In 1997, after back to back seasons of 35+ home runs, Sammy Sosa signed an extension for 4 years, $42.5M, making him at the time the third-highest paid player in the majors. Barry Bonds at the time was making $11.45M on his extension, and Albert Belle was due to make $11M. A few years later Mark McGwire signed an extension worth $15M/year. These guys were the best sluggers in the late 90’s and early 2000’s, and they cashed in big time.
What does it take to consistently hit home runs? There are a lot of different theories, but really are some common themes that come up consistently.
First, one theme that I’ve read about, and heard echoed from some of the hitting instructors I’ve heard talk and teach in their videos: get a good pitch to hit. Widely attributed to Ted Williams, this phrase supports Williams’ philosophy on hitting. The image below shows a page from Williams’ well-known book (I highly recommend it), and the explanation begins to materialize as you look at his hot zones.
Williams improved his own chances by consistently attacking pitches that were in the zone, specifically in areas that were his strong suit. This is a critical learning step for younger players and anyone who’s in a slump. Attack pitches that you can hit hard.
Second is generating hand speed. A quicker bat helps generate higher exit velocity, which translates directly to further ball travel. See the image below to get an idea of the difference exit velocity makes on the distance the ball travels (from justbatreviews.com).
The faster the ball leaves the yard, the further it’s going to go. It’s a fairly simple projectile motion problem. Quicken those hands, and when you barrel the ball up, you’ll see a difference.
Last, to consistently hit home runs you need to establish a consistent swing plane that lends itself to transferring your energy more directly into the ball. Williams talked about the swing plane in his book as well. See the image below to see what he’s saying.
The big advantage to getting a better swing plane is that you allow for longer time for the bat to be in the zone. This allows for a better contact rate, higher exit velocity, and most importantly, more productive at-bats. Producing hard contact on a consistent basis will be the greatest improvement to almost all offensive stats over the course of a year. Hard contact occasionally results in outs; but over the long haul hard contact results in home runs, doubles, and runs batted in.
Sidebar for coaches and dads: when players are discouraged after hitting the ball hard, ensure that you work with them. Producing hard contact is one of the few variables that hitters have some control over. Succeeding at making hard contact should be something that winners accept readily. Winning teams understand that occasionally, hard contact results in outs; enough hard contact results in wins.
