Expert: Jack Elliott - 12/24/2008

Question
I am a 52 year old man, 5'10 and 195 Lbs, playing fast pitch softball.  I've played baseball and softball my entire life.  I have excellent hand-eye coordination, and always make contact when I swing.  I am a right handed hitter with a line drive type swing, and am basically a contact singles hitter with little power.  I hit over .600 every season.  My problem is that I hit everything, and I mean everything to the right side.  I simply cannot pull the ball.  I don't know if my problem is recognizing the pitch too late, making the decision to swing too late, or something mechanical in my swing, but I just can't pull a ball.  I literally will hit an inside pitch to the right side without trying.  What advice can you give to help me get the head of the bat around sooner to pull the ball?

Answer
Hi Dave,

I normally leave softball questions to other experts; however, this issue is one that occurs with baseball players as well so I will give some advice that might be helpful.  Consider practicing using a hitting tee and soft toss.   These drills can be used to help you improve your ability to pull the ball.  

A practice tee can be used to help adjust your swing and stance to learn to hit the ball to left field.  This may seem a little awkward at first; however, you should begin to notice what adjustments are needed with a swing.  You also can bolster this practice by using soft toss before moving to regular batting practice.  If issues still persist, you can always consider hiring a hitting coach.  However, practicing with a hitting tee should help you start to make some progress towards your goal.  

For what it is worth, Ted Williams had extreme difficult learning to hit to the opposite field and he was considered one of the best hitters of all time.  So recognize that your current predicament is not such a terrible thing and that many hitters would love to have that type of opposite field hitting ability.

Hope this helps,
Jack Elliott
http://www.baseballtrainingtechniques.com