whats important

Question
Hello. what would you say is important for a player to think and do when he steps up to the plate. ? Like I'm really good hitting fast balls
but the change up and curves really fool me big time. What can i do to help me with the situation? I mean the batting cages is all just fast ball and fast ball.  

Answer
Each at-bat should be approached uniquely depending on the situation. There are times when moving runners into scoring position is more important than anything else (called "productive outs"), sometimes you're looking to elevate the ball to get a sacrifice fly (runner on 3rd, less than 2 outs), etc.

Having said that, if you're just coming to the plate with no particular situation other than to get a base hit, then it really comes down to "see ball - hit ball". If you try to guess which pitches are coming, you'll be in trouble, Sometimes you may be right, but most of the time you probably won't. The key is to be ready for the fastball, and adjust to anything off speed. Try to see the ball out of the pitcher's hands as early as possible, which should be able to give you a better read on the pitch. If you detect off speed (change up, curve, etc), keep your hands back and concentrate on driving the ball up the middle or to the opposite field. The key here is not to try and tear the cover off the ball on every pitch -- just see it, and hit it solidly. Of course, it goes without saying that you should only be swinging at strikes, and early in the count, only at pitches you can really drive.

As for practice, you're absolutely correct that the cages don't do much for changing speeds. That's why you'll need to get together with a live pitcher, and have them throw you various pitches. Eventually you'll grow more accustomed to recognizing the difference and should improve your hitting tremendously.

Mike Fortunato