7 HITTING LESSONS

FROM BATTING PRACTICE

WITH A BIG LEAGUER
Hello,

My name is Bobby Tewksbary and Im the person behind

TewksHitting.com. Im currently a hitting coach at the business I
cofounded - AB Athletic Development in Nashua, NH. Since
2008, we have grown AB from a part-time passion project into a
full-time career with a 7,000 square foot facility, clients around the
country and Major Leaguers following of our instructional informa-
tion.

My goal is to help educate hitters and coaches about the swing. I

want to open their eyes to what is possible and help everybody
understand the swing process better. The swing is a very compli-
cated and dynamic movement that happens very quickly. When
hitters and coaches start to learn more about the swing, they can
work smarter and break away from limitations imposed by poor
mechanics. This information is career changing.

Please visit my website if you want more information about travel

clinics, instruction and my eBook, Elite Swing Mechanics.

www.TewksHitting.com

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INTRODUCTION In January 2014, I had the opportunity to work with a current MLB
player while on a trip to Louisiana. Im going to withhold his name
because it really isnt important for what I took away from the
work or for the information Im going to share. If you need more
info for the sake of credibility, this player was a starter on a con-
tending team who hit over .300, had more than 25 doubles and
more than 20 HRs. In 2014, this player was a MLB All-Star.

I want to share some thoughts and reactions I had from working

with this player as I feel he did things that any player could bene-
fit from. When I was finished throwing to him, I literally walked up
to him and told him I appreciated the opportunity to throw to him
and watch him work. It is very rare that I feel this way after throw-
ing BP.

So here are 7 thoughts I want to share to help you in your proc-

ess. I hope these lessons will help you approach your work with
better focus so you get more out of your time!

(If you like these lessons, please share them! Other coaches and
teammates may also benefit from this. Improving the game and
creating opportunity is what it is all about!)

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LESSON #1: The first round of BP wasnt pretty. I was actually surprised at
how ugly some of the results were. Little flairs to the opposite
field. Getting jammed. Weak grounders. The early swings were
ALLOW not about being a good hitter. They were about feeling the swing,
YOURSELF TO finding timing and balance.
FAIL. There is a difference between working on your swing and work-
ing on hitting. Many players never allow themselves to fail when
trying to feel new things. They seek out hard contact no matter
what. There is a fear of failure that simply shouldnt be there.

Even worse, most coaches never let players take rounds like this.
They freak out when a player takes an ugly round even if the
player is really working at something. You cant make changes
without expecting some degree of initial failure. Embrace it.
These swings dont define you. They allow you to get better!

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LESSON #2: We dont need to be in such a rush to take swings. A focus on de-
tails, implementing some intent and trying to feel things can (and
probably should) take more time. All too often, kids end up swing-
BE MORE ing just because a ball is there to be hit.
DELIBERATE.
There were times when I felt like I was waiting 30 seconds be-
tween throwing a pitch to this player. He was going through slow-
motion demos, working through certain aspects of the swings. It
was balance, hand path, timing or other details.

These moments where the process slowed down were very valu-
able probably more valuable than the actual swings being
taken. The intent behind the swing drives the quality of the work.

Dont rush and dont let your BP thrower rush you! (Im guilty of
this.)

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LESSON #3: One of the most glaring differences in throwing BP to this player
was how early the gather started. (This player used the word
gather instead of load.) In standing BP, as I was taking a jab step
BE EARLIER. and before my arm went back, the leg lift was starting. It was
very early compared to what I typically see.

The process of starting early allows for a focus on balance and

rhythm. The player was in complete control of the timing and was
never rushed. If anything, the player was so early that bat speed
had to be slowed down in order to get through the ball. This was
very much on purpose.

This was one of the things I enjoyed watching the most. The vast
majority of kids I see are late with everything they do. They are
late, then they end up rushing. The goal is obviously to be per-
fectly on time, but this wont always happen.

Test out this mindset the next time you take BP: Look in and ad-
just away/off-speed. Prepare your timing to hit a fastball on the
inside corner which is the pitch you have the least amount of time
for. Control your process and slow things down when you recog-
nize anything other than fastball in.

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LESSON #4: Have a goal for your round before you get into the cage. Work at
what you plan to work at and then get out. Dont swing away aim-
lessly. Dont take incredibly long rounds where you are just swing-
NEVER TAKE ing and swinging and swinging.
EMPTY SWINGS.
Work hard on your plan, achieve something then get out.

As a coach, watching a player take empty swings is probably

one of most frustrating things to see. Sometimes players need to
learn how to pay attention better and what to pay attention to -
that is OK. This is all part of the process.

Once a players learn how to work better, it is their responsibility

to be accountable with their work!

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LESSON #5: After this players first round of BP, he was very impressive. There
was only one ball that I felt he got around (a pitch on the outer
third that was a hard grounder off the L-screen) and he had an
HAVE A GOAL immediate reaction where his body language was screaming,
FOR THE TYPE OF That was unacceptable.
CONTACT YOU It wasnt that every ball was hit hard or that he flushed every ball,
WANT. but his bat path on nearly every swing was through the ball. To
me throwing, it was incredibly obvious that it was important to
him to get through the ball.

Is your intent obvious to the BP thrower? Next time you take BP,
pick something to work on for each round. It can change each
round or be the same but have a plan.

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LESSON #6 Every time you take a swing, there is a great deal of information
available to you. You need to improve your awareness of timing,
balance, the contact you achieve. You need to process this infor-
BE BETTER mation and make adjustments. If you need to do swing demos
BETWEEN between reps, take the time to do so.
SWINGS. I see way too many kids who simply swing the bat because there
is a ball in front of them. The time between swings is a mental
process.

So many players would greatly benefit from simply realizing HOW

they are missing the ball. Are you missing over or under the ball?
Are you getting around the ball or cutting it? Use time between
swings to think and to perform swing demos fixing the problem.

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LESSON #7 So many kids just try to hit the ball hard. They chase a sound or a
type of hit that makes them feel like they are good. Who cares.

IMPRESS WITH Becoming a better hitter is a grind. It isnt about killing a ball in

YOUR WORK, BP. It is about the process you bring with you each day. It is

NOT YOUR
about learning from failure. It is learning your feel and creating
higher standards for yourself.
RESULTS.
Your ability to process information and make adjustments will
serve you well but you need to work to develop this. Everybody
around you should be aware of your focus and attention to detail.

Very often, the worst days of hitting are the best days to learn.
You learn about how to fix your swing through thoughts and feel.
You also learn about yourself and how to compete. These les-
sons are just as important as any swing mechanic

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CONCLUSION I hope you find this information valuable whether you are a
player, coach or parent. In my opinion, the more kids are cele-
brated for results the less focus there is on process. Too many
kids are being told they are elite when they are not.

Being elite is a combination of ability and performance and not

every player has the ability to be elite. I truly believe that each
player can strive for their own version of excellence whether
that is elite or not. Most players never get it with this type of
stuff. This was the most elite player Ive ever worked with and
the most impressive thing about him was how he worked.

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NEXT STEPS Questions?
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