Reading the batter’s swing

One of the many things that separate an average fielder from a great fielder is the ability to read a batter’s swing in order to make predictions on where the ball is likely to be hit.  Of course, this requires the fielder to pay attention to some of the things a lot of players overlook.  As a shortstop, one thing I tried to pay close attention to was the practice swings of the batter when he was in the on-deck circle as well as right before entering the box.  If you look closely and analyze what you are seeing, you can learn a lot about the hitter’s tendencies and adjust your defensive positioning accordingly.  Your positioning may only be a step one way or the other but often that one step can make a world of difference in improving your range especially as you get older and the game gets faster. 

One specific thing to look for in a practice swing is where the barrel of the bat is located at the time contact with the ball would have been made – just before the wrists roll through contact.  In his practice swing, if the angle of the bat at the point where contact would be is angled to pull, the batter is likely to be a pull hitter and probably struggles with outside pitches.  If the barrel is on an opposite field angle when contact would have been made, the batter is more likely to hit the ball the other way and will probably struggle with anything inside.

The video below is an example of what I’m talking about.  The video shows some young hitters involved in hitting drills.  The drills that are shown are fine.  However, if I saw these guys swing like they do in the drills, I would immediately know how to pitch them and/or how to play them.  Take a look at the video before continuing to read and see what you notice.  After watching, I’ll give you my take. (Note: the audio in this video is a bit weird – two different dialogs were recorded – so you may just want to mute the sound and watch the video)

 
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dlCLijF-_vM
What jumped out at me right away was that every swing they take has their front side flying out too soon.  If you look carefully you will also notice that during their dry swing drill (0:40 – 1:18 section of the video) every angle of the bat at where contact would be made is angled far to the pull side.  If I’m pitching, each one of these guys would get a steady dose of pitches on the outer half.  As long as I kept the ball down, these swings would produce a lot of “roll-over” ground balls to the shortstop area.  If I’m the shortstop or third baseman, I know I’m likely to get some action.  If I’m a second baseman, I’m playing a step up the middle.  If I’m a right fielder, I’m playing a little more shallow and a step or two towards the right field gap. 

For proof of this, take a look at the tee drill swing at the 1:26 point of the video.  The ball is set up thigh high in the center of the plate.  The swing results in a nice, easy, routine “roll over” grounder to short.  That is often the result when a batter opens up too soon.  A proper swing would more likely drive that ball to the big part of the field – left field gap to right field gap. 

If you are a batter, you have to be very careful about how you swing in practice.  I’m sure each one of the young men in the video do not intend to produce routine ground balls.  However, the swings that they have developed make that result somewhat inevitable.  Be sure that EVERY SINGLE swing you take is mechanically correct or else you will be programming bad habits into your muscle memory. 

If you are on defense, there is a lot to be learned if you just pay attention to what is going on around you.  Start watching the swings of hitters in practice (teammates and anyone else) and make some predictions as to where the ball might go off the bat.  This will be good experience for when you get back on the field for games.  

Too many fielders and pitchers expect a coach to do this analysis for them.  The problem with this is that coaches cannot be everywhere and see everything.  Often the players on the field will have a much better view of these things when compared to the view of those in the dugout.