Two Strike Approach

This is a post by http:www.CoachLisle.com  Check out his page and happenings going on at www.bayareabaseball.com.  Good stuff.

"As coaches we always talk to our players about 2 Strike Approach (meaning what we do at the plate differently when we have 2 strikes). As coaches we teach our hitters to spread out, get the front foot down early, get as close to the plate as possible, and to take away the outside pitch.

The advantages of this are: By being spread out and getting our foot down early our concentration is on making contact and not getting beat by a fastball. By getting close to the plate, we might get lucky that the pitcher makes a mistake and goes too far inside and we get a free base by getting hit by the pitch. Also by getting close to the plate and looking outside we are gambling on the fact that statistics show at younger ages most 2 strike pitches are on the outside part of the plate. If you make these adjustments at the youth and high school level, you will have more success with 2 strikes.But here’s some food for thought…

Carlos Lee, Alfonso Soriano and many other major leaguers have said that they’re 2 strike approach is to look for the high inside fastball instead and adjust otherwise. Now if the pro’s approach is High and Inside and the youth approach is the opposite (low and outside), should we change our approach? is our approach wrong? Or not as effective? Or does the traditional youth approach work because it applies to youth/high school level baseball and the pro’s approach applies to pro pitching? Something to think about…http:www.CoachLisle.com

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