re: You can’t teach hitters to go oppo

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Said he’s a great oppo hitter and you can’t teach that.

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I remember overhearing a conversation between my strength coach and my batting instructor one day when I was about 4-5 years old, strength coach suggested working with me to go opposite field but the hitting instructor was having nothing of it, "this kid's a straight up pull hitter with never seen before bat speed, he's in scoring position when he's at the plate!" so I never got the chance to learn

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Uhhhhh. But you can.

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You can’t teach anyone to be great at anything. You can teach someone how to do something. Being great at something is where god given talent combined with work ethic kicks in. But you already knew that too

You telling me Chris Reid wasn’t a pro hitter who was great at pitch selection??? Getting walked doesn’t take talent but some people are great at it.

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You telling me Chris Reid wasn’t a pro hitter who was great at pitch selection??? Getting walked doesn’t take talent but some people are great at it.

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Chris Reid was great at drawing walks. Not only did he have a great eye, but he had good bat control and could hit a pitch out of the catcher’s mitt. Too bad he was so slow and lacked speed.

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That’s only because you started so late.
What kind of parents did you have? They let you get way behind.
You could have been a contender.

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you're right, I had a lot of catching up to do because up to that point I had been 100% on a football track, but I blew out my knee in a 7 on 7 drill at the LSU football camp, Dr. Andrews gave me the bad news post op, he said "you're never going to run a 4.2 again champ, better start looking for a new sport"

People said the solution for Milazzo is to open his stance and have him step toward the pitcher. Lol, well yeah. Do you not think he's been told since he started to swing a bat that he shouldn't step in the bucket? He didn't have to change bc he was successful, and now it's a terrible and not easily reversible habit being exposed. They've at least tried to close his stance to compensate. They'll prob try to close him some more or move him closer to the plate. You don't just snap your fingers and break a habit like that.

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ell_13

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You can’t teach players to be great opposite field hitters

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At this point in a players development, you can teach it; sure. You can’t teach someone to be great at it this late in the game.

Some of the best coaches and teacher in baseball are in the minors. Players get taught new things all the time. Some learn and become great based on that teaching. Yes, at that point, the talent and ability has to be there. But hitting oppo is a learned skill more than anything else.

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Some of the best coaches and teacher in baseball are in the minors.

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the problem starts early, every kid is encouraged to believe that, because of their incredible bat speed, they shouldn't waste an opportunity by trying to go the other way, everyone, including girl softball players are dug in on the back line of the batter's box swinging off their heels on every swing, I read Ted Williams book when I was a kid, he was talking about going opposite field and basically said, if you're not me, when you get two strikes on you you should move up in the box(try and "straighten out" a breaking ball,) and choke up a little(go opposite field,) to increase the odds of getting something hittable