Nitro Methane Thinking For Hitters

Making Your Brain See Green (As in GO... A Personal Mental Hitting Traffic
Light)
Hitting is an aggressive act of throwing the barrel of the bat at the ball, but
if you don't have the correct pre-swing thoughts (what I call a Hitting Mantra)
to gear yourself up for driving the ball & visual reference points for
identifying and tracking the pitch- you'll be a frustrated hitter.
An important key in the mental process involved in hitting is recycling. Refuel
and recycle your focus with the hitting mantra for a 20 second duration after
each pitch. This is to prepare you for a conrolled attack of the next pitch.
Perhaps you're now thinking that this repeated thought control process of
recycling after each pitch is not your cup of tea. Ultimately, it comes down to
being part of the discipline required to be a successful hitter. The old cliche
rings true here, "If it were easy, then everyone would be doing it." Ask
yourself truthfully,"What kind of hitter do I want to be?"
On Deck Prep and In Box Attitude
It's been said by many and multiple
times that you get your hits in the on deck circle. If they can't qualify that
statement, then it's only noise. Again, as stated in previous blog posts, a
disciplined mental approach using a hitting system that works is a major
component to being a successful hitter. If you employ such a system while on
deck and in box, you'll be ripping line drives until the world looks
level.
Preparing to hit on deck and in box means, as picky as it may
seem, that proper hitting mechanics and an aggressive approach are important to
maintaining hitting mechanics integrity and having successful at bats. To
accomplish this in the Combat Hitting system, destructive muscle memory killers
are removed and forbidden. The top of the throw out list is the softball
swing... at anytime. If it doesn't look like a line drive swing, don't do it.
Also, the pre-load bat waggle is not conducive to retaining a still head or the
correct hitting muscle memory. Although it is not an uppercut swing or a swing
of any type, it leads to problems. As an ex scout, I can tell you the problems
with the feet and hands are the hardest to overcome. Feet and hand problems make
you a "NP", a no prospect also known as a Zero in the OFP. You may argue that a
waggle helps you in getting your hands started, but I've seen that it's of
little or no benefit. The thought that it is useful in overcoming inertia in the
launch stage is debatable. It does have a high propensity to lead to a
hitch...especially if your hand and wrist strength can't handle a waggle. The
end result will be the barrell dropping below the hands creating a hole in your
swing. Expect to be pitched up and in routinely with this flaw.
Another
case for eliminating the waggle is the probability of causing innervation* and
blurred vision.
(Innervation* is an ugly beast in baseball. It likes to show
up when there's blurred vision caused by tracking pitches with more than 4 eye
muscles in each eye when hitting, and occurs after 10 minutes of repititious
drills)
More ON DECK Prep
In the Combat Hitting system you're
taught to desensitize your nervous system in your pre-at bat prep. Not only have
I borrowed strength and stretching techniques from the Russian Sports Program,
but I have incorporated many aspects from the Martial Arts as well...hence the
name Combat Hitting was derived.
Desensitizing the nervous system by
breathing techniques followed with the toe to head slap down, will have a
positive physiological hitting effect. Additional on deck prep, which includes
the hitting mantra with muscle memory work, a quick depth perception drill and
fine tuning your visual acuity.
Forget the bat weight. Overloading
changes your hitting mechanics and the lighter bat feel only lasts for 20
seconds before the bat feels heavier than it is. In essence you're causing
yourself to be weaker during your at bat.
Once in the box, you're ready
to start your IN BOX routine to sharpen your focus.