Joe Morgan and Richard Lally

Article / Updated 03-26-2016

Most people associated with baseball, especially scouts, coaches, managers, and general managers, emphasize such elements as a player’s stance, hitting mechanics, bat speed, and natural power. But even if a player possesses all these skills, his career success will hinge more on several even more important — and less-discussed — attributes. The following skills can take you from being an average hitter to being a threat every time you come to bat. Plate discipline: The knowledge of which pitches to swing at and which to let go. A key component of plate discipline is knowledge of the limits of your plate coverage (the ability to cover both sides of the plate, both horizontally and vertically). The ability to develop your plate coverage depends on the next two skills to develop to become a good hitter. Pitch recognition: A hitter’s ability to recognize the oncoming pitch. Being able to recognize the pitch enabless him to predict the pitch’s probable speed, movement, and location. Because the hitter has a fraction of a second to recognize the pitch, he should develop this awareness by utilizing his knowledge of a pitcher’s repertoire acquired by watching video, reading scouting reports, observing the pitcher from the dugout, and asking teammates to evaluate the pitcher’s stuff on any given day. If the hitter fails at pitch recognition, he won’t be able to exploit count leverage (a measure of the degree to which the hitter has an advantage in the count over the pitcher), which provides a huge advantage. Batters have a .957 OPS (on-base percentage plus slugging average) when ahead in the count and .509 when behind. (This is approximately the difference between Miguel Cabrera and a replacement level player in the Mexican League.) But what good is a 3–0 count if the next pitch is a curveball in the dirt and you swing at it? Or if you fail to swing at a 3–0 mediocre fastball that may as well have “hit me” written on it? Identifying the pitch correctly won’t help much if you don’t know which pitches you hit well and which give you trouble. For example, are you a low ball hitter, or do you kill pitches high in the strike zone? Do you like pitches inside or outside? Bat control: Good hitting doesn’t depend merely on how fast you can get your bat through the hitting zone. You must be able to adjust your approach at the plate, so you can take outside pitches to the opposite field, pull inside pitches, and check your swing at a pitch that looks initially tempting but swiftly fades away from your hot zone (the area in the strike zone that gives you the best chance to hit the ball hard). For slower pitches, like a changeup, you slow down your body — not your bat — and wait longer.

Article / Updated 03-26-2016

After a baseball player reaches base, a million things can happen to him — and the worst of them is getting put out. The following is a short list of the most common ways base runners suffer that fate. You should refer to it if you want to make sure why an out was made, or anticipate how one could be made — or avoided. You’re on the same base with a teammate when the ball is alive (the second runner is out). You pass a preceding runner on the base paths. You miss a base and the defense notices it and gets the ball to the fielder closest to that base, which he must tag. A fielder tags you with a ball that is alive while you’re off the base. (However, no one can tag you out if you overrun first base provided you return immediately to that bag without making an attempt toward second.) Your teammate hits a ball that touches you in fair territory without it first touching or passing any fielder except the pitcher. In the judgment of the umpire, you hinder a fielder from making a play. A batted ball forces you to advance to another base, and the fielder possessing the ball tags that base before you reach it.

Article / Updated 03-26-2016

Outs are one of the fundamental elements of the game — they’re baseball’s currency, its equivalent of time. You only get 27 of them in a game, so the team on offense strives to avoid them while the defending team craves them. Refer to this list at a glance to find the most common ways a hitter can make an out in baseball. This list can help you follow the action and grasp why a hitter who just made one is bashing the dugout’s water cooler in frustration and why the pitcher is doing a fist pump. A fielder catches your fair or foul ball before it touches the ground (unless it’s a foul tip to the catcher with less than two strikes). You hit a foul tip (a ball caught by the catcher off your bat) for strike three. After hitting the ball, you or first base is tagged before you touch the base. The umpire calls three strikes during your at-bat (whether you swing or not). A ball that you hit fair hits your bat a second time while you’re in fair territory. While running outside the foul lines, you obstruct a fielder’s throw. You hit the ball with one or both feet outside the batter’s box or step from one batter’s box to another while the pitcher winds up. You obstruct the catcher from fielding or throwing. You run into your own fairly batted ball while running from home to first base.

Article / Updated 03-26-2016

Getting on base is a batter’s primary task, and the first step to scoring runs, which is the way to win — and lose — games. This is a list of the ways hitters can get on base, by either swinging or not swinging. Refer to the following whenever you can’t figure out why and how players are occupying bases that were empty a moment before You hit a fair ball that isn’t caught by a fielder before it touches the ground. You hit a fair ball that touches the ground and is caught by a fielder whose throw fails to beat you to a base. The umpire calls four pitches out of the strike zone during your at-bat. A pitch in the strike zone hits you without first touching your bat. The catcher obstructs your swing. You hit a fair ball beyond the playing field (for a home run). You hit a fair, catchable ball, but the fielder drops the ball, throws it away, and so on. A third strike skips past the catcher and you beat the throw to first.

Article / Updated 03-26-2016

The following figure shows the different positions (and their abbreviations) of the positions on a baseball team. It’s baseball’s chessboard. Knowing the positions and the way they relate to each other can help you understand the role of each as you watch play unfold. You also can see why some positions are more important than others and certain players are more suited for a certain position. After a short while, you can better see that the way a team deploys its players by position can either lift it or sink it. Refer to the following figure to keep track of “Who’s on First?” and the other eight positions (nine, if you count the designated hitter). American League lineups include a designated hitter who bats for the pitcher without taking a defensive position in the field. DH is the abbreviation for that slot.