No one likes homers more than me but Steaks (RBI's) are the second most important stat to me and sometimes you need to recognize the situation and take what you know the pitcher is throwing you not necessarily what you want to hit. Remember each pitcher has comfort zones and like we talked about in the previous post away is a comfort zone for almost all pitchers. As hitters we want to take painted fastballs on the outside corner even when they are strikes until we get to 2 strikes. If a pitcher can paint all game on the outside corner then that pitcher will pitch in the big leagues. The reason you want to take the outside corner heaters is you can't do damage on it unless your name is Mike Trout, Miguel Cabrera, Josh Donaldson, and the handful of other top hitters on the planet. If you aren't in this fraternity of the greatest hitters in world then you can't consistently do damage on the ball on the outside corner, so stop trying to. The pitcher wants you to swing at it. I had a very short professional career some of which I was a starting pitcher. I stunk I threw 85 MPH cutters a bad curve ball and a really bad changeup and relied on the other team trying to hit homers off my mediocre arsenal. One team in particular always lit me up, I mean always, The Quebec Capitales. Their lineup was filled with smart hitters, who had consistent focus and approach. I would paint away and they just wouldn't swing. Drove me crazy and almost every time I missed my spot over the middle of the plate they swung. I was in great shape when I was a starting pitcher and actually led the whole league in complete games that year, but I never threw a cg against Quebec. I once threw 145 pitches in 7 innings of work against them. They never allowed me to have an easy inning. It was mentally/physically draining trying to compete against that disciplined of a lineup. They had one savage Sebastien Boucher who owned me. He never swung when I executed a pitch but when I missed location he killed it all season long and when I gave him nothing to hit he took his walk. In 2012 against me he was 4-6 with a double, triple, 2 homers, and 2 walks. Boucher was an injury away from making it to the big leagues facing a position player that was trying to extend his professional career by pitching. It would have been very easy for him to loose focus on me because I stunk and he was great. However, he was a true Professional Hitter and I never saw him give an AB away. Great hitters believe they can get a hit off anyone on the planet and also just as important they understand that any pitcher can get you out if you take him for granted and loose focus. That quick story brings me to the main point of this post. With runners in scoring position and 2 strikes or with 1 strike off a pitcher that has a great out pitch, if the pitcher has shown you that he is comfortable throwing the ball on the outside corner look out there and just get the barrel on the ball with a 75% effort swing and take your knock through the opposite field infield hole (LHH/6HOLE, RHH/4HOLE) Once you master this the advanced step is to be able to adjust to a mistake off speed pitch in this situation and drive the hanging off speed pitch even with 2 strikes. You have time to do this if you see the ball well out of the pitchers hand and don't give up on the pitch just because it is not the heater away you were looking for. With this approach your one hole is if the pitcher comes hard in on the black. If that happens just try to emergency swing and foul it off but if he freezes you and you strike out just tip your cap to the pitcher and adjust your approach for the next AB. Below is two big leaguers taking their knock with 2 strikes on heaters off the plate away that they took "ugly" mechanical swings on but found a way to get their barrel on the ball and took their steaks through the opposite field hole.
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