Aim, Timing and Luck: A Non-Professional Baseball Player’s Guide to Hitting the Ball

By Christy Flom on April 30, 2015

Grab your peanuts, hotdogs and a nice cold beer because baseball season is here! The MLB and college season are already well under-way as many college students head into finals week at their schools.

While students are cramming for exams and stress eating late at night, here is a guide on how to hit a baseball to relax everyone during their finals.

Yes, this will relax you because first of all baseball is the American pastime. And second of all, both guys and girls can learn to hit a baseball pretty easily so read up because it is much more entertaining than your biology, chemistry, history, engineering, or English exam.

Image via Pete Miller on flickr.com

After reading this, anyone will be able to leave the library for a bit and go toss around a ball with some friends for a bit. A friendly game of wiffle ball is feasible too if people have spare bats laying around.

But first, you must learn the basics of how to actually make contact with the ball. Hitting a baseball takes much more skill than you would think it would require. Unfortunately, you cannot merely close your eyes and hope for the best as you viciously swing into the air. Being able to hit a baseball takes balance, great eye-hand coordination and some skill.

The first thing a hitter needs to keep in mind when stepping up to the plate is how he is holding the bat. I’m no professional on baseball but I did some research on how to hold the bat before swinging.

It’s important to keep your elbow up and to firmly grasp the bat. I’ve heard some people overlap a finger or so but it is really all about what is most comfortable for you.

Next, it is important to have a nice and wide stance. Your feet should be at least shoulder length apart and the knees should not be locked. They need to be loose so you can follow through without tearing anything as the legs pivot with your swing.

Speaking of swing, this is where the hips come into play. The hips are driving the force of the swing. As the arms come forward and follow through, so do the hips. This is hard to explain in text, so some videos are provided throughout the article to help you out.

Once you are holding the bat correctly and have a solid stance, it is really about keeping one’s eyes on the ball. The stance and grip will help once you are ready to swing but the timing of your swing is very important.

For this, unless you have the uncanny ability to just swing and throw up a prayer to hit the ball – in which case you should really think about playing professionally – practice will help make it easier to hit the ball.

Since not all high school baseball players can play at the college level and even fewer make it to the major leagues, getting some friends together to play at an open field is the perfect study break.

While the swing is admittedly different from a golf swing, there are similar tactics. Hence, don’t shun your golf friends from playing, too. Everybody can use some fresh air, even in Michigan where it is still more likely to be snowing in April than for people to see the sun.

Anyways, being able to hit a baseball takes confidence, too. If you think you have no chance of hitting that ball when you are at the base, then you really have zero chance of hitting the ball. Having confidence means having a little swag (no matter how dumb that sounds) when you are holding the bat. You have to believe in yourself to be able to hit the ball.

Image captured by Yi Chen via flickr.com

I have many friends without a single athletic gene in their body and when we play wiffle ball, they can still manage to hit the ball. It may not be a grand slam, but it goes farther than the pitcher.

So, this is proof to me that anyone with a little bit of practice can learn to hit a baseball. They may never and most likely will never be at the college level, not to mention the professional level, but they can still have a blast playing a pickup game with friends.

In sum, keep a firm grasp on the bat, and have a wide stance. Keep the knees unlocked and be flexible at the waist, hitting the ball through your hips. And don’t forget to pivot as you follow through so that you don’t tear your ACL or anything.

If these tips don’t offer any help, honestly just keep swinging and eventually you will hit the ball. Or else, just be a base runner. This means let your friends hit the ball and then you run the bases. This could be more fun because as long as you can slide without killing yourself, stealing the bases is much more intense.

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