THESE SIMPLE THINGS CAN MAKE ALL THE DIFFERENCE
Three Factors That Can Make You A Baseball All-Star
They are closer to you than you think
Baseball is a very visual game.
What your eyes tell you and how you use that information is critical to your baseball success.
Hitting a baseball has been termed one of the most difficult tasks in all of sports.
A 90 mph fastball takes a little less than half a second to reach home plate.
If we consider how long it takes to actually swing the bat, we have about 100–150 ms to identify the pitch and begin to make a decision whether or not to swing.
Seeing the ball properly, concentrating on that vision, and then making an ideal visually guided swing is what differentiates a pro from an amateur.
It all starts with what you see
You may think your vision is great since you can see 20/20, but do you realize that 20/20 is NOT perfect vision — it is simply average vision?
The average vision of a professional baseball player is 20/12.
Vision of 20/15 is sufficient but vision of 20/20 simply is not enough to pick up the spin of the baseball as it leaves the pitcher’s hand.
The connection between your eyes and your hands is the next step
Having great vision is not enough!
In order to succeed in baseball, it is critical to have an optimal connection between your hands and your eyes.
Hand-eye coordination is the complement to ideal vision. The eyes bring in visual information, and the hands execute a motor action required to perform.
In baseball, the batter must make a visually guided, and coordinated, motor action to swing the bat.
The bat must strike the baseball at precisely the correct time and place in order to drive the ball into the field (or the stands for a home run!).
In fact, several scientific studies have shown the relationship between hand-eye coordination and batting ability at the amateur and MLB levels.
Fortunately, there are many ways to test and train this ability, if it is not up to the required level.
Concentration — the final ingredient
Good vision and good hand-eye coordination are not enough for baseball success.
The batter must have excellent visual concentration ability.
Nothing is more critical than concentrating your attention on the pitcher’s delivery, in the moments before you must make a go or no-go decision about your swing.
Fortunately, visual concentration can be tested and trained.
Although not often considered by coaches, each is a “silent killer” for successful at-bats!
Each of these skills is unique and can have a distinct effect on your baseball performance.
Making sure each of these skills are optimized can have a dramatic effect on your baseball performance.
Would you like to learn more about how to improve your vision and baseball performance? Sign up for my upcoming 5-day FREE Email course by clicking here (safe link to my website).
