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13 Reasons Why Pro Baseball Can't Teach HittingRob Ellis  Printer-Friendly Version
Why Hitting Prospects Fail Joe Linedrive leads the SEC in home runs, RBI, and is second in batting average. Joe is a top draft choice. He signs a bonus contract. The club has indicated that he is their third baseman of the future. Joe's first year in pro ball is not a disappointment, but it isn't all the club thought it would be. It was good enough to get his feet wet, good enough to build upon. His next season would be better. Two months into the next season, Joe settles down in the .260 range. His college power is down as well. Strikeouts have become a problem. It's too soon for "Wait until next season." That phrase is already a year old. Joe's agent naturally counted on having a solid big league third baseman in his stable. He consults Joe to find out what is going on. Joe is vague. His agent asks about the hitting instructor since Joe is a priority. Joe says they are trying some things, but he's a bit vague about that too. Joe has a hard time putting the remedies into words, something that shouldn't be hard if he understands them. The agent wonders about the instruction he is getting. He can't conceive that Joe is more or less on his own, not after a six figure bonus. Joe's season ends in mediocrity. Sure he hit 10 home runs, and he finished at .266, but those are hardly the numbers he is capable of compiling. In the off-season, Joe has a long talk with his agent. His agent wants to know what can be done to realize his potential, particularly how he can hit more home runs. Joe isn't sure. In fact, he can't even state his hitting problems clearly, let alone solutions. What, asks his agent, has the hitting coach suggested? Joe explains in a couple buzz-word phrases. Asked to elaborate, Joe can't. He can't state problems, solution, goals, or even something to work on in the off-season. It is like he has gotten no instruction at all. Joe has a universal hitting problem. His style began when his dad threw him underhand tosses when he was five. The ball came in like it was falling off the house roof. So he swung up to hit it. The first little league tosses came in the same way, and up he swung to hit them. The high school pitching straightened out a bit, but the featherweight metal bat was there to cover up the deficient, low-to-high, uphill swing plane he had grooved. And Joe was a man among boys; his strength made that metal bat hum. The combination of his strength and the featherweight bat even fooled the scouts into thinking he had bat speed that would convert to wood. Then came the day Joe got wood in his hands. Gone was the huge metal-bat sweet spot. Gone was the featherweight bat that allowed him to get away with imprecise hitting mechanics. And now the fast, tough pitching. The conclusion is simple: it happens to every player who grooved his hitting mechanics with a metal bat. Joe never converted from little boy, metal bat mechanics to professional, precision mechanics. The metal bat never let him learn to use his hands correctly or develop an effective swing plane. The habits are grooved so deeply that Joe is clueless on how to get out of it. Joe's hitting instructor, a man whose skill is in getting and keeping a professional hitting coach's job, not teaching hitting, is as baffled as Joe. Joe is cut off from the correct mechanical solutions to his hitting problems. The only solution Joe has is this: He must increase his strength exponentially to "muscle" the wooden bat as he did the aluminum bat. His first step? Find the lightest wooden bat he can until the over-the-counter steroids kick in. Joe is too young to think any more constructively than this. Joe's agent knows that continuing like he is, Joe will fail. The agent senses that Joe would be able to figure it out in time. After all, he has some ability. But his agent also knows that time is limited for minor league players who are not progressing. Joe has all the signs of being on the conveyer belt that deposits talented but lost players into the trash can. And the hitting instructors can't shut off the switch. Talking to Joe has made that clear. The question is, what does Joe do? What does Joe's agent, in charge of his professional well-being, do? Joe is but one of many professional problem hitters: the can't miss player who is missing, the draft pick who can't break .200, the fringe major leaguer who can't hit his way onto the 25-man roster, the promising five-tool player who is sputtering, the eight-year big leaguer who's numbers have sunk to a vulnerable level. All of these players have one thing in common. They have all gone through a major league organization which cannot help their hitting problems. They have gone through a system which bluffs its way through hitting instruction, never imparting anything solid. The hitting coaches are all great guys, they just don't have anything to help a player. Essentially, the players are on their own, and their own way is not only limited, it isn't working. What do these hitters do? Where do they go when their own organizations can't help them?
13 Reasons why Professional Baseball Cannot Offer Competent Hitting Instruction Prelude
Confirm the following with your player or players:
13 Reasons Why Professional Baseball Cannot Teach Hitting
1. Job Security Issues Coaching baseball is a relatively simple, subjective profession. Many, many people are qualified to coach baseball, huge numbers are waiting in the wings, and this makes coaches nervous. The requirements for keeping the job become:
Every coach would like to see his players improve, but this always takes a back seat to job security issues. This is merely the principle of playing it safe in a highly subjective profession. All coaching requires courage because it reveals what the coach knows and what he doesn't know. For this reason, coaches are hesitatnt to "put it all on the line." This, combined with toeing and sidestepping the issues which determine job security result in a topical, watered down, buzz-word, gutless and empty approach to coaching. But this satisfies the coach's number one goal: keeping his job. Hitting coaches are not teachers. Hitting coaches are not interested in acquiring new knowledge unless it is the kind which will help them keep their job.
2. Lack of knowledge This is just as true in baseball. However, front office player management people often set the hitting instruction agenda. As would be expected, this consists of the most basic, vanilla flavored, widely known and therefore ineffective hitting principles. Their hitting principles, because their area of expertise is front office maneuvering, cannot be correct or cutting edge. The hitting coordinator (HC) is often a former player who 1) has the skills of surviving in the coaching game (skills which preclude his ability to be effective); 2) was (usually) a big league hitter who managed himself as a hitter, but may have zero qualifications for developing another human being's hitting potential. If this hitting coordinator is given the job to develop policy, he is also hampered by lack of teaching know-how, coaching experience, or the courage to defy his bosses' vanilla-flavored principles. In addition, his knowledge of hitting is undercut by his skills for getting and keeping a professional baseball job. (If a person is given one dominant set of skills, and these skills qualify him for "inner circle" status among people incapable of teaching hitting, he must be one himself.) Example: Here is a list of players who finish their swings "low" rather than "high": Barry Larkin, Nomar Garciaparra, Lou Gehrig, Barry Bonds, Bernie Williams, Mike Schmidt, among scores of other stars. Sam the HC remembers employing this movement to get on top of the fastball. However, the principle of "finishing high" is iron-clad. It is all Moe, the MLDD, really knows. Sam the HC realizes this, and for job security reasons, never mentions the low finish for effective fastball coverage. Why? It defies "company line" coaching. And if Sam the HC won't teach it, imagine how scared the coaches and managers below him are from using this effective tool. Result? ALL coaches cling to the safety pole, where no player learns to hit. I remember getting fired from one organization because I taught Hank Aaron/Lou Gehrig hitting principles. When I explained this in my defense, their reply was, "We told you not teach that twice before. We want the HC's principles taught!" Honest. By the way, I was recently told by a National League MLDD that hitting has changed since Hank Aaron and Mike Schmidt played. Hitting the fastball is not as important as it used to be. Honest again.
3. Lack of diligence Without the skills of diligence and perception, the truths in hitting—the things which make all the difference—can never be perceived. This leaves the hitter on his own. Those with diligence—Tony Gwynn, Alan Trammel, Mike Schmidt, Ted Williams—climb to the heights. If a player doesn't have the capacity for diligance, he won't get any help from 99 out of 100 coaches either. A player is lucky if he finds a single one—a Walt Hriniak, a Johnny Sain—in his career. But it can make all the difference between failure and success. (Note: As per Reason #1, Hriniak and Sain were fired repeatedly from jobs for going outside the lines of coaching policy.) I wrote The Mike Schmidt [Hitting] Study with Mike. I must have given out over twenty copies to fellow minor and major league coaches. To my knowledge, only one cracked it open, and that's only because I take his word. From the publishing world I have learned this: men don't read. Men don't really want to know. And men certainly don't want other men telling them something they might not know. This doesn't make for a very good hitting instructor.
4. Lack of Teaching Skills Real teaching scares coaches who can't do it. It so rattles a non-teaching coaching staff to the point where an organization must eliminate him. Real teachers are in college, many trained with teaching techniques such as "explanation, demonstration, repetition." But simple techniques like these are foreign to professional baseball. Using them is so strange as to mark one's self as a trouble-maker among the staff, which collectively doesn't enjoy something it can't do. "Teaching" in pro baseball consists of fifteen-minute, after-game lectures to glassy-eyed players, explanation without participation to "burn it in", and banal verbal cues such as "Head in" or "Pop those hands." There is also tee work and shorter scale batting practice with no stated purpose. Almost never is the baseball swing broken down into components to isolate a problem and rebuilt into a whole. Never is thinking at the plate discussed. This is genuine teaching and is looked at as odd within the context of pro ball. It will also get you fired.
5. Minority Hirings Major League organizations are required to hire minorities in proportion to the minorities that play the game. They do this by hiring minorities, making them hitting coaches and putting them in the low minors. This means hiring a lot of coaches who have no coaching experience or specialized knowledge. Also:
The combination of A and B makes knowledgeable hitting instruction unavailable for the player. He is coached by people who do not know any more about hitting than what he does—his own persoanl experience.
6. Coaching Differences for Hitting and Pitching Hitters, however, must think on their feet to the level of the pitcher, catcher and pitching coach combined. He must makes adjustments to the pitcher. He must "guess" what is coming, whereas the pitcher knows. This requires a huge amount of experiential learning. Mechanically, the batter has a plethora of interchangeable skills and movements available for adjustments, and to maximize his bat speed. Whereas the pitcher's arm speed is pretty much a given, the hitter's bat can be sped up with the use of various devices—knee cock, hand momentum, bat twitch, stance, swing plane, stride, follow-through, etc. (There is pretty much one standard wind-up for a pitcher.) This means the hitting coach must be much more knowledgeable than the pitching coach. But when you add in job security, lack of teaching ability, personal focus and diligence, the hitting coach is horribly handicapped. More, hitting is a subjective skill (whereas pitching is a repetitious, highly mechanical skill.) One hitting coach can have one pet prescription, another may have another, all determined by the limited scope of their personal experience. My experience has shown me that it is the blind leading the blind in 19 of 20 cases. Where does this leave the young hitter trying to make it to the top? Alone.
7. Company Line Coaching Company Line coaching falls in line with other organizations' Company Line coaching because the common denominator is bland, broad-based, dull-edged principles. Each fails to realize that real truth in hitting cannot be known by all. Even a fool has to realize that the pinnacles of any knowledge in any competitive profession cannot be known by all or even a majority. As an example, I remember a hitting instructor who emphasized to the point of blood that no hitters were to have a high back elbow in their swings. This is a device which can (not always) be used to generate power. One of our players was doing this. The HC tossed a fit. I pointed out that Mike Schmidt used it to hit 40 homers a year and Carlos Delgado uses it to hit 50 homers a year. The HC said he realized that, but the GM wanted it stamped out completely. The HC was simpy putting his job security above this player's well being. That's how it works. Ironically, the GM's questions in spring training were, "Why don't our hitters hit for power? What can we do about this?" His solution was to stamp out what Schmidt and Delgado use to generate power. Then in its place, to remedy the situation, he put in some fool batting tee drill in which the players simply hit the ball as far as they could, a complete waste of time, which we were required to follow. I didn't.
8. Black Pearls
"Get a good pitch to hit" (Does a hitter really want a bad one?) If you'll ask your players if they have ever heard these pharases, I'll bet they make up the core of the batting instruction they have received. Essentially, they are "black pearls"—things that sound good and are accepted as truths, but really are rabbit trails leading to failure. Every single team has the same ones because every team shares the same pool of weak knowledge, most of which is detrimental to the young hitter's chances of success.
9. Lack of Resources There is one hitting coach per team for approximately 15 players. There are eight hours per coaching day, six of which are taken up by the game, travel, opponent's batting practice, etc. This leaves very little time for individual instruction, if we take into consideration that 15 minutes is the minimum for such. To tell the truth, most coaches blow off individual instruction. It doesn't exist in quantity. Ten minutes here, ten there, a few buzz words, that's it. Pick it up on your own. Ask your players. EFFECTIVE HITTING INSTRUCTION REQUIRES QUALITY ONE ON ONE INSTRUCTION. THERE IS NO SUBSTITUTE. Managers, for all their time in the game, don't instruct much. Most slip-slide away, others go the ten minutes here and there route. Ask your players.
10. No specialized knowledge By and large, coaches are very average people who had the ability to play the game, look the part, have loads of b.s. to influence higher up b.s. (generally, a coach moves up by how much b.s. he has). Don't think for one minute this qualifies them as hitting coaches. Ask your players. Usually they aren't fooled.
11. The players close their ears Now along comes Ned the hitting instructor. The player's attitude is, "Who's this guy? He thinks he can help me? Nobody's had anything for me so far. I'm sick of hearing 'Hit through the ball.' Where was he when I was 20?" In other words, the player is conditioned not to listen to a coach any more. Another factor is what I call the "eyes in the back of the head" syndrome. That comes when I am teaching a seasoned player who is embarrassed to have his teammates see him getting coached. He is horrified that his teammates see him get coached like a first-year player. It's real and it's difficult to work with. To be receptive, this hitter has to be isolated. It has been my experience, after having coached at ever minor league level, that by the time a player reaches double A the organization can't reach him anymore. He is at the mercy of the game's Darwinian principle. There have been too many disappointments, too much "hardening" of his style, too many bland coaches. As I say it, the cement is now hardened. Only a jackhammer will work. There are no jackhammers in the pro game except the release paper.
12. Organizational Policy: "Let 'em play"
"It's too much work to coach these guys. Let 'em do what they're gonna do." Not coaching young players is like letting your son have his way until he's 17 or so, then trying to instill some values and ethics. It can't work. The greatest coaching time available, the time when the most ground can be covered, is in the first two years. After that the player's ears slowly close and the coaching gets even thinner.
13. The belief that there actually is some real coaching in the pro game To confirm this opinion, to make sure I'm not off base, ask your players. Pin them down to gainful, purposeful coaching, not just glamorously going through the motions. Confucius said that it is the responsibility of each individual to acquire whatever knowledge is necessary to succeed in life. Nowhere is this truer than in professional baseball. Reasons for Poor Hitting Production Let's say there are 100 facets to hitting a baseball. Let's rank these in terms of importance. For example, bat speed can be ranked higher than rear foot placement in terms of importance. Bat speed might rank as #1 while rear foot placement might be #75. The hitter can still be effective if his rear foot is placed wrong. He can still be effective if #s 75-100 are done "wrong." However, if #s 1-5 are done wrong, the hitter cannot be effective. Experience in a hitting instructor arrives when he can accurately rank the facets of hitting and teach the important ones. This way he doesn't bother the individual style of the player but does tend to the essentials. (To play it safe and ignorant, MLDD's generally concern themselves with things like #s 80-100. Diligence reveals #s 1-25, genius lies in the ability to teach them.) I have never met a hitting coach or coordinator who doesn't have a few favorite facets of htting. The problem is, they might be #33, #53, #64, and #88 instead of #1, #2, #3 and #4. So any work he does with the hitter is of little or no use. I once knew a hitting coordinator with over fifteen years of major league service whose thing was balance, balance, balance. He had guys working on a balance beam. He insisted the players be high on the balls of their feet, which naturally imperils balance. The single solution to balance is to allow all shoe spikes in the dirt toe and heel. He wouldn't hear of it. He's probably still doing the same thing today. He's safe because what MLDD would object to a thing like balance? While this hitting coach is working on balance, which is about 30 on the 100 facet scale, 1, 2, 3, and 4 (bat speed, hip turn, swing plane and thinking) were totally neglected. This is about par for the course of hitting instruction in pro ball. The Top Four Reasons for Poor Hitting Production Given the necessary physical skills to get signed to a pro contract, these are the reasons for poor hitting production at every level of professional baseball:
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Rob Ellis has played, coached and written about baseball for over 35 years. He became one of only 18 players to advance directly to the Major Leagues without first playing in the minors when he joined the Milwaukee Brewers in 1971 shortly after finishing his college career at Michigan State, where he was named College Baseball Player of the Year.
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