Where Should Baseball/Softball Players Stand in the Batter’s Box? Part 2

Post date: Oct 12, 2014 5:51:08 PM

A frequent question that my students ask me during my hitting lessons is, “is it better to stand closer, or further from the pitcher?” As with many questions, the answer is “it depends.” However, in this blog I will help explain some reasons why players should stand up or back in the batter’s box when hitting a baseball/softball. If you haven’t already seen Part 1 of Where Should Baseball/Softball Players Stand in the Batter’s Box check it out!

Does anyone know why in this image Buster Posey is standing so far back in the batter’s box? Once you think you know, see the answer below!

The answer is that Buster wants to have a longer time to see the baseball, so he can make a better decision if he should swing/not swing on the pitch. The extra few feet make a HUGE difference when a pitch is coming at him at speeds sometimes over 95 miles an hour.

So GENERALLY, the faster the pitching is, the further back one stands from the pitcher. Sometimes when a pitcher is throwing more curve balls or off-speed pitches, a batter can move up towards the pitcher. This will help the batter make contact before the major break in the pitch (which can be hard to hit)!

HOWEVER, with this being said, I like to tell my students to just keep it simple when going up to the plate. Don’t get caught up in moving around the batter’s box too much. There will be times when batters will have to make small adjustments at the plate, because of umpires calling more outside pitches/inside pitches for strikes.

As in the picture above, I usually have my students standing with their front foot even with the middle of the plate.

Enjoy, good luck hitting, and check out my hitting videos!