Baseball Tips On Hitting: How To Approach Hitting When You Are Behind In The Count!

If a baseball hitter falls behind in the count at 0-2 or 1-2, he is forced into more of a defensive mode. When the hitter is ahead in the count, he can decide what type of pitch and pitch location he will swing at.

Now, when the hitter is behind in the count, just the exact opposite is true. Now he must swing at the pitcher's pitch. The pitcher basically now decides what the hitter has to swing at and the hitter can no longer be selective as to what he would like to hit. The hitter may be very wise to slightly alter his swing. Good baseball hitters all realize that there is nothing wrong with conceding a little to the pitcher. They put their egos aside and it's more important to have a successful at bat.

When A Hitter Is Behind In The Count:

1) You should work from the "outside in". This simply means that you must gear yourself for a tough low and away strike and adjust if the pitch is over the inside part of the plate. You can look "away" and adjust "in" but it's very difficult to look "in" and adjust to the pitch that's "away." Working from the outside in is one of those baseball tips on hitting that's been around for years but has withstood the test of time. It still holds true.

2) When behind in the count and with two strikes on them, some very good hitters will spread their feet a little wider than usual, take no stride at all, choke up and just try to put the ball in play. This is smart hitting. They are good hitters and realize they are at a disadvantage and just want to make contact and let the chips fall where they may.

3) There is nothing wrong with conceding a little to the pitcher when the pitcher has the count in his favor and you, the hitter, are behind in the count.

You may be very pleasantly surprised that even though this is one of the baseball tips on hitting that requires you to be more defensive in your approach, you may get several hits by simply focusing on just putting the ball in play. Real good hitters refer to this as "not trying to do too much" at the plate. Sometimes just focusing on putting the ball in play brings about excellent results.