#3 Preparation – The QAB
There are many steps to prepare for a QAB.
Here are a few important ones:
A. Ask your coach for their QAB Sheet.
Many coaches keep track of things like
how many pitches the batter had the
pitcher throw (usually it’s 8+ pitches), did
you get a base hit, did you get an RBI,
sac bunt, bunt for a base hit, move a
runner over, Walk/ HBP/ Sac Fly, hit-andrun, hard fly ball, hard ground ball, etc..
This will help you understand what you as
a batter need to do to have success at the
plate.
runner is on base, does he take more time
before he throws a certain pitch, does he
seem to “grind” his hand in his glove when
he is getting a grip for a certain pitch, does
he have a different arm angle for certain
pitches, etc.
B. Work on your hitting mechanics every
day. Tee work, soft toss, cage work etc.
Get to the point where you have proper
strong hitting mechanics. No one is
perfect all the time but you at least want
to have 80% of your mechanics down.
You have enough to think about at the
plate – you don’t want to be thinking
about your swing too. Your swing should
become automatic. That comes with
practice and repetition.
C. Know your weakness and strength at the
plate. Where is your “hot zone” – the
area you know you can hit the ball. Know
your “weak zone” – where even though it
might be a strike, you seem to have
trouble with it. No one is hot in the entire
strike zone. So when you know where
your hot zone is you know when a pitch is
thrown there you attack. Sounds simple
but many batters don’t really know where
their true hot and weak zones are.
D. Watch the pitcher warming up and while
your teammates are at bat. Is he a Lefty
or Righty? What is the pitchers best pitch,
what does he seem to throw when he’s
ahead in the count, what does he throw
when behind in the count, when a base
E. Go to the plate with the thought you are
swinging at every pitch. What I mean is you
decide not to swing rather than to swing.
You don’t realize it but most of you reading
this already do this – but no one has
verbalized it to you. Look, just before the
pitcher releases the ball you begin your load
to initiate your swing – therefore you ARE
thinking “I am swinging.” After the ball
leaves his hand you “analyze” whether to
continue the swing process or not. If you
wait until the ball has left the pitchers hand
to initiate your swing and decide to swing –
you rarely will hit the ball because you will be
late.