At the peak of my hitting, ironically, I didn’t swing very much. Almost finished with one swing in one at-bat. Then came the result. hit or out.
There were quite a few times when I didn’t swing even once at the plate. There were times when he got a walk, but there were not a few times when he struck out while standing. In Japan, this is called Minogashi three strikes.
Japanese people love Kobayashi’s famous quote, “If you stand at bat called life, don’t strike out Minogashi.” Maybe that’s why I tend to think it’s wrong to be out without swinging. Perhaps because of the influence of Japanese baseball, there are many people in Korea who have a similar perception. When I was young, I was scolded a lot, saying, “Don’t stand still at the plate and come in.” Managers and coaches don’t like to see people strike out while standing.
Think carefully. You only live once, but bats come back four times a day. Even one hit and one walk is a success.
Wait for one chance
Ted Williams empirically explained this in The Science of Hitting. If a baseball with a diameter of 7.3 cm is one cell, the strike zone can be divided into 77 (depending on the height of the batter). His argument is that a batting average of 40% is possible if you hit balls that have entered the hitter’s ‘best cell’. Also, Williams emphasized that even if it is a strike, if you hit a ball flying into a bad cell on the outskirts, your batting average will drop to 2.3. Even if he is the same batter, the result is different depending on which ball he hits.
Legendary investor Warren Buffett, called the ‘Sage of Omaha’, is said to have established investment principles by taking a hint from Williams’ hitting theory. You don’t have to hit every ball. Likewise, you don’t have to buy stocks right away just because you have money. Williams and Buffett are eloquent that waiting for a good ball (opportunity) is also a great strategy.
I just stayed true to my strike zone. I have set my zones to be sure. I watched it because I knew that it would be difficult to get a good hit if I hit a ball that deviated from that.
If the bat follows a bad ball, the batter’s balance is broken. An athlete’s body remembers the last move it made. And it adversely affects the next at-bat. Even if the ball I judged to be a bad ball was judged to be a strike, I accepted it. And waited for the next ball. That’s why it was possible to almost finish with one swing per at-bat.
It may sound easy, but ‘one shot one kill’ is difficult to execute. If the ball I’m aiming for comes within 1-2 pitches, I have to swing boldly. Otherwise, you have to wait patiently. To do this, skill is skill, but patience is required.
Batters have an instinct to hit the ball they can see. If you just send the first ball, there is no guarantee that a better ball will come next time. The batter must win this psychological battle. You have to keep in mind that there may be other opportunities as well. Clever pitchers exploit the hitter’s impatience.
The ‘one shot one kill’ swing is effective in harassing the pitcher. Let’s pretend that at the beginning of the game, batter 4 hits the starting pitcher’s first pitch and hits a solo home run. How much impact will this attack have on the opponent? It won’t be that big. Moreover, if the opposing pitcher is an ace, he will easily shake off at least one run.
No matter how good the No. 4 hitter is, he only makes one out of nine batting order. He can’t do much alone. You can achieve results only when you work together with your colleagues. The other line means connection.
The goal of the other line may be 1 goal at the beginning of the game. Depending on the situation, there are times when it is more important to bring down a good pitcher as quickly as possible. 메이저놀이터
Let’s make an extreme assumption that all batters from 1 to 9 play a game with the pitcher to 10 pitches. Even though Ace does not allow hits or walks and blocks other lines perfectly, the number of pitches reaches 90 at the end of 3 innings. Then the batter won.
It is not uncommon for a pitcher to throw 10 pitches to a batter. Still, if the goals of others are the same, we can get closer to that goal. If you can get past a fight with your starting pitcher this way, the second half of the game will be much easier. Hitters may do better against pitchers who come to the mound after the starting pitcher goes down.
Again, ‘one shot one kill’ doesn’t mean don’t hit good balls. It is a strategy to not make the pitcher do a good job by touching a ball that has a low probability of getting a hit. If you hit a difficult ball, there is a high possibility that it will become a criminal hit. If the runner is on first base in a musa or 1 out, it can be a double hit.
I’m not ashamed of striking out while standing
. Thankfully, coach Kim In-shik said, “It’s okay to strike out, so don’t touch the bad ball.” It was a great support for me.
Like the title of Charlie Law’s book, hitting is ‘the art of 30%’. The batter is basically an underdog. If the pitcher throws well and the batter loses, you have no choice but to accept the result. Arguably, this was the best strategy for me.
Through this process, the hitter must establish his own strike zone. Then you have to make a good swing. Easy to say, really hard to do. What a good swing is and how to make it is a ‘never ending story’.
Looking back, my 3rd year at Cheonan Buk Middle School was very important to me. Middle school players do not have many opportunities to play. I just did a lot of training. I was tired of repeating the same thing, so I experimented with different blows. I tried swinging around a hip turn without stride, and I also tried a leg kick where I raised my left leg to knee height and then took it off. He also tried to create a ‘wall’ by pushing his left shoulder in the direction of home plate.
I didn’t just do what I was told, I tried various things on my own. Good results can be obtained after entering high school, so I devoted myself to laying the groundwork in middle school. Through this process, I was able to know my strengths and weaknesses more accurately.