Hitting for Average Is an Approach, Not a Personality

College coaches will take a kid who drives the ball in the gap every day over a kid who sells out for a homer twice a month and chases the rest. Hitting for average is not “being a contact guy.” It’s an approach. Hunt the pitch he can handle and stay through the middle of the field. An approach is when the hitter breaks the plate into 1/3rds and focusing on hitting 2/3rds of the plate, which usually is the outer 2/3rds.

When you have just twenty minutes to hit, tee work is the simplest routine to go to. Have him hit rounds of eight swings. First round up the middle. Second, place the ball centered up with his body, driving the ball over the opposite middle infielder’s head. Third, place the ball on his back leg, driving it over the opposite corner infielder’s head. Fourth, take it right back at the pitcher’s head. Then max-velocity swings for a few rounds. Then let him choose. The full rounds are on the Development page.

The cage is where he learns to get his barrel in the zone and then keep the barrel in the zone a long time. If he’s late, he will shoot a ball the other way. If he is early, he will pull a line drive. During the game, teach him to study the pitcher. If he understands how he’s being pitched, he can take a plan into the box. Every pitcher and pitching coach has patterns they fall into. By paying attention, it will help your son understand what pitches he will get. It isn’t magic. It’s paying attention.

Your job is not to call pitches out from the third-base fence. It’s to keep the work simple enough that the approach can actually show up on Saturday. No big coaching points. No need to write a $100 check for the lesson. Just you, him, a net, and a plan. Stack the days. Let the pattern stick. The thought in the box is yes, yes, yes.