Customer Reviews

You Can Teach Hitting

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My boys needed some help with their hitting, and I decided I would try to help them. Since it was almost 30 years since I played baseball (and I really wasn't very good), I decided I needed some help. I bought a number of baseball instruction books, including You Can Teach Hitting. What a magnificent book!

Baker breaks the swing into components, clearly describes the reason for each part of the swing, and provides appropriate drills for T-ballers through the pros.

The benefits of the book can be immediate. After reading the first couple chapters, I found out I had been taught to grip the bat incorrectly, and, not surprisingly, I passed the misinformation on to my boys. After one or two swings with the proper grip, each of my boys had clearly improved their bat speed. Given that success, they were will to try other changes, and in just one week, they became noticeably better hitters.

This book is clearly written, interesting, and all key points are fully illustrated. I am glad that I can now help my boys with hitting, being confident that I am teaching them properly, and not just passing on mistakes I learned when I played ball.

I have coached for 5 years and read books by Ted Williams and Tony Gwynn. I found this book to be the most complete guide to a good swing than the rest. Ted was a dead pull hitter and Tony was an opposite field hitter. Their styles are hard to duplicate. Dusty Baker brings it all to life in this book in a way that every Dad can understand . If you think your kids coach is going to know how to coach hitting think again. It's worth the money to see the extra hits!

This book is the best I've seen for developing proper fundementals for hitters at an early age. The drills depending on age group will give a coach a working program to follow. Repetition of proper fundementals is critical knowledge for any coach. The book has been endorsed by many proven hitters. It is a great reference book also for problem solving drills depending on the swing flaw. Thanks Dusty, even though I grew up as an AL fan watching G.Brett in KC.

PS. Pitching - see Dick Mills

The genius of Dusty Baker's book is that the swing is broken into components, each with a mnemonic phrase, which makes understanding and remembering the key concepts easy for the youngest player. The kids that I have coached who have lost form on their swing, can get their groove back by a single suggestion of, "Ike to Mike" or "Inward Turn." This book is not only for the very young hitter, there are sections on pitch recognition, offensive strategies, and the mental aspects of hitting. I highly recommend this book for dads or youth baseball coaches so they can teach their players proper, and easy to learn hitting technique, and have them remember, and use, the knowledge.

There is no shortage of baseball hitting books out there. This is definitely the best that I have seen in terms of teaching kids to hit. Dusty sets out the key elements of a successful baseball swing and provides drills to help your kids work on their weak areas.

I would also highly recommend the companion CD which provide video clips of the key elements and drills. No youth baseball coach should be without these resources.

Having read over a dozen books on hitting instruction, this is still one of my favorites. I still refer back to it. The information is sound and well presented. It is most useful for the beginner-to-medium skills hitter.

This book is a super learning guide for myself as well as my nine year old son.Being 41 years old and being out of baseball for a few years I've obviously forgotten a few important aspects about the swing.This book brings these aspects back to life in a easy to understand format.I've had this book for approx.4 years and I always refer back whenever I or other coaches have a question.

I did find some points of interest in this book, and am sure that I will find more as I go back to certain sections.

My problem with Dusty's book is that he advocates a downward swing path to the ball, which I believe is not the way good hitters swing. He does mention the "Ted Williams" approach of a slight upswing at point of contact (POC), but indicates that this is only for older kids that are capable of hitting home runs. However the picture of Pete Rose (surely a great singles hitter) on page 192 clearly shows a slight upswing at the POC. It is my opinion that virtually all major leaguers do NOT swing down through the ball, even if they say they do. Next time you watch a game carefully watch the slo-mo replays. So why would we want to teach young kids an incorrect bat path to the ball?? My 11 year old hits fine using a Williams style rotational batting technique (which actually is easy to teach).

Another problem is that most of the pictues are 'staged' by players who are not moving when the picture was taken. To really see what happens you need to see a REAL swing. Almost all the 'staged' pictures show both arms extended straight at POC. But look at the few 'real' swing pictures in this book or elsewhere you will see the trailing arm bent, with the elbow close to the waist at POC. It is actually difficult to have good hip and shoulder rotation at POC and NOT keep your back arm bent. The method shown in this book was how I was taught many years ago- no wonder I was never any good!

Some of the drills look ok, but the 'chair drill', which forces a strong down swing is something I will never teach my son. This drill also shows a general lack of understanding of the bat motion.

Sorry to bust on Dusty- I remember him as a good player- but there are many things in this book that I believe could send a player down the wrong path. I have read many books, web sites and watched many dvds on batting and am always amazed at the diffences of opinions out there. I have found it best to try many things out to see what works. Finally, I would most strongly recommend "The Science of Hitting" by Ted Williams- this is by far the best book I have read and it has changed how I view batting. Good luck!

It works very well. Our 9-10 girls just finished in 2nd in the state LL tournament. I was the batting coach and our girls carried a team average of .362 against state-level pitching! I have a shelf full of books and tapes. If I had to pick a keeper, this would be it. The first tape is excellent, too.

The pidgeon-toe stance and the inward turn (we call it "tuck") will improve bat speed, power, and balance.

The drills in this book help numerous kids on my team. Coaching 16-18 year olds, using the drills in this book created a solid hitting team. The kids made more contact, compacted their swings and got quicker hands. Aces to Dusty Baker!!