One hop or line drives

One of the more common phrases I heard growing up was “hit ground balls and line drives.”  For the most part, this is sound advice.  Keeping the ball out of the air (fly balls) tend to improve a batter’s swing as well as his average.  But a problem sometimes develops because of the phrase.  Some batters think just putting the ball into play means they have been successful.  We can assume that if the batter hit a line drive, he hit the ball hard.  We cannot assume that on a ground ball.  A weakly hit ground ball is still, in fact, a ground ball.  Of course, a weak ground ball isn’t normally thought of as good result.

That is why I’ve started to use the phrase “one hop or line drives.”  A one-hop grounder is one that is a bullett that gets on the infielder in a hurry.  It bounces once before it reaches the outfield grass.

Emphasizing a one hop or line drive swing sends the clear message to hitters that their goal is to hit the ball HARD and must swing the bat accordingly.

Tomorrow’s post:  Flat ground work for pitchers