Off Season/Pre-Spring Training Hitting Routine

Begin mental prepping with your pre-pitch Hitting Mantra while reinforcing your muscle memory with the MP30 Training Bat.  Avoid overloading with extra wt. which include the use of a batting weight, sledge hammer, swinging with 2 bats, etc. See previous post on the kinesthetic overload effect causing weakness after 20 seconds of discontinuation of the on-deck overload work.

Get rid of anything that you're chewing before stepping into the batter's box. Chewing will blur your vision by using more than the ideal number of eye muscles for hitting. Limiting the number of eye muscles to 4 of the 13 muscles facilitates the eye-brain visual effect phenomena of slowing the pitch down and enlarging the ball to occur while tracking a pitch. See vision and hitting post.

Lastly, have a towel on deck to wipe sweat from the hands before you apply rosin and pine tar to help get a grip on your game bat.

NEXT

Repeat before the 1^st pitch and after each sequential pitch...

Outside box if league rules allow:

      Situational Awareness:

          Know outs and base runners' locations

      Depth Perception Tune Up:

          Focus on 2B’s cap logo, then shift focus to Pitcher’s cap logo

          Begin Pre-Pitch Personal Hitting Mantra (See Hitting Mantra/Mental

          Routine Blog)

          Night Game… Close eyes for 5 seconds for improved vision  (See

          Retina/Vision Trick)

In box or “half and half” if league rules allow:

      One Deep Breath…In through the nose; out through pursed lips

      Look to third base coach, receive signs, square up to the pitcher, and re-focus

      mentally

      Begin Fine Centering-Soft Centering (Focus on Pitcher’s Logo & then re-focus

      visually to the Release Point  (Avoid being hypnotized by watching the Pitcher’s

      Windup

      Gently shift your weight from back to front repeatedly over your center

      point (40-60) as you are fine centering and soft centering visually. Continue the

      rhythm rocking breathing in through the nose going back and breathing out  

      through a slightly open mouth going forward. This keeps the jaw relaxed to

      prevent teeth clinching which can lead to blurred vision. Plus, on contact

      keeping the internal organs compressed through breath control helps to optimize

      power. (Key emphasis is to do this simultaneously with a controlled, calculated

      rhythmic weight shift.)

      From Release Point:

         Identify pitch and velocity

         Begin Tracking  Mentally…Yes, Yes, Yes, YES* or Yes, Yes, Yes, NO.

         *(At contact, squeezing the handle in the palms helps add more power

         as a result of a neuromuscular response)

http://mlb.mlb.com/video/play.jsp?content_id=19950437&topic_id=&c_id=mlb&tcid=vpp_copy_19950437&v=3