How To Hit A Curveball Video

Increase your batting average. Learn how to become a better hitter in this baseball hitting video.

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Line up knuckles
Grip bat with fingertips
Step towards the ball

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Kyle Hutchens is a baseball player for the Round Rock Express

KYLE HUTCHENS: Kyle Hutchens here with the Round Rock Express, a AAA affiliate of the Houston Astros. We're here to talk a little bit about hitting. Hitting is a simple thing. Some people try to make it more complicated than it is. First thing we're going to start out with is the grip. A lot of people tend to grip it back in here in their palms and grip it up there like that. When you do that, you're not going to get as quick with the bat. Your hands aren't going to be as fast to the ball, so one thing you want to start with is line up your knuckles. Put them up, put it about your fingertips and you line your knuckles up there. And what you do is--key thing is keep it in your fingertips at all times. It helps keep your hands looser too so you're not tied up there and makes you quicker to the ball, quicker reactions. And like I said, when a guy is throwing 90 miles an hour, you want as much bat speed as you can get. If you do that, you'll generate more bat speed, better contact, better average, more home runs that everybody likes to talk about. So now we have the grip, not in the palm, like I said, back in your fingertips, line up your knuckles. One key thing that a lot of players do is when they come to the ball, they'll step here and they'll go right here and they go down there. It's called what we call ABC. Instead of going ABC, you want to go straight A to B. You don't want any of this dip. You don't want to go anywhere there. So we'll go through and example what it would be like if I went A, B to C. So you knock down the tee, hit it straight up in the air. That ball is probably going to be pop out to the pitcher. That's only about 60 feet. So we'll try it one more time and kind of show you what it's like to go straight from A to B. A line drive, base hit. Another key factor is what a lot of people like to do. When a pitch is coming, everyone seems to be scared of the ball. It does hurt when it does hit but don't be afraid of it. You're not going to get hit by it 9 times out of 10. Come through. And when people step, they're scared of the ball so they will step this way. Does that really make any sense? Because when you step out this way, look how much of yourself you're exposing; as where if you step straight to the ball, you're a lot smaller target. Because when you go here, you're a bigger target, more area of you to hit. And you don't want to get hit here. If you're going to get hit, you'd rather get hit here, somewhere inside. And you're a smaller target, like I said. And plus, when you step in, it's like what we call "stepping in the bucket." If you step in the bucket, you're out here trying to hit that ball over there. It's a lot harder. And when I do that, I'll give you an example of what it looks like. You don't get anything behind the ball. The ball is not hit well. Nothing works out for you in that sense. So instead, step to the ball, a lot better contact and you're not hitting--you're hitting it right here on the sweet spot. It's where--you saw when I stepped in the bucket, I'm way out here on the top of it. You're not going to get the ball to go very far. A lot less hits, a lot lower average.

How to Hit a Curveball Video

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