Off-the-charts pitch recognition skills. It’s The baseline for the elite of the elite hitters. Williams. Brett. Gywnn. Superior pitch selection skills set leveraged with improved pitch recognition with this soft vs hard focus trick.
"Get a good pitch to hit", they said. The number one rule to achieving success at the plate.
Here’s one reason why you’re late on the fastball. You have no visual tempo. You’re just staring at the pitcher, waiting for him to throw it, then waiting to see if it’s a strike before you decide to swing or not.
Here's why you keep chasing bad pitches in the dirt. You’re not picking up the pitch Out of the hand as efficiently as possible. Your eyes are shifting to the release Point either too late or too early.
What you need is a Focused Gaze that shifts from the pitcher to the release point so you can start on time, and be ready to recognize spin speed and location like how the elite of the elite do it.
First, you must quiet the eyes and adopt a soft focus vs hard focus gaze. It starts with mastering how to pick up the release point…
Mastering, the art of picking up the release point isn’t some pie-in-the-sky goal. The good news is, it’s a skill set that requires zero talent. You simply need to understand how it works. It can be taught.
Here’s how to learn it.
1. Soften the eyes
Tense muscles are slow muscles. Loose Musles are quick musles. The muscles around the eyes are no different. When there’s strain around the eyes, your pitch recognition suffers.
When there is too much head movement, your pitch recognition suffers. Keep the eye gaze soft.
2. Minimize head movement
When you lunge, your head moves. When your head moves, your eyes move. When your eyes move, your ability to recognize spin, speed, and location as efficiently as possible, is diminished. Think: Slow, feet, fast hands, quiet head.
If you need to, shorten your stride or get your foot down early.
3. Have The Right Soft to Hard Focus Tempo
Hitting is about being on time. A pitcher's job is to upset that timing. You need to have an efficient transition from the pitcher, to the release point. When a hitter is in rhythm and sees the ball well, the transition from the pitcher to the release point is crucial to picking up the pitch type out of the pitcher’s hand.
If your eyes shift to the release point too early, you’ll lose focus.
If your eyes shift to the release point too late, you’ll be late on the fastball.
Pitch Recognition With This Soft vs Hard Focus Trick Outro
I don't care how good your swing is, and how unstoppable you feel in the batter’s box, if you’re not seeing the ball as well as you can, your mechanics will break down and your confidence will fade.
Understand: Your vision performance and pitch recognition will dictate your pitch selection and plate discipline, and as hitters’ we’re only as good as the pitches we swing at.
These skills can be learned from anywhere with the Applied Vision Baseball app.
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You can begin your journey of sharpening your timing and pitch recognition skills, for $1 at appliedvisionbaseball.com
And as always, be and stay a student of the game.
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