I came across a thing book written by Ted Williams.
The Science of Hitting by Ted Williams revealed the first secret to being a great hitter.
Mr.
Williams' book advocated the uphill swing while the rest of the world was swinging down to the ball.
When you think about it, it is easy to see that a pitcher is on a mound higher that the hitter and he pitches the ball over-hand.
This means the ball has to go downhill to be in the strike zone.
With this being the case, it stands to reason that the bat must travel slightly uphill to match the plane of the ball.
I began to tinker with swing techniques that could emulate some of the greatest hitters of all time.
I was deeply intrigued at a level that urged me to study the science of many things; including the science of hitting.
I studied great athletes/coaches.
Phil Jackson and John Wooden were geniuses of sport psychology and motivation and were among the many I paid attention to.
All of the studying motivated me to find the hidden intelligence within Ted Williams.
This motivated me even more to link into the intelligence of Ted Williams.
I soon began to experience success and fulfillment as a hitting instructor.
My mind opened and some major secrets to hitting started to enter my thoughts.
Sometimes these secrets were introduced to me in dreams, random articles, interviewing master karate teachers, lessons with 8 year olds, or studying swing techniques used in other sports.
They came from different sources at random times and intuitively.
I knew they were the missing pieces to the puzzle.
Finally, I concentrated on putting those pieces into their rightful place.
The things I learned from interviewing masters of Martial Arts, suddenly hit me and fell right into place.
The second secret to being a great hitter was the power source.
Martial Artists are taught that their source of power is in the center of their mass, which is also their center of gravity.
The location of power comes from rotating the hips.
A slight twist in the hips in one direction is similar to pulling the string back on a bow.
Reversing that twist provides the rest of your body with the same power and speed that allows the arrow to fly from the bow.
I began combining the upward swing of Ted Williams philosophy with the power source and the results have been truly magical.
All of my students quickly improved both their batting average and slugging percentage at the same time.
