Chapter 6 - Batting And Bunting

In The Beginning, Bunt!

To most players, batting is the most enjoyable part of baseball if they are able to hit with some degree of regularity. It is no fun to bat if you strike out every time. A player should enjoy batting if he can be taught to meet the ball with his bat frequently. A boy who hits a two-bouncer to the pitcher and is thrown out at first can always believe that he would have had a base hit if the ball had gone two feet to one side or the other of the fielder.

How does a player learn to meet the ball? The answer for most beginners would be to teach them to bunt. Any boy who can catch a ball should be able to bunt one. All he has to do is to catch the ball on the big end of the bat.

To help a boy to catch the ball with his bat, have him bring the bat back slightly as the ball contacts it (the catching motion). Most players find it easier to bunt if they square around facing the pitcher with knees bent and arms extended—but not straight or stiff—so that the bat is in fair territory at shoulder height. The upper hand on the bat handle slides almost up to the trade-mark. Many boys slide the hand up so far that they fail to cover the outside of home plate with the big end of the bat. A player must experiment with his grip and stance until he knows that he will be able to bunt any ball in the strike zone.

It is helpful to keep the defensive team from knowing when one is going to bunt. However, with beginners it is more important for the boy to be in proper position in time to control the bat and bunt the ball. Inexperienced bunters often move into bunting position as the pitcher releases the ball. Later they delay in assuming the bunting position as they learn how long it takes them to get ready to bunt.

FAKE BUNTS. Experienced players fake bunts occasionally to bring in the defensive players to protect against the bunt. The fake can cause a pitcher to throw pitches which are difficult to bunt (high fast balls) but easier to hit for most hitters than other pitches, provided they are in the strike zone. Or it can cause him to waste a pitch or throw a pitch-out if there is a runner on base and thus get behind the batter in the ball-and-strike count. And it can cause the infielders to play closer to home plate to protect against the bunt, making it easier for the batter to drive hits through the infield. Some of the top hitters, like Stan Musial, Pete Reiser, Alvin Dark, Mickey Mantle, and Duke Snider, have kept their opponents off balance with such tactics.

FIG. 9. Charlie Dressen shows a Little Leaguer how to slide hand up bat handle to bunt

PASS UP HIGH PITCHES. In teaching bunting, emphasize that the boy must not bunt at balls above the strike zone. The one thing a player must avoid in making a sacrifice bunt is to pop the ball into the air because any ball bunted into the air can result in a double play.

If a player passes up high pitches, holds the bat at shoulder height, and bunts the top half of the ball, he should solve this problem. When he doesn't like the pitch, he should pull his bat back to keep the umpire from calling a strike.

The batter should aim to bunt the ball about five feet from the foul line and one-third of the distance from home plate to third or first base, depending on where he wants the bunt to go. Place a piece of cloth at these two places during bunting practice to give the bunter a target. To control the direction of the bunt, the batter moves the bat handle so that the ball will rebound off the bat in the proper direction. He will learn this quickly with practice.

FIG. 10(a). The batter is in a good relaxed position, with bat "quiet," arms away from the body, hands in front of the rear shoulder, legs in a normal spread, knees bent slightly, shoulders and hips level, and back foot against the rear line of the batter's box. (Note good position of the catcher, too.) Batter is preparing to bunt, but doesn't tip off the defense by moving into bunting position too soon.

FIG. 10(b). Batter pivots to face pitcher, sliding top hand (right hand for right-handed hitter) up the bat handle, moving bat in front of body into fair territory and holding it level, and bending knees for relaxed stance. He bunts "top half" of the ball to be sure it goes on the ground. He catches the ball with the big end of the bat, keeping eyes on the ball and body relaxed, but alert.

FIG. 10(c). Batter pulls bat back when he decides ball is too high to bunt, to avoid having a strike called against him.

BUNTING FOR BASE HIT. There are two types of bunt for a base hit—the drag and the push. The right-handed batter's push bunt and left-hander's drag bunt are aimed about halfway between the first baseman and pitcher and just hard enough so that it is out of the pitcher's reach and forces the second baseman to move in so far to field the ball that he doesn't have time to throw to first base.

The left-hander's push bunt and the right-hander's drag bunt are aimed down the third-base line about one-third of the distance to the base and inside the base line about three feet. In executing each, the bunter starts to run as he meets the ball, but he must time the bunt so that he doesn't step out of the batter's box before he bunts the ball.

On the push bunt, the bat meets the ball in front of the body as the weight of the body shifts to the front foot and the bunter is striding toward first base with the rear foot.
 
The bat is held at the side of the body in the drag bunt, and the foot action is approximately the same as in the push bunt.

Bunting for a base hit takes plenty of practice, but a boy with good running speed can keep the defense off balance by bunting occasionally. If the infielders are deep, he drops a bunt in front of them, and when the in-fielders move in he has a better chance to hit the ball past them or over them for base hits. The direction of the bunt depends on where the defensive players are stationed, how well they field and throw, and where the ball is pitched. An alert player will learn where and how to bunt according to the situation.

FIG. 11. This action in the Little League World Series shows player attempting a push bunt for a base hit. He has shifted his weight to front foot, striding toward first base with rear foot as bat goes forward to meet ball. He must be sure to meet ball with bat before he strides out of the batter's box.

Many outstanding players use the bunt to break batting slumps, and some upset their opponents by faking a bunt and then hitting, or taking a swing at one pitch and then bunting the next ball that is pitched in the strike zone.

USE PLAYER'S SKILLS. Every manager should know the skills of his players, attempt to add to these skills, and make use of them. For instance, Jackie Robinson could bunt for a base hit as easily as he could lay down a sacrifice bunt. There was no percentage in having him sacrifice when he could advance a runner and beat out the bunt for a base hit.

In the 1959 World Series it was common knowledge among students of the game that Billy Goodman, the Chicago White Sox' third baseman, did not field bunts as well as most major leaguers. Likewise, a keen observer would have discovered quickly that Dick Donovan, the White Sox' pitcher, used a pitching motion which had him finish up facing the first-base line.

With such good bunters and runners as Wally Moon and Jim Gilliam batting left-handed and having trouble hitting Donovan, it seemed that a push bunt down the third-base line might be in order. Yet the only bunts attempted were drag bunts down the first-base line.

PRACTICE. While the use of the bunt in every branch of baseball can be a big asset, this is particularly true in the junior leagues. Many Little League coaches have proved that they can teach mediocre batters to bunt well. One coach in Montreal taught his lads to bunt so skillfully that they won high-level tournament games without any other offensive weapon.

The main reason players don't learn to bunt is that they don't practice bunting. A successful school coach solves the problem by putting a defensive team on the field and then having the batter attempt to bunt for a base hit. He makes his batters continue to bunt until they succeed in laying one down safely to move a runner on to the next base.

When the player has learned how to execute the sacrifice bunt properly, the coach has him begin to practice bunting for base hits. As soon as the player has learned to lay down the "sacrifice" bunt, the "drag," and the "push" bunt, he tries one of each whenever he takes his turn in batting practice. Each player must lay down a bunt properly before he is permitted to swing away.

Batting Fundamentals

Before a boy can hit a ball there are at least two things he must learn:

1. Always keep his eyes on the ball. (Learning to bunt, batting off a tee, and standing beside a catcher as he warms up a pitcher can be very helpful here.)

2. Swing a bat he can control. (When in doubt, swing a light bat.)

FIG. 12. Here Jackie Robinson shows a Little Leaguer where to hold his bat as he gets ready to hit. Like Robinson, most batting stars hold their hands chest high in front of the rear shoulder, with arms far enough from the body to permit a good swing. The foot spread is usually about the width of the shoulders. They stand close enough to the plate to be sure to cover all of it with the big end of the bat.
THE STANCE. When the player steps into the batter's box, he should get as far back as he can, with his rear foot resting against the end of the batter's box. This will give him a longer time to look over each pitch before having to decide whether he should swing at it. At the same time, it forces the catcher to make longer throws to the bases and makes it more difficult for him to block or catch low pitches. The batter's feet should be spread at a comfortable distance. The wider he stands, the less likely he is to over stride, and he should make every effort to guard against over striding. He should check to see that his bat covers the width of home plate as he swings.

FIG. 13. To remind beginners to stand far enough back in the batter's box, place a cloth tape across the batter's boxes even with the rear end of home plate. Note the tape around the bat handle to remind batter to choke up an inch or two for better control of bat. This batter shows good body balance as he prepares to swing. The catcher should not attempt to catch from the "signal squat" because he cannot shift to catch wide pitches and to throw quickly.

FIG. 14. Here a right-hander who has a wider than usual foot spread is shown ready to hit. His stance also indicates good body control and balance. The catcher has good body position.

THE SWING. Teach the batter to keep his front arm away from his body and the bat back and quiet as the pitcher starts to throw. Most good hitters hold their hands chest high and in front of the rear shoulder and move the bat back (not up or down) from three to six inches as they begin to swing. They have a level swing and keep the hips and shoulders level, too. Many boys swing too hard and either miss the ball or fail to meet it squarely. If you have players who over swing, have them practice hitting to the opposite field in batting practice—right-handers hitting to right field and lefthanders, to left field.

FIG. 15. The batter shows his head remaining in same position as bat goes forward. He pushes off rear foot and keeps level shoulders and hips throughout swing.
 
THE STRIDE. The only reason for a stride with the front foot is to turn it around so that the batter gets a hip pivot. He hits against a straight front leg and pushes with the ball of the back foot. This body action, coupled with a good wrist snap as he meets the ball, will add power to all drives. The shorter the stride, the longer he can follow the flight of the ball before committing himself. A study of outstanding batters shows that the length of their strides is from three to six inches.

FOLLOW THROUGH. Just as in throwing, the player must follow through with the bat for a complete swing after he hits the ball. His head should be pointed in the same direction at the finish of his swing as it is when the pitcher releases the ball.

USE A LIGHT BAT AND CHOKE IT. Few young players realize that the power hitters of baseball swing light bats. The lighter the bat, the faster the batter can swing it, and the speed of the swing puts the power into it. By using a light bat, a boy can also stop his swing before he breaks his wrists if he sees that the pitch won't be in the strike zone.

Charlie Neal, who amazed the spectators by blasting a 425-foot home run into the Chicago White Sox' bullpen in the 1959 World Series, swings a very light bat and grips it with his hands about two inches from the end of the handle. Even Ted Kluszewski, the most muscular slugger in the major leagues, discovered that switching to a lighter bat added distance to his blows. A check of the bat racks shows that Mickey Mantle swings the lightest bat for the Yankees and that Stan Musial uses the lightest bat for the Cardinals.

Only players who have no power and who like to punch hits over the infield prefer heavier and bigger-barreled bats.

TAPE THE HANDLE. Some boys feel that they are proving that they are strong by swinging the heaviest bat available and gripping it at the end of the bat. You might point out to these youngsters that it is easier to hit a nail with a lightweight hammer than with a sledge hammer and by gripping it an inch or two from the end of the handle. The same thing is true where ball and bat are concerned. Ty Cobb, the greatest hitter of all time, always choked his bat, and Al Rosen proved that you can choke up on the handle and still hit home runs. Put a piece of tape around each bat handle about two inches from the end to remind your boys to grip the bat above the tape for better balance and control.

To keep your boys from the temptation of swinging a bat which is too heavy, select light bats for your team. Only if you have a batter who is so strong that he pulls the fastest pitches foul, should you permit him to swing a bat of the maximum weight and size permissible in Little League or of a suitable weight in other leagues. Even then, to keep him from pulling foul balls, it might be more desirable to close his stance before giving him the heavy bat. (Have him move his front foot closer to home plate.) If the batter hits so late that he fouls pitches consistently to the opposite field (down the right-field foul line if a right-handed swinger), insist that he switch to a lighter bat and move his hands up on the handle.

Batting Drills

Can players be taught to hit or are they born? Experts have various opinions, but there's little doubt that with good instruction and constructive drills a large majority of boys can improve as batters.

John Piurek established an outstanding record as a high school coach at West Haven, Connecticut, by concentrating on batting. For several years his assistant coach was a talented semi-pro pitcher who had played college baseball. He had good control and a variety of pitches, and his duty was to pitch batting practice every day. He would learn the weaknesses of the hitters and then pitch to those weaknesses. A boy was advised that he would see nothing but curve balls outside until he learned to hit them, if that happened to be his weakness. Players with normal aptitude will learn to hit most pitches i£ they see enough of them.

Of course, a player could concentrate so much on one pitch that, while learning to hit it, he might forget to hit others that he could hit before. This happened to Gil Hodges when he came up with the Dodgers. He saw nothing but curve balls in batting practice, and by the time he learned to hit the curve the opposing pitchers were getting him out on the fast ball. Then he had to learn to be ready for the fast ball, but still be able to wait for the curve.

Most amateur teams aren't as fortunate in having skilled batting practice pitchers available. But an enterprising manager or coach often can find an experienced pitcher in the community who might volunteer to do some pitching after work in the late afternoon, early evening, or on a Saturday to help the hitters.

EYES MUST FOLLOW BALL. One of the most common mistakes young batters make is taking their eyes off the ball too soon. While there's a common belief that good hitters follow the pitch till it meets the bat, this isn't possible. However, from the moment the pitcher begins his pitching motion, the eyes should follow the ball as far as they can. The head should remain quiet throughout the swing and should be pointed in the same direction at the finish as at the start.

Al Mamaux, in developing outstanding hitters at Seton Hall College, used a very effective drill. During the first week of practice, he required his batters to hit to the opposite field. Whenever a batter pulled the ball, he had to lay down his bat and chase the ball, losing his turn at bat. It was amazing how quickly this arrangement helped the hitters learn to hit to the opposite field.

This drill is very helpful in getting the batters to follow the ball. It is generally the boy who is trying to pull the pitch into the next county who also pulls his head around and loses sight of the ball when he swings.

Under normal conditions, there are two types of batting practice. First is the one in which it's desirable to have a pitcher with good control try to throw the ball at about 75% to 80% of his top speed while concentrating on getting the ball into the strike zone. This kind of pitching gives a batter a chance to warm up and get his timing under control. However, this kind of pitching alone will never develop a hitter.
As Branch Rickey has said several thousand times, a player likes to practice what he can do well. That is why a Tommy Brown could win the home run championship during batting practice when the pitcher grooved fast balls where Tom liked to hit them. But he didn't get that kind of pitching once the game got under way. His time would have been much better spent working on his weakness at the plate.

Since players seldom will work on their weaknesses of their own volition, the coach must set up drills to help them. These drills should include "game condition" pitching, with the catcher giving signals and the pitcher trying to keep the batter from hitting the ball.

How you set up batting practice depends on the time available. The standard pregame pattern is a good one with each batter bunting twice before hitting away and then limiting his "hitting" to three swings. This should be a warm-up round.

The second round, when time is available, could be a "game condition" round with the batter limited to three strikes and the batting practice catcher calling the strikes. Whenever possible, work your batting-practice pitchers under simulated game conditions, too. Have one pitcher throw 15 pitches and then alternate with a second pitcher. This keeps the pitchers from tiring and gives them about an inning of action at a time. Luke Sewell used this pattern with very good results when he managed in the major leagues.

THE BATTING TEE. Every squad should have access to a batting tee. With the use of pressed wool or plastic balls, players can practice hitting against the side of a gymnasium, a basement wall, barn, or garage. If such balls are not available, baseballs can be hit into a net or against a backstop. Players can thus spend their spare time swinging a bat. Using this equipment they can even practice with some purpose during the winter months.

Ted Williams discovered the value of the tee when Bert Dunne was popularizing it in youth programs on the Pacific Coast. I brought it to the attention of Branch Rickey, who introduced the tee to the major leagues at the Vero Beach training base of the Dodgers, and it has become a standard training aid in most spring camps and professional parks.

In batting a ball off a tee, the boy learns where he must stand in the batter's box to protect the plate with the big end of the bat, where the ball should be met when he breaks his wrists, and the angle of the bat in hitting the ball to different fields. Mr. Rickey proved to several Dodger hitters the first year the tee was used that they couldn't cover home plate adequately from where they stood in the batter's box. This example should prove helpful to coaches whose boys like to stand even with, or in front of, the batter's box. The coach can also point out that hitters like Stan Musial, Mickey Mantle, Willie Mays, Hank Aaron, Nellie Fox, Gil Hodges, Harvey Kuenn, and Al Kaline stand as far away from the pitchers as possible.

Many boys stand too far forward because they begin playing ball on sand-lots without using batting boxes and, consequently, get into the habit of standing beside the plate as they bat. Moreover, a few move up because they hear the "old wives' tale" that they can hit the curve before it breaks by moving forward. The only way this can be done is by moving forward about 60 feet, as curves begin to break when they leave the pitcher's hand.

But all the advantage goes to the batter who stands in the back of the box since he has a longer time to judge the pitch before committing himself; he won't be swinging at pitches before they reach the strike zone; and he'll force the catcher to catch more pitches outside the strike zone and to make longer throws to the bases.
 
FIG. 16. The batting tees helps to develop a full swing. This right-handed hitter has maintained good balance and kept head and eyes pointed at pitcher while pivoting body so that shoulders are reversed and bat behind his back at finish of swing.

The tee helps a player to keep his eyes on the ball, to take a full level swing and follow-through in furnishing his own power, and to take a short stride and stay in balance when swinging. I've seen major league players, using batting tees for the first time, break broom handles in attempting to swing at balls.
As to power, the tee is an absolute measure of power for a player who has had some experience in hitting off it. One spring at Vero Beach this was proved to the satisfaction of the Dodger coaching staff when Duke Snider, Roy Campanella, Gil Hodges, Carl Furillo, and Jackie Robinson showed the same power ratio off the tee as they did in collecting extra base hits during the National League season. Such knowledge can be helpful to the coach who wants to know the relative power of his players. Everything else being equal, he wants the long-ball hitter in the line-up.

A boy who learns to hit off a tee, with proper coaching, shouldn't acquire the bad habits which plague so many hitters—namely, the arm hitch, the overstride, and taking the eyes off the ball. Of course, a player must see live pitching in order to learn to time and follow the ball, particularly when the pitcher is throwing "breaking stuff" But the tee can be used in daily drills to help all young hitters, to give them familiarity with the bat and a pattern of good batting habits. A boy should not become a "sweep hitter" if he learns to hit off a tee.

HIT LINE DRIVES. In using the tee, the ball should be placed on a belt-high tee for the first drills. If the boy is hitting the ball properly, he should be hitting line drives without the bat coming into contact with the tee. He should be hitting the ball in the middle.

If he's hitting fly balls, in all probability he's lifting his front shoulder; and if he's hitting the ball on the ground he's lowering the front shoulder. His shoulders should be kept level in order to give him maximum efficiency with the bat.

Coaches should know that approximately seven out of ten line drives are base hits, while only two out of ten ground balls become hits and only one out of ten flies falls safely in the major leagues. Knowing this, Ted Klus-zewski advised an audience of college coaches at a clinic that he attempts to hit line drives even though more flies become home runs. Ted says his high-fly home runs are "mistakes," and Stan Musial says the same thing.

Once a boy learns to hit belt-high line drives, the tee may be lowered to the knee level for practice in grooving swings at that height—the height which gives most batters the most trouble. Then raise the tee to the armpit height for practice at that level.

One boy who practiced all winter swinging at knee high and chest high balls by means of a batting tee found in the spring that he could hit pitches at those heights much better than the previous season, but that he was missing pitches over the middle of the plate. This prompted Fresco Thompson to comment that the boy shouldn't worry because Fresco suspected that the "fat" pitch was Yogi Berra's weakness, but nobody would groove a pitch to him or any other hitter to find out. Boys like to do what they can do well, and the tee can help them become better hitters.

AUTOMATIC PITCHER. While many teams and leagues can't afford an automatic pitching machine, it's a training device which also can prove very helpful, in bunting drills. If a coach has a batter who is a poor judge of the strike zone or who is afraid of pitches, the pitching machine can be especially helpful. When a batter sees more pitches, he gains confidence, and confidence is a great asset to a batter.

When no pitching machine is available, "fearful" hitters and wild swingers can be helped by having them take their batting stance near a home plate in the bull pen against a pitcher who is warming up. The batter must not swing at the ball, but should judge the pitch by calling "strike" or "ball" as it crosses the plate. The catcher can tell him whether he has judged it correctly.

IN THE BOX. While it is a good idea for young batters to get into the habit of swinging at good pitches because batters learn to hit by hitting, there are times when a batter should take the first pitch even if it is one he would like to hit. This would be the case when your team is behind by several runs, and one hit, even a home run, wouldn't gain much ground for you. The object is to tire the pitcher by having him make as many pitches as possible and to swing only when there are two strikes on the batter or when there are two or three runners on base.

It would be foolish to swing at the first pitch in a close game when the pitcher has walked two or three batters ahead of you. Yet this happened in a World Series game not many years ago, and the swinger popped up a high fly to the first baseman for an easy out.

Although it is true that most batters hit better when they are ahead of the pitcher in the ball-and-strike count, only two or three in all of the years baseball has been played have been able to build up good batting averages by being first-pitch hitters. One of these was Joe Moore, a fine outfielder for the New York Giants for many years. However, there have been hundreds of others who have handicapped themselves by being first-ball swingers. Once the pitchers learn that you like to swing at the first pitch they will aim the ball just outside the strike zone and you won't be swinging at good pitches. Once you begin to swing at such pitches, smart pitchers will keep throwing the ball a little farther off the plate and you'll be offering at balls you can't even reach to foul—let alone hit with the big end of the bat.

The greatest right-handed hitter of all time, Rogers Hornsby, believes that batters should "wait out" pitchers in the first inning and the last two innings of a game. In the first inning, a majority of pitchers have some trouble with control before they get "zeroed in on the target." In the late innings, many pitchers begin to tire. Fatigue affects their control and "stuff" so that taking a strike or two frequently causes pitchers to walk batters and the extra effort by the pitcher in having to throw more pitches is all in favor of the team at bat. A manager must know his batter and the opposing pitcher and instruct his players accordingly, but the foregoing is sound advice to follow in most situations.

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