1. Stance position, bottom hand (lead hand) starts at shoulder point.
2. Palm open, facing down.
3. Other hand on hip.
4. Front heel lifts, player loads.
   1. Hips rotate square to pitch—hand at shoulder moves straight to front of body, where hands
      would be while bat is in contact.
5. Hand remains palm down.

1. Same stance but with palm open, facing up and forward.
2. Hips rotate square to pitch, hand will move to same location, but with palm up.

1. Put both hands together, but with bat added, starting at the shoulder area.
2. Move bat into contact (hands should be in same position as before.)
3. Open hands while in contact position.
4. Top hand open, palm up, under bat.
5. Bottom hand open, palm down, over bat.

There is better chance therefore to control the stride.  Therefore, we recommend that you stride with the front hip, and let the feet follow.

Feet have a tendency to get happy, not only in over striding, but in striding in the wrong direction.  So you want the stride to be in the large muscle mass (hips) with a slight push towards the pitcher.  The stride is only about 6 inches.

Some baseball training drills that you can do are the following:

1. Take the stride away completely for a while, by only lifting the front heel before the hip turn.  Keep a good base. When the front heel goes down, he should pivot toward the ball.  This should be only a temporary technique.

A good stride is better than no stride.  But no stride is better than a bad one.

2. Practice load and stride only using the proper technique, since this can be done any place.  Doing enough of these should overcome the long stride habit.

In a reaction skill, it usually takes 11 to 1 ratio of correct strides to incorrect. He must work on this over and over again because he has many incorrect strides to work out of his technique.

We use our Super 8 Hitting System “Tempo Baseball Drills” which repeats this technique over and over again.  This is a great way to reinforce the good habit.

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.

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.

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.

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 hitting action of the top gives it the force that it needs for strong rotation, so does the linear hitting action of the stride provide a good rotation of the hips toward the ball.

In our Hitting System, we practice striding during the following batting drills practice sequence:

• 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 on baseball hitting drills for kids: 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.

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.

You can learn more from Coach Joe Brockhoff’s Super 8 Hitting System from our five (5) free hitting videos here – Baseball Hitting Videos.

We also put a “percussion” or pad towards the top of the bat. That’s the only part of the bat that we want to feel some weight. The brockbuster bat is like hitting the speed bag in boxing.

There is a 6 in string attached to the top of the bat that is attached to a wiffle ball. The purpose of the wiffle ball is to hear the “swishing” sound… that gives the instant feedback on the correct stroke. Hitters almost immediately see in increase in bat speed by doing just a few of the workouts that we provide in our Super 8 Hitting System.

We start out by doing overhead snaps for our brockbuster bat workout to get the wrists moving and creating muscle memory on snapping to the ball, or exploding to the ball. We take that same snap and move it in to the hitting zone. We can work on high pitches and low pitches with the bat.

We want short snaps to work on hitting more balls and more line drives, instead of pop ups and grounds balls.

Coach Joe Brockhoff designed the Brockbuster Bat to increase bat speed and correct common hitting faults to eliminate the looping or sweeping swing. You can purchase the brockbuster bat here.

The board itself comes in an all-weather plastic board, and we put baseballs on the board as windows within the frame so you can identify each part of the strike zone (low and inside, high and outside, etc.). The primary purpose of the readerboard is to help hitters see the ball better to make better contact.

Often times, hitters tell us the all the time – “Coach, I’m just not seeing the ball”. Not only will the hitting board help you see the ball better, but it will help you line up the barrel of the bat according to where the ball is pitched in the strike zone.

When hitters take batting practice, they often just work on hitting the ball down the middle of the plate. What they don’t work on, is the low and outside, high and outside, up and in, etc. The board will help you make those adjustments and practice on hitting good pitches. We don’t want to hit the ball with a level stroke… we want to match the “cut lines” on the baseball with the barrel of the bat to make the best contact.

We have “bullseyes” on each ball to help the hitter focus on hitting the baseball with solid contact. If you were throwing darts at a dart board, you would be focusing on the bullseye. Same thing applies with the baseball readerboard.

Coach Joe Brockhoff designed the Super 8 Readerboard to help hitters make better contact and hit with more consistency. You can purchase the readerboard here.

Personally, I have seen this happen over and over again during analysis of players in their front view hitting videos.  They took beautiful contacts of the ball and turned them into ground balls because they rolled the bat head too early.

Does it seem logical to roll the wrists at the point of contact when we are trying to attack the ball? Answer:  Absolutely not.  The only time the wrists should roll is when the bat is brought back to the opposite shoulder following the forward extension of the bat after contact.

We must keep the bat head in line with the stroke and not allow it to roll.  When making contact, the barrel of the bat must be kept constant before, during, and after contact.  Otherwise,  the ball will escape.

So, to learn how to hit better in baseball, here is a great rule:  It’s called “UNDER – UNDER”.

Check out your baseball hitting mechanics.  The top hand on contact, should be UNDER the bat.  Open up the hand on the bat when it is at the point of contact.  It should be under the bat with palm up.

Following contact, the bat head should travel to its forward extension, and the top hand should still be UNDER the bat.  Check it out.  Open up the hand.  It should still be under the bat with palm up.

So again, here is one of our best baseball hitting tips: Use this:  The UNDER – UNDER rule.

One final note:  Here is another way to keep the hands in check.  The knocking knuckles of the top hand always face the pitch on contact and never face down as the bat goes into extension.

These techniques are fully explained in our baseball hitting web site for the “Super 8 Hitting System”, completely demonstrated in a series of baseball hitting videos, which includes many techniques for learning how to hit better in baseball.

Our hands are auto reactors. They provide some of our quickest muscle reactions. If we hold our hands up and pop our wrists, we can do that over and over again very quickly. If someone were to throw a punch at us, our hands would quickly and automatically pop in defense.

As in infielder, we don’t have to think about a ball thrown to us. Our hands will react to the direction of the ball and make the catch without having to think about it.

Think of the catcher after he gives the sign to the pitcher. He is taught to frame the pitch. His hands automatically go to the pitch without any thought or direction.

So, the hands are auto reactors. Is this good for the hitter? The answer is: NO! The hitter who allows his hands to react automatically as his first movement towards the pitch will never have full body support.

When the hands go too early, this is when we hear the coach yell out, “Wait on the pitch!”.

Now, let’s apply this to our baseball coaching tips:

1. Coil (Load): The hitter collects his weight on the backside

2. Stride: A linear step towards the pitched ball (30-40% of weight transfer)

3. Body Rotation: Hips rotate toward the ball

4. Hands will then, and only then, execute the stroke

Here is one of our best baseball coaching tips: “HIPS TAKE US TO THE BALL. HANDS TAKE US THROUGH THE BALL.”

So, when we are learning how to hit in baseball, do we trust the hands? The answer is:

Don’t trust the hands. Then, trust the hands. In other words, discipline the hands to wait until we get into the launch position, which is with the hands inside the ball and hips rotated.

Our hands do not initiate the stroke until we rotate to the pitch. They travel in rotation with the pivot, but they do not commit to the pitch until the rotation is complete. This rotated position with the hands still back is what we call the DRIVE position. It is at that time that the hands will launch.

NOW we can trust them. Let them explode the bat to the ball.

One final note. Remember that when we hit, the hands are in a double lever system. That is, they don’t personally go to the ball. They are holding the bat, which goes to the ball. The hands always end up in front of the body. They are responsible for directing the bat to the proper cut line on the pitch.

These techniques are fully explained in our Super 8 Hitting System DVD set, completely demonstrated in a series of baseball coaching tips.

Good luck – hope this helps.

Coach Joe Brockhoff

1. How much weight?
2. Which direction?
3. How high and how wide ?
4. Should we stride at all?

An instructor during my pro days who was teaching me how to hit in baseball  told me that if the pitch is straight down the middle, step forward.  If the pitch is outside, step toward the outside, and if the pitch is inside, step inside.    The problem is that against good velocity, there is absolutely no way for a hitter to wait until after he determines the direction of the pitch before he takes his stride.  He will always be late getting to the pitch and will have extreme difficulty with his timing and how to hit in baseball.

Another method made famous by Kirby Puckett, is to raise the front foot in an exaggerated hop-step stride.   Many hitters who try this method struggle because they cannot get the front foot down in time to start the stroke.

Our Super 8 Hitting System techniques are simple, easy and repeatable.

Here is a very important principle:   THE STRIDE DOESN’T HIT THE BALL.  It merely gets us in position to hit the ball.  This means the hands are still back at the completion of the stride.  The stride overcomes inertia and supports the hitter against the fastball.

If the pitch is a fast ball, the action would be “stride-stroke”.  If the pitch is slower, there would be a momentary pause.  Example:  ”stride-(pause) stroke”.

The stride is initiated by the large muscle in the upper leg (hip thigh area), which keeps it consistent.

Here are the rules:

1. The stride travels only 6 inches, directly forward, in the same place every time.
2. It occurs at the time of pitcher release.
3. It distributes approximately 30-40% of the weight to the front side, and lands on the ball of the foot, which remains closed, open no more than 45°, which usually happens during the pivot.   Some players stride in a “toe tap”, with no significant weight on the front foot.  If a player places only 10% of his weight down on his stride, how will he get 90% more of his weight off his back side when he rotates to the pitch?  He can’t.
4. It happens quickly, getting the batter into position to hit.

Finally, never underestimate the importance of a good stride.  It is part of the hitter’s timing.  When he’s striding, he’s deciding.

The hitter must work on his stride in his baseball batting drills, using either live or pitching machine  practice,  so that he can drill “stride and take”, just concentrating on technique.

These techniques are fully explained in our baseball hitting tips web site for the “Super 8 Hitting System”, completely demonstrated in eight baseball hitting videos, which include many tips on how to hit in baseball.

Pulling off the ball is a common mistake by many hitters. In order to get consistent contact, the hitter must be sure his head stays closed, in other words, looking down into the contact area. Here are some great baseball hitting drills to help you out.

It is very easy to get into the habit of pulling off the ball. This is especially true for power hitters.

Have you ever seen a power hitter hit a home run and thereafter, he can’t couch the ball? What happened?

The home run took him out of himself. So as he pivots, he is also pivoting his head.

First of all, hitters should never take a 100% stroke. Doing this invites pulling off the ball.

For efficiency, the stroke should be no more than 95%, saving 5% for command.

As coaches, we sometimes go too far in the other direction by telling them to “just meet the ball.” And now they start to aim the bat, which is not good either.

Hitting is a controlled explosion. Continue to be aggressive, with a 95% stroke.

So what do we advise? The hitter is pulling off because he’s rotating his complete body when he hits.

He must focus on his head rotating in the opposite direction to the hips. As the hips rotate to the pitcher, the head should rotate to the ball.

Here are three baseball hitting drills for this:

DRILL #1

Place a pile-on or glove across from the hitter just outside the batter’s box in front of home plate (45% angle). After the hitter makes contact, he looks into the pile-on area. This keeps the head inside.

DRILL #2 (with pitching machine or live pitcher)

Hitter assumes his stance, with no bat. To simulate holding a bat, his top hand grabs the thumb of his bottom hand. Coach stands in back of the hitter and holds his head on both sides . The hitter takes batless strokes at the pitched ball, while coach restricts the head to keep it on the ball as it enters the hit zone.

DRILL #3 (Full Take)

The hitter will coil, stride, and read the pitch to the catcher.

This keeps the head independent and disciplines it to stay with the ball. Note: This head discipline should carry over to his regular hitting, in the “full take”, a pitch that is an obvious ball.

Coaching Points. The hitter should not go to the point where his head is pushing against the back shoulder. This locks up the back shoulder and restricts his extension.

The head swivels. It should never tilt while reading the pitch. This causes the body to tilt also and the eyes to look on a vertical plane. Eyes must stay basically horizontal for best vision and body control.

These techniques are fully explained in our baseball hitting instruction web site for the “Super 8 Hitting System”, including batting aids and a series of baseball hitting videos, which demonstrates many baseball hitting drills.

Coach Joe Brockhoff