LISTEN TO THE EPISODE ABOVE! (4 minutes)
Podcast EP #29
I want to talk about how you guys and why you guys should be more aggressive early in the count, so important, because what happens is, first off, when you are taught to pitch when you were young, what’s the first thing they teach these pitchers? Is to get ahead of the hitters, right? Not to fall behind. That’s stressed and that’s pounded on when you’re younger. That’s usually the case when you get older, too. You always want to try to get ahead of the hitter, you don’t want to get behind.
With that said, it’s common sense that you’re going to probably, more than likely, if the pitcher’s doing and following this concept, that you’re going to get more better pitchers earlier in the count. The key here is you want to make sure you’re more aggressive early in the count. I’m going to talk about this because the other benefit is that the later it gets in the count, the more advantage goes to the pitcher, and that’s just from different studies that’s been put on and different books I’ve read, and it makes a lot of sense that the deeper in the count you go, the more advantage goes to the pitcher. Earlier in the count is always advantage to the hitter, because again, they’re trying to get ahead of the count, deeper in the count, now they’re setting you up for certain pitches. Early in the count, they can’t really have any pitchers to set up the next pitch because it’s early. But as you get deeper, these pitchers now are going to start setting up certain pitches to set up the next pitch to get you out, so changing eye level or going in in an way or going off speed in basketball. Later in the count, it’s more beneficial for the pitcher.
As a hitter, I want to be more aggressive. I want to really be in attack zone. I want to really be in a focal point of, “All right, I’m going to attack especially the first one or two pitches. If it’s there, I’m going for it.” Now, obviously, if you get in a bind and you get deep in the count, you’re going to have to battle out of that. But early in the count, hitters, I need you guys to really buy into this because it’s going to be a game changer. You need to be more aggressive, more aggressive early in the account. If you do that and you go up there and you attack and think attack mode, more than likely you’re going to get a better pitch to hit than if you wait later in the at-bat.
Secondly, pitchers tend to feel a little bit more comfortable, so the first pitcher at bat, you start getting more pitches into that at-bat. The pitchers start to feel a little bit more comfortable. They start reading the hitters more, so the coaches get more information. If you swing and miss and you’re at three and two, whatever, they’ve seen five swings, they’ve seen five takes, whatever, so your body language, your swings, they’re reading that. Early in the count, they don’t have anything really to read on except for the last at-bat. Basically, that’s another advantage early in the count. They’re not going to be able to adjust pitches based on what they’re seeing during that at-bat. Early in the count, guys, I can’t stress it enough, is the key to being a great hitter is also getting a great pitch to hit, and getting a great pitch to hit is going to happen more than likely earlier in the count. Again, my message today is, take home message, be aggressive early in the count, especially the first one or two pitches.
Post By: Rick Saggese, XFS, CSAC