Why Do I Keep Hitting Grounders?
There are several factors that can cause a batter to keep hitting grounders. Let's take a look at a few.
Pitch selection
There are certain pitches that are designed to force batters to hit ground balls. For example, the low and inside fastball, the change-up down-and-in and down-and-away, the curve ball down and away, the cut-fastball, and the split-finger fastball to name a few.
Pitch Location
If you noticed, in the previous examples of pitch selection, the location was always down. Pitches that are down-and-in and down-and-away are tough pitches to get in the air. When we talk about a pitcher who keeps the ball down as being a tough pitcher to hit, what we are really saying is that he is a ground ball pitcher. He is not necessarily trying to strike batters out, he is really trying to get batters out by causing them to ground out to the infielders. Low ball pitchers don't get many home runs hit off of them.
Rolling the Top-Hand
Rolling the top-hand is one of the most common problems for young hitters. When the top-hand rolls over it usually causes a batter to hit the top-half of the ball resulting in a weak ground ball. The roll over is also common when a batter gets an outside pitch and swings too early causing the batter to pull the ball which usually results in a ground ball.
Pitch selection
There are certain pitches that are designed to force batters to hit ground balls. For example, the low and inside fastball, the change-up down-and-in and down-and-away, the curve ball down and away, the cut-fastball, and the split-finger fastball to name a few.
Pitch Location
If you noticed, in the previous examples of pitch selection, the location was always down. Pitches that are down-and-in and down-and-away are tough pitches to get in the air. When we talk about a pitcher who keeps the ball down as being a tough pitcher to hit, what we are really saying is that he is a ground ball pitcher. He is not necessarily trying to strike batters out, he is really trying to get batters out by causing them to ground out to the infielders. Low ball pitchers don't get many home runs hit off of them.
Rolling the Top-Hand
Rolling the top-hand is one of the most common problems for young hitters. When the top-hand rolls over it usually causes a batter to hit the top-half of the ball resulting in a weak ground ball. The roll over is also common when a batter gets an outside pitch and swings too early causing the batter to pull the ball which usually results in a ground ball.
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