How to Make Smart Decisions at the Plate

There’s a trend in Little League these days, and that trend revolves around telling young players at bat, “Don’t worry. Just do your best. Just take the pitches as they come.” And, while that sounds nice, in theory, it’s also a little bit disturbing. There is absolutely nothing wrong (and everything right) with telling your players to predict what pitch is coming.

One of the reasons for this trend is the belief that you can’t truly know what pitch is coming, so guessing is detrimental. And, while that is true, that’s not to say that, if you’ve played long enough and been coached long enough, you can’t make an educated guess about what type of pitch is likely to come your way.

Good hitters are, plain and simple, observant hitters. So, that’s really the key to success- teaching

your hitters to be observant. They should familiarize themselves, with your help, with pitchers they play against often and, also with your help, get used to their patterns. Some pitchers, for example, are more likely to throw curveballs later in the game or when things get dicey. If that’s something they’ve seen before and you’ve also noticed, tell your players. Just teach them the difference between expecting something and anticipating it.

When you expect something, you get into stance for it and ready yourself to take it on. That often fails. Sometimes, the pitcher will even see the preparation and do something different just because he saw it. When you anticipate something, however, you are simply aware that it might happen, and you tell your body to prepare for it and are ready, without being obviously so, to handle it if it happens. However, you are also keenly aware that something else might happen and are willing to do something different than expected if necessary. Teaching your players that keen and key difference- between expectation and anticipation- makes all the difference.

Remember, too, that your players won’t always be facing up against players they have encountered before. In that case, the key strategy is to put your stronger and more observant players in the game later on, after they have had a chance to watch the pitcher in action for a few runs.

Baseball, in the end, is a bit of a “guessing game” in and of itself. But, if you teach your players how to make smart guesses, rather than just random ones, you and your team are likely to be a lot better off as a whole.

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