STANCE IN GENERAL


FRONT TO BACK POSITION
The standards for a hitter’s stance are based on where we want the hitter to contact the ball. Ideally, a hitter should contact the ball in front of home plate. To do this, adjust the hitter to contact an outside corner pitch on the forward outside corner of home plate.ExampleThis will then become our starting point for front to back position in the batter’s box. You should discourage moving up and back due to the speed of a pitcher or for any other reason. Once a hitter has become comfortable with her stance position and location, this should become a habit that leads to the consistency of her swing.


CLOSE TO THE PLATE POSITION
How close a hitter should stand to the plate is also very important. Again, let me stress the importance of the adjustment of a hitter to first cover the outside corner of the plate with at least a ball width extra. Example Then look at the inside corner of the plate and adjust so that the hitter will not get jammed on an inside pitch one ball width on the inside of the plate.Example Consider only the barrel of the bat when doing the adjustment on the inside of the plate.Example


OPEN – CLOSED STANCE
How a hitter positions her front foot determines if her stance starts open or closed. Example This does not necessarily determine her stance during her swing as she can go from an open to a closed stance upon stride. Although I prefer a point in between more closed than open in a stance, this is an area of experimentation that can be used to help a student covering both the inside and the outside of the plate. When addressing this part of the stance make slight changes to the stance to fine tune the effects, always watch for changes to the front hip and its effects on the hitter’s rotation.

CENTER OF BALANCE
The center of balance can first be addressed in the stance from the side of the hitter. Start at the center of the student’s helmet and draw a line vertically down to the ground. Use this line as the starting point for the hitter to rotate around. As adjustments are made to this component of the stance, we can begin to assess if the hitter can swing comfortably.ExampleNext we can address looking from the front to adjust if the hitter is leaning toward the plate or back away from the plate. Use experience and some common sense to determine if the hitter can swing comfortably. Example

The next area to consider is the hitter’s angle within the stance. This is the triangle from the center of the helmet to both big toes. ExampleAlthough experience is important to determine if the hitter can swing comfortably, you can also look at the angles as reference points, because they can effect what the weight ratio is from front to back in the hitter.Example


HANDS AT THE SET AND HANDS AT THE READY
Once the position and overall stance have been adjusted, break the stance into two parts; set and ready. Set is all things in place but the hitter is very relaxed. Allow the hands to rest a bit and the leg muscles also to be in a relaxed state. This position is held until the pitcher comes set. ExampleNote that the hands are not low and the hitter is still very ready to hit both physically and mentally, but we are not asking the muscles to tense or load just yet. As the pitcher comes set, train the hitters to load the muscles into the ready position. This is where the hitter coils back, positioning herself to move forward to the ball should she choose to swing. This is not a major adjustment, but enough so that the hitter is ready to attack a pitch.Example


HEAD POSITION AND EYES
How do we adjust the hitters so that they can swing through the ball and have the ability to track the ball from the pitcher’s hand to the contact point? Do this by adjusting the hitter’s head so that both eyes work together. It is helpful to adjust and eliminate tilting the head or tucking the head too far into the body. The ideal for me would be that the head never moved, allowing the hitter the best view of the pitch.Example Another important area of discussion: talk to the hitter about not closing her eyes or blinking before or on contact but instead making sure she sees the ball clearly. The bat will follow the eyes, so concentrating on the pitch and seeing it clearly helps the hitter bring the bat through the contact point.