In the Box: Your Eyes Are The Key To Timing
June 11, 2014
By Kevin Wilson
One of the biggest complaints/concerns from hitters I work with is timing. When things aren’t going well, it almost always goes back to their difficulty of being on time.
In my opinion, timing happens when your eyes have been trained to make swing decisions. A lot of young hitters spend too much time on mechanics and not enough time training their eyes.
For starters, our eyes need to be able to recognize the ball coming out of the pitcher’s hand. We need to focus on the release point to try and recognize what the pitch is and where it’s going.
The best way to train our eyes to make swing decisions is to stand in on a pitcher’s bullpen session. You see this a lot at the pro level but not as much in the amateur game.
Our Eyes Tell Us When To Hit
If our bodies are not in position when our eyes give us the “go” sign, we won’t be able to execute our swing the way we want to. Standing in on bullpens allows us to get in position to hit with our bodies, see release point, track pitches, and most importantly allow us to decide as early as possible whether we should swing or not swing at a pitch. Disclaimer: DO NOT SWING AT PITCH IN BULLPEN! ...