Get me overs or "hangers" are easier to be accurate with your barrel because they are closer to your eyes, but if you can master the proper bat path to a low breaking ball they go really far, if you are on time to the hitting zone with the barrel. I'm not into physics but I think this is because the low breaking ball has traveled more rotations down before contact at a steeper angle so when you square up this pitch with the proper upper cut it makes the ball go far. I don't know exactly why but just learn how to hit them so you can ruin the pitchers day :) The amateur curveball is brutal, but they get away with it. They throw the get me over that no one swings at and then they bounce their "hammer" lol, 2 strike curveball and most hitters swing at it but it would bounce before the catcher so if you take it the ump can't call it a strike because it would bounce before the catcher catches it. I'm pretty sure I've said it like 15 times in this blog but thats the biggest downfall of the amateur hitter. They don't make the pitcher do his job. His job is to throw the ball to the catcher, but most amateur hitters are not in the back of the box and are trying to protect home plate. Therefore, they let the pitcher throw the ball a shorter distance before they have to make their decision to take or swing earlier than they should. Every single possible reason for moving up in the box to adjust to a pitcher is hahahahaha to me. You are really just letting the pitcher throw it a shorter distance to the catchers glove and good catchers will move up with you as you move forward in the box. Amateur Coach Billy says, "I tell the hitters to move up because the pitcher throws too slow or to get the curveball before it breaks" lollolol. Just tell your hitters to start their load later. The biggest advantage hitters have is time, time for their eyes to tell the body the swing it needs to barrel up this particular incoming pitch and time to tell their eyes that this pitch is going to be a ball by the time it reaches the catcher. Most amateur hitters make these decisions when the pitch is 20-30 feet out of the pitchers hand so the breaking ball in the dirt still looks like a good pitch to hit at this point in its ball flight to home plate. The MLB hitters' eyes make this same decision when the ball is 45-55 feet out of release point because they trust their quick and explosive swing and stay relaxed during their load and trust their eyes to show them the swing/or take that's needed on this particular pitch. The pitcher's job is to throw pitches that initially look like strikes but become balls and pitches that look like balls and become strikes. This is WAY easier to do to a hitter than loads too early, gets his foot down too early and makes his decision to swing/take too early. Make the pitcher do his job which is to throw the ball to the catcher and make the distance to the catcher as far as possible.
This is a Homer Trout hit off a 95mph fastball in, at this point the amateur would have his foot almost down and he wouldn't be relaxed and letting his eyes work. Loading too early activates your slow twitch muscles, loading later, relaxed, allows your body to be quick and explosive which is great for hitting if you can stay relaxed until it's time to launch your barrel.
Sorry I got a little side tracked, back to the point of this post. In the pictures below notice how Donaldson lets the pitcher do his job and as the curveball moves towards him he is timing up the pitch with his body as he tracks the pitch flight with his eyes. He has good timing but is not accurate with his barrel, he hits it towards the end but because he launches his barrel quick and explosively it's a no doubter homer, if he had squared the ball up it would of been a moon shot. However, to hit a homer you just have to hit it the distance to hit it over the outfield fence. A great quote Harold Baines use to always say when a reporter asked him after a game he hit a homer in, "Harold you really crushed that home run you hit tonight." Harold just responded, "Apparently", almost mocking the reporter in a sarcastic way because he got paid to hit homers, whether he hit it 500 feet or 330 just over the fence they both count the same. So No Doubters are kewl but you are just trying to hit it out. The distance it travels past the fence is irrelevant to the result.
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