There has always been a question about whether or not the stride is necessary. We’ve done enormous research on the stride, with one basic finding: The stride does not hit the ball. It only overcomes inertia and gets us into position to hit the ball and become a feared hitter in your league lineup. 

Here are some of the many questions: 

How long should it be?

What direction should it go?

Would it be best to eliminate it?

One thing is for sure: The stride, done poorly, will often do more harm than good. Here are some of those issues: Over-striding, stepping the bucket, and not getting the foot down in time will not help you become a good hitter in your leaguelineup.

One might think, let’s just eliminate the stride. Or let’s just put the front foot out, with only a little weight, and keep the rest of the weight back.

In all of our years of studying baseball hitting tips for research and development of the Super 8 Hitting System, we looked for answers to those questions.

I am a hitting purest, meaning that if the activity is not necessary, then we don’t do it. In other words, economy of action, doing only the absolutes with no wasted motion is the way to go. So should we eliminate the stride? Many coaches teach this in their clinics and camps using many baseball hitting drills.

My belief is that while no stride is ten times better than a bad stride, a good stride is better than no stride.  Against a good velocity pitcher, a hitter must have quick hips. He must be able to turn quickly, clearing his hips and getting his hands out in front for contact. The stride is an asset for this. It provides a continuation from linear to rotation for the fast ball and for transfer of weight through the ball to help you be the best hitter in your league lineup.

Here is the timing factor:

            Fast Ball:          Stride –Stroke

            Off Speed:        Stride– Pause – Stroke

Think of the top that young people used to play with. With all of the electronic games of today, the old “top” has been sort of put away on the proverbial shelf. But the top used to be a favorite toy for youngsters. It’s a rounded object with a pin on the bottom. They would wind the string around it, toss it forward holding onto the end of the string.

When the pin of the top hit the ground, the top would change from linear direction to rotational.  It would spin, and spin until it lost its momentum and flopped over. 

If the top were merely dropped straight down vertically, this would create a very loose rotation, if any, and it would almost immediately drop over on its side.

So what’s the point? Like the linear action of the top gives it the force that it needs for strong rotation, so does the linear action of the stride provide a good rotation of the hips toward the ball.

Do not underestimate the importance of the stride. It needs to be practiced. The problem many hitters have is that they do not practice their strides away from hitting practice, thus have a difficult time being the top hitter in their league lineup.

In our Hitting System, we practice striding during the following batting practice sequence to help you become the best hitter in your leaguelineup:

• Soft body, no stride, full take

• Load and Stride – Take

• Load – Stride – Pivot

Isolating these three activities by themselves can be performed alone at home without a pitched ball, or during batting practice, like in our Hitting Agenda and Tempo Drills. This builds the stride to the point where it is constant.

Here are the rules for the best stride:

• The stride travels only 6 inches.

• The stride lands on the ball of the foot

• The stride goes directly ahead and in the same place each time.

• The stride begins on pitcher’s release.

• The hands stay home near the back shoulder during the stride and are not released to make the bat contact the ball until after the pivot (rotation of the hips).

Another coaching point: The stride should be initiated in the large muscle mass of the hips. In other words, it is a slight linear push of the hips toward the ball. The front foot merely follows this push, landing on the ball of the foot. When the front heel goes down, this keys the turn of the hips and the weight transfer and help you become threat in your league lineup.

When facing a pitcher with above average velocity, a baseball player must be quick in the hips and rotate accordingly… having the ability to clear his mid section and allow his hands to get out in front makes for better contact with the ball. The stride plays a vital role in developing from linear to rotation for a sinker or four seam fastball for weight thru the ball.