Two-Strike Hitting: The Correct Approach?

Hey guys,

So I promised you a post on two-strike hitting.  What brought this up is that some big time colleges, such as South Carolina are changing from the traditional, "sit fastball and adjust to the off speed" approach to something much different.  The new theory going right now is to look for the off speed and fight off the fastball.  So what's the reasoning for this?  The reasoning is that over 60% of strikeouts come from off speed pitches, so we should  be looking for them.  I, and many other people, disagree with this theory.

The first and most important problem that I have with this is that your two-strike approach should change from pitcher to pitcher and should be different for different hitters.  Many pitchers are predictable.  Some of them, you know you will see an off speed pitch when you have two strikes.  If this is the case, then why wouldn't you be sitting on it?  On the other hand, many pitchers rely on their fastball too much so why would you not be looking for that mistake fastball?  Do you see what I mean?  Those are just a few variables that can change your approach.

Now what about your hitters?  If you have a guy who has quick enough hands to fight off the fastball when he is looking for off speed that he may be a hitter who can use this new approach.  However, 95% of hitters do not have quick enough hands to do this, so they should be looking for a fastball and adjusting to the off speed on two strikes.

The moral of the story is that there is no set approach that is correct.  If you are a coach, you should know enough about the game to be able to tell you hitters the kind of approach that they should be using.  Look at the pitcher, analyze the type of hitter who is batting, and think about the situation in the game.  Then make your decision.  I'll be back tomorrow with a post that pitchers are going to want to see.

Until Next Time!

Tip of the Day: On two strikes, expand your strike zone by two baseballs outside, inside, up, and down.  Your strikeouts will decrease dramatically if you are able to do this.