The Two Strike Approach

Many times I hear athletes and parents alike wanting us to work on the hitter’s two strike approach. Usually this occurs when the hitter has been striking out and they mistakingly believe that doing something different when the hitter has two strikes on them is going to help them cut down on their strikeouts or become a better hitter. The way I see it however is that strikeouts occur earlier in the at bat, well before the hitter even gets to two strikes. When I hear of one of my athletes striking out consistently everyone wants to tell me what happened with two strikes. They tell me about the umpire, or the pitch the hitter swung at, or they blame it on the hitter being too passive. All of this is fine and good but they are missing where the strikeout really happened. Sure strike 3 is what sticks out in your mind but the question they should be asking is what happened earlier in the at bat that allowed the hitter get to two strikes? Was the hitter’s approach bad? Did the hitter not trust their approach? Did the pitcher make some good pitches? Did the hitter get balls to hit but broke down mechanically and fouled the pitches off? These are the questions the hitter, coach, and parent should be asking. I mean, once you get to two strikes hitting is a difficult thing to do. According to www.theoleballgame.com major league hitters hit just .187 last year with two strikes. These are the best hitters in the world and their numbers drop drastically in ALL two strike counts. If you want to cut down on strikeouts then its imperative that you put more balls in play earlier in the count. Watch the best hitters in the major leagues. Doesn’t it seem like they almost never have two strikes on them? Doesn’t it seem like the less accomplished hitters almost always have two strikes on them? This is because better hitters have a better approach and better mechanics. So when they get a pitch to hit they usually put the ball in play.

That being said it is inevitable that you are going to get to two strikes in certain at bats throughout the course of your season. So once you do what should you do? Should you choke up on the bat? Should you “shorten your swing”? What changes should you make in two strike counts? My answer might surprise you but my answer is: NOTHING. Don’t change a thing. Don’t choke up, don’t “shorten your swing”. Take the same swing you normally take, after all your goal is still the same. You’re trying to put a mechanically sound swing on a hittable pitch. Sounds crazy right? But think about it, how many times with less than two strikes do you really swing and miss? I would venture to say that if you’re like most hitters you swing and miss more often at two strike pitches then you do at pitches with less then two strikes. You probably got to two strikes by fouling pitches off or taking pitches, and now you have two strikes on you and you swing and miss. So basically, in our effort to not miss we are actually creating the result we don’t want. I once heard Tony Gwynn (who was one of the toughest players in history to strikeout) interviewed about his two strike approach. While I don’t remember his exact words he was asked what he changed with two strikes? He said, “Nothing. Why would I spend all this time practicing to hit one way and then when I have two strikes on me do something completely different?”

The strikeout has been completely vilified. It’s the ultimate shot to a hitter’s ego. Most hitters would rather get their bat sawed in half then strikeout. We’ve seemed to forget that it’s just another out. We’ve also forgotten that there is another player out there 60 feet 6 inches away whose job it is to get us out. Whose out there intentionally trying to not allow us to hit the ball. Sometimes he’s going to do his job, sometimes you are going to do yours, it’s just the nature of the game. But because the strikeout is so damaging to our ego we do everything we can to save face. As a result we tense up and don’t allow our swing mechanics to be executed. Subsequently we swing and miss more often and create the result we were hoping to avoid. This season in fact the Tampa Bay Rays were determined to cut down on their strike outs. They hired a new hitting coach and one of the things Manager Joe Maddon liked was that the hitting coach believed that strikeouts weren’t bad. As a result he has eliminated some of the player’s fear of striking out and so far this season their strike out totals are far lower then where they were this time last year.

Similarly, striking out looking has become this thing that we just can’t have happen. We are taught from a young age that whatever we do just don’t strikeout looking. Onlookers tend to assume that a hitter who strikes out looking didn’t have any fight in him. They have this attitude that hitting in a game is as easy as hitting in batting practice and that you can just reach out and make contact with any pitch thrown at you. As a result hitters are afraid to strike out looking and have a tendency to expand their zones with two strikes too much. They flail at pitches way out of the zone because after all, “I didn’t go down looking.” I’m not saying that if a player is consistently striking out looking that it isn’t a problem. If most certainly is, however if that is happening then there are issues going on earlier in the at bat as well. But people it’s not as big of a deal as we make it out to be. Sometimes the pitcher will make a great pitch with two strikes. I mean if he can make a great pitch that freezes us with one strike why couldn’t he do it with two? Sometimes the umpire will expand his zone or give a pitch to a pitcher. There are many reasons why a hitter could strike out looking so everyone needs to relax. Parents and coaches who make too big a deal over this either A) don’t know the game or B) played the game but have forgotten just how difficult hitting is (I always think it’s funny how when parents and coaches get older and further removed from their playing career how they seem to have always struck out less and less. A crappy former high school player will say things like, “I never struck out looking.” Yeah sure guy. I remember seeing video of one of my coaches playing and he would freak out when we struck out looking. In the game we saw he struck out twice in the same game looking. He seemed to be more relaxed after we saw that video).

In order to cut down on strike outs we need to no longer fear it. We need to maintain our approach throughout our entire at bat and make adjustments to it when we see how pitchers are pitching us. Once we get to two strikes however we need to stay consistent with what we are trying to do. Understanding that even though we are now looking for a pitch in a bigger area our goal remains the same. Allow the pitch to enter the hitting zone and execute a mechanically sound swing. If you are striking out consistently don’t focus on what’s going on with two strikes, focus on what’s going on before you have two strikes. Make your adjustments there and you will put more balls in play earlier in counts which will ultimately reduce your number of strike outs.