Baseball Musings
Baseball Musings
March 09, 2003
Seeing Pitches:

Once in a while you come across a baseball article that explains something quite nicely. Robert Dvorchak pens such an article about how hitters work during spring training. Where to start?


"What hitters do is work on things down here," said Stairs, a left-handed hitter signed to put more jolt in the Pirates' offense. "I had three things I wanted to do this spring. I wanted to lose weight, and I did that. I wanted to get myself in great shape, and I've done that. Now I'm working on hitting the ball with authority to left field. PNC Park is a great park to go the other way."

Another thing that the good hitters work on? Seeing as many pitches as they can.

"I'm a patient hitter," Stairs said. "I see an average of three to five pitches per at-bat. The more pitches you see, the better chance you have of getting hits."

Reggie Sanders, another acquisition who appeared in his first game as a Pirates player this week, also is a firm believer in looking over pitches. For him, an optimum at-bat in an exhibition game is to work the count and then make solid contact.

"It enables you to recognize what the guy is throwing. Hitting a baseball is all about timing," said Sanders, who connected for a home run in his first game and has shown early examples of his power.


This seems to be a philosophy that Gerald Perry is encouraging:

Perry also is a big stickler on recognition of the strike zone. Nothing drives him crazier than seeing a hitter swing at something off the plate, even in batting practice.

On the first day of live batting practice, a veteran hitter moaned that Kris Benson had broken his bat.

"He didn't break your bat. You did," Perry said in a calm, but firm, admonition. "Why'd you swing at that pitch? It wasn't a strike."


One hitter this philosophy should help is Randall Simon:

Even Randall Simon has been laying off pitches. Simon didn't come across the water to walk, as he is fond of saying; he came from his native Curacao to swing. But Simon, a notorious first-ball hitter, has been working counts and looking at more pitches. Just don't get used to seeing Simon keep the bat on the shoulder.

"I'll hit those pitches during the regular season. Right now, I'm concentrating on keeping my shoulder in, recognizing the different pitches, hitting the ball the other way," Simon said.


Simon is a great contact hitter. If Perry can teach him to wait for the right pitch to make contact, Randall's acquistion will be a good one for the Pirates. The Pirates look like they have a poor offense. I'm eager to see if Perry can improve the hitters by getting them to be more selective this year.


Posted by David Pinto at 08:13 PM | Baseball