Could You Be a Casey Kotchman?
The baseball season is a marathon; it takes endurance. I know there were days where I would drag myself to the park thinking that I was so tired of going through the warm-up routine, etc. for the day. While I loved every minute when the game started, sometimes the preparation was a bit taxing. I learned later in my career that preparation is the most significant factor involved in created top notch athletes.
In this specific post I want to make sure you are continuing to prepare in one specific area: your hitting mechanics knowledge and refinement. Why this late in the season should you pay close attention to your hitting mechanics? Because when you aren’t getting better, you’re loosing the ground to your competition. I live in Seattle and recently we (Seattle Mariners) dealt Cliff Lee to the Rangers. We got a few prospects in return, 1B slugger Justin Smoak was one of the athletes. It was just this off-season that the M’s thought they had solved their 1B woes by signing Casey Kotchman… 68 games and a .208 batting average later, he may be out of a job. What do you think he would give now for some consistent and effective hitting mechanics?
One great way you can learn what the guys in Bigs are doing is to study their hitting mechanics. But, you have to know what you’re looking for as well, otherwise your efforts will be ineffective. That’s where I come in. I’ve got a mini collection of clips I’m frequently posting on the video analysis tab above. You will find many current MLB sluggers. Watch their clips and read what I’ve written for each. While it’s not an in depth hitting mechanics 101 lesson, you will gain some valuable clues to your own hitting mechanics if you watch enough of the right swings. Do yourself a favor and prepare now, there will be a time you will need to draw from your prior knowledge and practice… hopefully not in the same way as Kotchman.
Learn proper hitting and pitching mechanics
