Baseball Tips On Hitting: Your Baseball Hitting Style Belongs To You Only!

By Larry Cicchiello
Updated: May 23, 2012

Your baseball hitting style is what you do at the plate before you swing the bat and baseball hitting mechanics are what you do when you are actually swinging the bat. If a coach wants to help you improve your baseball hitting mechanics, that’s one thing. But your very personal hitting style is an entirely different matter. It’s something that is your personal choice to do before the baseball hitting actually takes place. The smarter coaches will recognize this and leave your style totally up to you!

The point here is that basically you can do whatever you want as far as style is concerned and your style should not be altered by anyone. Sometimes fewer baseball hitting tips are better than more. Your baseball hitting style is something that you have decided gets you the best prepared to hit the baseball.

Baseball hitting styles vary tremendously from hitter to hitter and that’s the way it should be. If you’re comfortable waving the bat around, go for it. If you’re comfortable rocking back and forth, that too is absolutely fine. Styles vary, but you’ll find that after the style comes the mechanics of the swing and all the good baseball hitters are similar and have sound mechanics.

I know a baseball hitter who has the “style” of waving the barrel of the bat around in a very pronounced manner just before swinging the bat. It is definitely something you would not go out of your way to teach a player to do at the plate. But you know what? That’s his personal choice and the best way for him to prepare to hit. After all the waving of the bat, when the real moment of truth arrives and the actual baseball hitting takes place, he has outstanding mechanics. He has a very quick bat and a “short to the ball” yet violent swing and that’s why he is an extremely successful hitter! Wouldn’t it be foolish to ask him to change his style? Quite often coaches confuse mechanics with a player’s personal hitting style. Personally, I could care less if a hitter stands on his head while getting ready to hit. Who cares? The only thing that matters is that he has to be ready when the real moment of truth arrives.

Sometimes baseball players can be over managed. Occasionally, a baseball coach should forget about all the baseball tips on hitting and take a step back and let the players play. Yes, a baseball coach should by all means help you with baseball hitting mechanics or he shouldn’t be coaching. But as far as your personal style, as a baseball hitter, just do whatever you feel prepares you the best to hit the baseball and nobody involved in baseball coaching should ever try to take your personal baseball hitting style away from you!

What many coaches fail to realize is that you are in the hot seat at the plate and you have to feel comfortable when you are hitting. Not me, not your coach and not anyone else. This is a perfect example of “less being more.” A coach should deal with each hitter as an individual and taking a hitter out of his comfort zone at the plate is not productive for anyone. If your coach gives you a hard time, please have him contact me at his earliest convenience because we definitely need to have a chat!