Hitting

Evaluating Hitters Explained By Gary Ward

Evaluating Hitters Explained By Gary Ward

by • Evaluating, Hitting

Evaluating hitters has been lifetime quest for Gary Ward, one of the top batting instructors in the history of college baseball. In the Jan. 4, 2013 issue of Collegiate Baseball, he explained his precision approach to finding great hitters.

In 19 years as the head coach at Oklahoma State, his teams led all NCAA Division I teams in run production six times. His teams routinely produced staggering offensive numbers. 

“To start with, we do a static ball test with all of our hitters,” said Ward.

“We have a batter in a hitting cage put a ball on a batting tee in the middle of the plate so that he can drive it right at someone 20 feet away holding a radar gun behind protective netting. Usually this takes place in the back of our hitting cage. The batter continues to hit balls on the tee like this so you can get a good miles per hour average reading coming off the bat.

“You only take the readings that fall into a quadrant of 5 x 5 feet, and usually a hitter is given 10 cuts. Sometimes hitters are not very polished and don’t square up the ball well which makes scoring them very difficult. We have evaluated probably tens of thousands of kids over the years, and you get a pretty good idea of hand strength and bat speed with this test, two extremely important areas.”

Ward said he has utilized the static ball test for over 40 years in college baseball going back to his coaching days at Yavapai Junior College in Arizona.

“If you have a hitter who hits balls 80-84 mph, he will struggle to have gap power. He has a soft bat. And you must project that type of kid to grow more or gain strength. We have found that hand speed and hand strength can be developed. If you have a hitter who has good velocity off the bat in this test, he is way ahead of the game.

“Hitters who are at the 84-87 range are just beginning to develop gap power. When they are 88-90, they are beginning to have line drive gap power. And when they get into the low 90s, they might have home run power. But they must square up the ball perfectly for that to happen.

“As they reach the 94-96 mph range, they now have home run power. They have the ability to lift some balls out of the park even though they might not have perfect contact.

“When they get to the 96-100 mph range, they can easily carry balls out of the ball park. They have legitimate home run power. Prior to the BBCOR bat, it wasn’t unusual to have a player or two who hit 105 mph balls off bats in the static ball test.

“This test is valuable for both the coach and player. It is controlled with the same bat and same ball. The kid who can square the ball up and hit balls in the 5 x 5 quadrant may score higher initially because he probably is an advanced hitter. There probably is a 3-5 percent range of error. But it helps us evaluate our college players and even young players in our camps. This test has been dead on for me for many years.”

The entire story can be read in the Jan. 4, 2013 edition of Collegiate Baseball. To purchase this issue or start a subscription, CLICK HERE.

How Science, Analytics Changed Hitting Forever

How Science, Analytics Changed Hitting Forever

by • Coaching, Hitting

By LOU PAVLJohn Mallee cubs abca 2016 4CNZ3T7721 4COVICH, JR.
Editor/Collegiate Baseball

NASHVILLE, Tenn. — Chicago Cubs’ hitting coach John Mallee is one of the most progressive teachers in the game of baseball.

Last January at the American Baseball Coaches Association convention in Nashville, he gave a remarkable presentation on How Science and Analytics Changed The Swing.

It was one of the most important talks in the history of the ABCA which dates back to 1945.

Mallee is in his second year in the Cubs organization and his sixth as a major league hitting coach.

He has 20 seasons of experience in professional baseball on every level. Along the way, he has tried to uncover every possible clue as to what allows a great hitter to excel.

The numbers supplied by Mallee tell an amazing story on the Major League level:

  • The ideal launch angle for balls exiting greater than 90 mph for a base hit is 7-12 degrees (75% hits).
  • The ideal launch angle for balls exiting less than 90 mph for base hit is 12-15 degrees (90% hits).
  • The ideal launch angle for balls exiting greater than 90 mph for a home run is 23-35 degrees (40% home runs).
  • The average exit velocity for a hard-hit ball is 90 mph.
  • The average exit velocity for a home run in 2015 was 103.5 mph.
  • The ideal attack angle for a line drive is 6-14 degrees.
  • The ideal attack angle for a home run is 20-25 degrees.
  • Average speed of a fastball is 92.5 mph.
  • Average distance pitches thrown to the plate is 54′ 4″.
  • Average height of the release point by the pitcher is 6′ 1″.
  • Reaction time for the hitter is .41 seconds.
  • The fastball crosses home plate at a 6 degree decline.
  • The average fastball pitch height arriving at home plate is 2′ 7″.
  • The average fastball crosses the front of home plate at 85.2 mph.
  • Average speed of a major league curveball is 78 mph.
  • The curveball plane is a minimum 10 degree decline.
  • The curveball pitch height as it arrives to home plate is 1′ 11″.
  • A curve crosses the front of home plate at 72.4 mph.
  • The batting average for ground balls is .245.
  • The batting average for line drives is .640.

“The story of how I arrived at my hitting philosophy is interesting, said Mallee.

“The foundation of what I believe in started in 1996 in Beloit, Wisc. It was my first year coaching in professional baseball, and I was 26 years old. Up until that point, I was teaching lessons and giving information to hitters that I was previously taught as a player.

 “Then I was introduced to Bob Keyes of Bio-Kinetics Research and Development and Ralph Dickinson who was my hitting coordinator with the Brewers. That was my first experience using science to help me understand how the swing works.

“I learned about dynamic balance, controlling the body’s center of mass, the kinetic chain, accelerating and decelerating links, sequential order, muscle torque, along with the pre-stretch that takes place prior to muscle firing.

“All of this vividly showed that the lower half of the body starts the swing. The big debate when I was finishing pro ball was whether the hands go first or the lower half. Where does the swing come into play in regard to the kinetic chain?

“What I learned from Bob Keyes and Ralph Dickinson was that the lower half must start the swing. I still follow those beliefs.”

Mallee said that he has become even more informed about hitting the last three years.

“Three years ago, I was involved with the Astros’ organization and was introduced to analytics. These are the numbers behind the results. I learned the importance of exit velocity, launch angle, OPS (on-base plus slugging), slugging percentage, trajectory with different types of pitches, spin rate, effective velocity, etc.

“Everything started to make sense. I do a lot of my teaching now based on what the numbers say.”

Hit Balls In The Air
Mallee said the numbers vividly show balls must be hit in the air and not on the ground.

“When you look at batting averages and slugging percentages of balls that are hit on the ground compared to line drives or fly balls in Major League baseball, the numbers are revealing.

“When you hit ground balls, the batting average is .245 while the slugging percentage is .266.

“The batting average for line drives is .640 while the slugging percentage is 1.030.

“The batting average for fly balls is .143 while the slugging percentage is .567.

“The numbers show that you should stay away from ground balls and ideally hit line drives. Fly balls are much better to hit than ground balls when you look at the slugging percentage.

“Pitchers are all trying to keep the ball low and sink the ball on the strike zone. So with all this data and common sense, a question begs to be answered.

“Should you swing up, swing down or swing level? The answer is to stay level with the plane of the pitch. It gives you a much better opportunity to hit a hard line drive or fly ball. I’m not talking about a pop up here. I’m talking about getting the ball in the air as opposed to hitting on the ground.”

Launch Angles
Mallee said when you examine launch angles for line drives and home runs, you get a better picture of what hitters must accomplish to be successful.

“The ideal launch angle for a home run is between 23-35 degrees which accounts for 40% of all home runs when balls are hit at a 90 mph exit velocity or greater.

“The ideal launch angle for a hit with balls exiting 90 miles per hour or greater is 7-12 degrees (75% hits). Balls exiting at less than 90 miles per hour, the ideal launch angle for hitters is 12-15 degrees (90% hits).”

To read more about the hitting philosophy of John Mallee, purchase the April 22, 2016 edition of Collegiate Baseball or subscribe by CLICKING HERE.

The rest of the article includes important information such as where the bat makes contact with the ball in regard to ground balls, line drives and home runs.

It also delves into the average exit velocity off bats of Major Leaguers, the bat speed at impact, the time to impact, the attack angle of hitters since typical pitches are coming in at a 6 degree decline, how to practice so that you can simulate a 92 mph fastball at a short distance for hitters and at what height it must be thrown from.

Plus, Mallee talks about the incredible importance of Result Oriented Training which allows hitters to make adjustments to their swing without a coach picking apart their mechanics as hitters thrive.

Ray Birmingham Explains Amazing System

Ray Birmingham Explains Amazing System

by • Coaching, Featured Stories, Hitting

Ray BirminghamBy LOU PAVLOVICH, JR.
Editor/Collegiate Baseball
© 2013 Collegiate Baseball

ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. — One of the premiere baseball coaches in the USA is Ray Birmingham of the University of New Mexico. The head coach of the Lobos recently celebrated his 1,000th coaching victory with a 19-5 win over Air Force and has been a collegiate head coach for 26 years.

His teams are tougher than boot leather and endure “Marine Day” training sessions at 4 a.m. through the fall to allow the team to bond together. He has been a passionate student of the game every step of the way and has utilized information from such great Hall of Fame coaches as Ed Cheff (Lewis-Clark St.), Lloyd Simmons (Seminole St. J.C., Okla.), Gary Ward (Oklahoma St., New Mexico St.), Tony Gwynn (San Diego Padres, San Diego St.), Andy Lopez (Arizona), Cliff Gustafson (Texas), Ron Polk (Mississippi St.),  Augie Garrido (Texas), Mark Johnson (Texas A&M), Wayne Graham (Rice), and Mark Marquess (Stanford) to name just a few.

From this vast knowledge base, he has come up with a coaching system that is one of the best in the business. He began his coaching career at College of The Southwest and won 53 games in two years before leading New Mexico Junior College to a 765-255-2 record in 18 years and won the 2005 NJCAA national championship.

He has been at the University of New Mexico since 2008 and has led the Lobos to three straight NCAA regionals after UNM had not been to one in 48 years.

Weather, Scheduling Issues
New Mexico always seems to struggle early in the season because of frigid weather in Albuquerque and the talented teams they play. But this toughens them up for conference games and the playoffs following that. As a result, the Lobos usually have a marginal record through 15-20 games prior to conference games starting.

But then New Mexico begins to win and keeps winning through the rest of the season.

“Baseball is a journey to me, and many people get caught in the records of teams, especially early in the season,” said Birmingham.

“But records mean nothing to me at that time because we are focusing on playing the toughest teams we can early because baseball is all about the last man standing.

“And then your ball club will either get tough or die. I want to play Stanford, Texas, Arkansas, Oklahoma, Arizona, Arizona St. and teams like that. If your team doesn’t learn to play against the best teams, how will they compete when the post-season arrives?

“I was inspired by what Stony Brook did last year and what Fresno St. did a few years ago when they won the national championship. We don’t need sunshine. All we need is an opportunity.”

Birmingham acknowledged that generating a great Rating Percentage Index score is tough for New Mexico.

“We usually are a victim of the RPI because we play such a tough schedule early which is very demanding and might not come with a lot of wins. In my first year at New Mexico, we opened up with a 10-game winning streak but didn’t play great teams like we do now early in the season. We scheduled teams that had RPIs in the upper 100s and even into the 200s. I decided after that we needed to play the toughest teams possible which would help our team improve. And it has helped us tremendously.”

Birmingham said the improvement his teams show as the season progresses is the result of other factors as well.

“I am a big believer in team building. We are all teammates and are pushing the rock in the right direction. I will bark at the players if they don’t play it the right way, but I am always pulling for every kid on the squad. I have a real problem with kids who don’t hustle down the line to first or think double on a single. I don’t want our hitters to take a pitch off.

“It is mandatory that we can’t lower the bar when you are striving for excellence. That is the way the game must be played to achieve success. Too many kids arrive in college baseball programs at the age of 17 or 18 and have been told over and over again they are the best at what they do.

“But we have a blue collar approach at New Mexico. We demand hard work from every player on the squad.”

Towel Wrestling, Marine Day

When Birmingham was at New Mexico Junior College, he was legendary for the tough team bonding activities he had his squads perform.

“Kids would run 4-5 miles in the mornings and not just jog. They had to do sprints and run miles. Then in the afternoon, we had the players pair off and did towel wrestling. Both players are on a mat, and one guy grabs one end of the towel and the other player the other end. Then they fight to get the entire towel. It made for some interesting team bonding drills.”

Birmingham said he doesn’t do that at the University of New Mexico because of time constraints with NCAA Division I rules.

“But we do have them run sand hills and do strength and conditioning at 5:30 a.m. We also have ‘Marine Days’ through the fall. Players never know when they are coming. Our guys will get a text message early in the evening the day before that tells them we will have ‘Marine Day’ at the indoor football practice facility the next morning at 4 a.m. And don’t be late!

“Kids are absolutely terrified at first. We have different stations within the indoor facility set up which includes blocking dummies, blocking sleds, harness pulls with heavy weights and others. I show up in battle fatigues. And for the next two hours, our players go through a gut check with an array of calisthenics and exercises. Kids will do 50 yard sprints, pushups, situps, jumping jacks in cadence. If they are not all in unison, they start over.

“The point of all this is that we are counting on everybody to work together. Everybody must do it right or we won’t be successful. And when we face those tough teams early in the schedule and might not do as well as we want, we tend to bounce back and learn from our mistakes as players improve with our great work ethic.”

Birmingham said something wonderful transpires as the kids go through this team building activity.

“Because of how tough this is, they all begin to pull for each other and transform into a team. It is fantastic to watch. I was influenced into doing this as I studied the team building concepts of Ed Cheff at Lewis-Clark St. and Lloyd Simmons at Seminole J.C., Okla. Both are 1,000 game winners, and they are two of the best coaches of all time.”

Birmingham said that he is constantly learning as a coach.

“I am a product of many coaches who I have learned from. I am still learning concepts to help my players. Beyond baseball, you want your kids to do well in the classroom. Our kids always have a grade point average over 3.00. So academically they do well. We want our kids to do well socially and have a great life after baseball.

“When you see kids 20 years after they graduate, it is such a warm feeling when you realize they are good fathers and a leaders in their communities.”

Hitting Philosophy

Birmingham is one of the elite hitting coaches in baseball and has studied the concepts taught by Ward, Gwynn, Charlie Lau and George Brett, to name a few.

When he was at New Mexico Junior College, six players led the nation in batting and six teams hit over .400. The Thunderbirds hit .416 as a team in 2007. The 2005 NMJC national championship team hit .411 during the regular season and .400 in post-season play.

In 2001, the Thunderbirds hit .438 as the team led the country. And in 1998, NMJC led the nation with 122 home runs.

“My philosophy on hitting is the culmination of instruction learned from many people in the game of baseball. In its simplest form, you want the hitter to let the ball travel as far as possible and square up the ball. You want hitters to have proper hitting vision, great hand coordination, utilize the lower half properly, and have a short stroke with the proper bat path. All of these things are vital.

“Drills in our program are used for the players to understand a concept and feel what should be done. We utilize angles a great deal in hitting, and that is a big concept for me. Our hitters use the whole field, and plate discipline is crucial. If you look at our stats, our players walk a lot and don’t strike out much.

“Overswinging is a problem with many hitters. We have had success taking bat speed away from hitters to teach the proper mechanics of the swing. It is surprising how far players can hit the ball by accomplishing this simple concept. They can always speed up their swing later.”

 Birmingham also is big on slowing the game down for his hitters.

“We work very hard at this concept and making the game as simple as it can be. We also work hard at making adjustments with different pitchers such as soft lefties, hard throwers, hurlers who throw in and away. We want our hitters to know what to do in certain counts and make positive outs.

“There is so much to what we teach. In fact, I have a checklist of 250 things I look at for each hitter. We don’t go over all of them at once. Kids are given little pieces of this checklist over time so they can be successful and master concepts.”

Adjustment Interesting

When new players come to New Mexico, whether they be from high schools or junior colleges, they have usually dominated competition at their former school.

“Every hitter wants to be a table cleaner when they come into the program, and that simply isn’t going to happen. We determine who are the table setters and table cleaners. They are told what their role will be, and then through a lot of work, they make it happen.”

Birmingham said that he learned from long time Texas Head Coach Cliff Gustafson that letting hitters fail right off the bat is important when they come into the program. So Birmingham puts them in a situation which will cause failure.

“I tell the kids that to be in pro baseball, they must be able to handle fastballs near 100 mph. That is what they will see in pro ball. So I have a Ponza Hummer pitching machine that is set for the upper 90s and is aimed at the same spot for batters. As they get ready to hit, they know the pitch will be a fastball, and they must catch up to the speed. And this trips them up every time.

“Virtually every kid has a long swing and doesn’t realize it or has a hole that he doesn’t know about. So when they struggle initially, they are now open to suggestions on refining their swing so that it is short and productive. Each hitter has their own style. We don’t want them to dramatically change. But every hitter must do certain basic things. Not everybody has great hand speed who can knock home runs out of the park. But they can be a productive part of the lineup.

“And when suggestions are offered, not every player agrees with what I say. And that’s fine. But over time, we come to an agreement on what should be done to get the most out of our hitters.

“Our hitters are taught physically and mentally because both are crucial. And it is absolutely crucial that they never take a pitch off when batting. Hitting is not always about getting a hit or having great batting averages. For us, we closely observe a player’s on-base percentage. Making productive outs and moving runners over is the right approach for us. It is a team game. But you have individuals playing it.”

Birmingham said that hitters must be able to adjust to different ball parks as well.

“If you play at Arkansas and TCU, those parks were made for pitching. When the wind blows straight in, you can square a pitch up and will almost always make a fly ball out. So hitting is not only pitcher to pitcher adjustments and adjustments in at-bats, we have a strategy for different parks we play in.

“I have always been very passionate about hitting. And listening to the great coaches and hitters of all time which deal with hitting has been a revelation.”

To obtain this issue of Collegiate Baseball or subscribe,  CLICK HERE.

Hitting Discipline Paying Off For College Teams

Hitting Discipline Paying Off For College Teams

by • BBCOR Bats, Featured Stories, Hitting, Walks

Gary WardBy LOU PAVLOVICH, JR.
Editor/Collegiate Baseball
© 2013 Collegiate Baseball

INDIANAPOLIS — How are college teams adapting to the BBCOR specification bats after using them for 2 ½ seasons?

While they have substantially less pop than the old BESR certified bats, many successful teams have utilized the technique of being highly disciplined during at-bats and going deep into counts.

This has resulted in an incredible number of walks for these teams which represent base runners and ultimately runs.

When more hitter’s pitches are demanded by batters, pitchers tend to get tired quicker and more mistakes take place which are then hit by these successful teams hard. Ultimately, run production has a chance to be outstanding with this system in place.

The first NCAA Division I baseball statistics of the season were released through games of March 3. Collegiate Baseball looked at the top 23 teams that had the most walks in the nation by their hitters.

And amazingly, 10 of 23 had one or no losses this season.

Here is a rundown on those 10 teams which includes their national ranking, record and number of walks):

  • 1. Central Arkansas (11-1, 104 walks).
  • 2. Mercer (11-1, 89 walks).
  • T-5. Vanderbilt (12-1, 73 walks).
  • T-5 Florida St. (10-0, 73 walks).
  • 8. Virginia (12-0, 70 walks).
  • 10. Oregon St. (12-0, 67 walks).
  • 14. North Carolina (10-0, 63 walks).
  • 16. Mississippi St. (15-0, 62 walks).
  • T-18. Georgia Tech. (11-1, 60 walks).
  • 23. North Carolina St. (10-1, 57 walks).

If you look at the top run producing teams in NCAA Division I through March 3, the top five in the nation are from the above list.

  • T-1. Virginia (119 runs in 12 games).
  • T-1. Central Arkansas (119 runs in 12 games).
  • 3. Mercer (117 runs in 12 games).
  • 4. Vanderbilt (116 runs in 13 games).
  • 5. Georgia Tech. (115 runs in 12 games).

The other five teams listed which have high walk numbers and had one or no losses all have superb run production numbers. They include:

  • Mississippi St. (eighth in the USA with 108 runs over 15 games).
  • North Carolina St. (13th with 99 runs in 11 games).
  • North Carolina (16th with 97 runs over 10 games).
  • Florida St. (18th with 93 runs in 10 games).
  • Oregon St. (32nd with 81 runs in 12 games).

Gary Ward, considered the Godfather of discipline when it comes to training hitters in this technique, practiced these concepts with his Oklahoma State teams for 19 years during the 1978-1996 seasons. Nbody taught this technique better than him. His teams walked more than any school in NCAA history which allowed the on-base percentage to shoot through the roof. And it was no coincidence that his offenses led all NCAA Division I teams in run production six times.

In the Jan. 25, 2013 issue of Collegiate Baseball, Ward went into detail about the importance of being disciplined in hitting.

Through discipline, the walk has played a vital role in scoring runs. “The walk has always been important,” said Ward. “It isn’t about taking pitches. A lot of people get confused about going out and taking a bunch of pitches. The reality is that you must value being disciplined at the plate.”

“The great majority of athletes, if you can teach them their zone within the strike zone, can have enough athleticism and bat speed to cover that with some ability.

“So we have always worked very hard at reducing the zone down and used terms like ‘shorten the look’ or ‘center the ball more.’ “

Through his 19 years at Oklahoma State, Cowboy hitters had a superb walk-strikeout ratio with 9,001 walks and 6,916 strikeouts.

For More On This Story: Read the rest of the story, including Gary Ward’s analysis on this trend, in the March 22, 2013 edition of Collegiate Baseball newspaper. Individual copies can be purchased for $3 each. Please see Subscriptions for more information about ordering.