cage and on the field
In the cage, the target is the pitcher's "L" screen or the back end of the cage. That is not very far. You will find that the young guys and gals develop a slower smoother stroke after a while in the cage. Particularly if you are using indoor cages, the sound of their hits are deafening to them, and they will begin to feel like a superhero. Both player and coach can be fooled by this. Once you get them outdoors and they see that their hits are barely leaving the infield; yes, most players will settle for any hit at all. They will start trying to compete with Ichiro, even though Ichiro has been hitting 500 baseballs a day since he was 7 years old. What they do not know is, Ichiro hits a couple out of the park during every batting practice. He has his high percentage swing, and his Sac Fly swing.
You have to get the American boys outside on the Diamond and make them understand how hard it is to hit a ball out of the park. Maybe, if they are lucky, they have been hitting 100 or 200 balls and using up two hours. That isn't 500 and 5 hours. Some of them will develop a state of denial once they get outdoors, but if you keep asking them where that last hit landed; they will start to put some leg and hip into it. If you used a pitching machine indoors, then use it outdoors too. Do not expect them to hit everything that is coming into all nine zones when they have only been hitting out of two or three zones indoors. Don't ask them for a home run just because they have been putting in some cage time, just ask them to improve their distance on their hits. It will not take more than a couple weeks to see them hit a long ball.
(you are probably telling yourself you cannot wait two weeks, but the truth is: the professionals want fifty outdoor "game type" at bats during Spring Training. Any less, and most of them are not ready to be in the line-up on Opening Day.)
Players like Chone Figgins are a result of too much cage and not enough try. The guy has no power from either side of the plate; but fools a lot of batting coaches in the cage. Yes he is making contact, but the ball lands at 200 feet mark outdoors. He does a little better when they are serving him up those softies in BP, but not much. His coach could be asking him to participate in a good weight program, but the M's are probably the dumbest team in baseball. They are going to be busy asking him to play Center Field instead of asking him for a 200 pound bench press.
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