"A Game of Failure"

THE BASICS OF HITTING

Tyler Small

"A Game of Failure"

The Mechanics of the Swing

Wide, comfortable stance

Knees slightly bent Hands up near ear Balanced

Step 1: Stance

"A Game of Failure"

The Mechanics of the Swing

Shift you weight back on back foot

Bring your hands back

Load when the pitcher begins his motion to pitch

Very important for timing

Generates power

Step 2: Load

"A Game of Failure"

The Mechanics of the SwingStep 3: The Swing

Timing is the most important

To start the swing from the load position, step forward, rotate your hips, and bring your hands through to where the ball will be in one fast movement Me

"A Game of Failure"

The Mechanics of the Swing

Want to hit the ball where it is pitched

Inside pitch vs. outside pitch

Inside pitch Need to bring your hands in

and turn on the ball to make good contact and hit it to left field

Outside pitch Need to extend your hands

and wait a split second longer to make good contact and hit it to right field

Step 4: Inside/Outside

Inside pitch

Outside Pitch

"A Game of Failure"

Fastball vs. Off-speed pitches

Fastball Most thrown pitch You should always

prepare for fastball and then react to any other pitch thrown

Off-speed Includes anything that

is not a fast ball like curveball, slider, changeup, knuckleball

React to the off-speed by noticing a difference in the pitcher’s motion and how he throws the ball

Knuckleball Grip

"A Game of Failure"

Power vs. Contact

Some of the current power hitters

Some of the current contact hitters

Power Home Runs and Runs

Batted In

Contact Batting Average

Carlos PenaAlbert Pujols

Ichiro Suzuki Joe Mauer

"A Game of Failure"

A Game of Failure Hitting a baseball is

known as one of the hardest things to do in all of sports

A high batting average is .300, meaning that you get a hit 3 out of every 10 at bats, and you fail 7 out of 10 times

Player Career Batting Average

Albert Pujols .334

Alex Rodriguez .305

Derek Jeter .317

Ken Griffey, Jr. .285

Ryan Howard .279

Ryan Braun .308

Hanley Ramirez .316

"A Game of Failure"

Power Hitters

Albert

Pujols

Prince

Fiel

der

Ryan

Howar

d

Mar

k Rey

nolds

Adrian

Gon

zalez

36

38

40

42

44

46

48

Home Runs in 2009

Home Runs in 2009

More MLB stats: MLB Baseball Statistics and League Leaders

"A Game of Failure"

Feedback

I used a chart for the first time in PowerPoint 2007. I liked how Microsoft Excel opened up to make more user-friendly chart.

I liked how we had the freedom to choose our own topic for this project.