One of the more common phrases I heard growing up was “hit ground balls and line drives.” For the most part, this is sound advice. Keeping the ball out of the air (fly balls) tend to improve a batter’s swing as well as his average. But a problem sometimes develops because of the phrase. Some batters think just putting the ball into play means they have been successful. We can assume that if the batter hit a line drive, he hit the ball hard. We cannot assume that on a ground ball. A weakly hit ground ball is still, in fact, a ground ball. Of course, a weak ground ball isn’t normally thought of as good result.
That is why I’ve started to use the phrase “one hop or line drives.” A one-hop grounder is one that is a bullett that gets on the infielder in a hurry. It bounces once before it reaches the outfield grass.
Emphasizing a one hop or line drive swing sends the clear message to hitters that their goal is to hit the ball HARD and must swing the bat accordingly.
Tomorrow’s post: Flat ground work for pitchers