Choking Up On The Bat Doesn’t Make You A Better Hitter
Choking Up On The Bat Doesn’t Make You A Better Hitter. Here’s Why.
Spend a few minutes watching a little league baseball game, and you will undoubtedly hear the coaches instructing some of the smaller players to choke up on the bat. There is this intuitive idea that when the bat is just a bit too long for the size of the young player, choking up reduces the length of the bat, thereby reducing the amount of time and effort it takes to rotate the bat over the plate.
That same conventional wisdom has extended through the more advanced ranks of the baseball world. Coach tells you to "Choke up when you get two strikes." This is about changing your grip by moving your hands up the bat's handle toward the barrel. To be clear, I am not talking about choking up and staying there throughout your at-bat—Barry Bonds was famous for doing this—or when we face ultra-hard throwers or a game on the line. On these occasions, some hitters will choke just slightly or so to give a little better feel for the bat.
I am talking about when the coach instructs the hitter to choke up way up the bat when facing two strikes to “protect the plate.”
The theory behind choking up to protect the plate
The theory behind choking up during an at-bat is that the hitter will have more control over his barrel. It’s a simple lesson in physics. An object with more mass near the axis of rotation is easier to rotate than one with more mass farther away, causing it to affect the rotational inertia—how hard it is for an object to rotate. Swinging a bat by the barrel end has less rotational inertia than swinging it by the handle end. In other words, the closer your grip is to the barrel, the easier the bat is to swing and the faster you can swing it.
So, what is the alleged advantage when you are down in the count? A physicist would tell you that you can reduce the rotational inertia of your bat so that you can rotate the bat more quickly into the hitting zone. A 2010 report in the Sport Journal supports this idea, noting that swing and stride times were significantly reduced with the choke-up grip and resulted in substantially higher bat tip speeds. Based on physics and research, this sounds like a simple strategy to get yourself a much-needed base hit when you’re behind the count.
Choking up increases bat speed but not swing accuracy.
Perhaps. But there is more to the story. It is critical to note that the same report also noted no significant difference between choke-up and normal grips in bat-ball accuracy. In other words, while bat speed may increase, hitting accuracy saw no reported change. We simply cannot conclude that increased bat speed somehow automatically increases your accuracy, as there isn’t any reliable statistical evidence to support that choking up to protect the plate produces hits more often than leaving the hands where they are.
In youth leagues, choking up may work if the athlete lacks the strength to carry the bat through the zone. But again, this applies to the hitter that begins choked up and remains choked up through his entire at-bat. Choking up as a young hitter is about strength and skill rather than a strategic choice based on the situation and the count.
Once a hitter is physically mature enough to handle his bat, choking up during an at-bat introduces three problems:
Choking up expands the pitcher's advantage over the already disadvantaged hitter.
As a hitter, you are automatically standing in a place of disadvantage. The pitcher controls the ball—and you have to anticipate, react, and adjust with every pitch. If you move your hands up the bat, you pull the barrel away from the outside edge of the plate. Now, the pitcher can more effectively pitch you outside, as you can only reach the outer third with the cap of the bat.
As a catcher, one of my jobs was observing the hitter’s adjustments between pitches. When I noticed the hitter choking up, I would check off the signs from the coach and call for fastballs away. I knew that by choking up the hitter was shortening his reach and giving us room to pitch him outside. When he swung, he usually missed the ball by the same amount he choked up.
While you might be gaining speed and control of your bat, you shortened the reach of your swing, gave the pitcher a greater advantage, and ultimately helped him get out.
By choking up, you’re negating the positive impact of muscle memory.
Through all the hours of batting practice, the hitter builds spatial awareness based on where his hands are in relation to the barrel. This spatial awareness is called proprioception. Your body knows where your limbs are in space without looking at them. Simply put, this is muscle memory.
Subsequently, after thousands of swings, your body is trained to know exactly where the bat's sweet spot is in space. By choking up, you change the position of the sweet spot in relation to where your body remembers it to be. It’s the same as swinging a thirty-four-inch bat, then changing to a thirty-two-inch bat when you get two strikes. The body will be confused enough to miss the barrel's sweet spot.
Not only have you wasted countless hours teaching your mind and body to remember and automatically look for the sweet spot with every swing, but you’ve also confused yourself, forcing you to return to practice to remind and reteach your muscles.
Choking up unnecessarily puts you on the defensive.
You may be on offense, but you are reacting to what the pitcher gives you. When you choke up, you’re being put on the defensive. Opposing coaches and pitchers alike can see the change in your demeanor. You’re no longer looking to drive the ball with purpose and conviction and instead protecting the plate. You’re simply just trying to avoid striking out.
Standing in the batter’s box working to avoid a strikeout is the wrong mindset. You have willingly given the advantage to the defense. When you are on offense, be on offense. Whether you’re ahead 3-0 or behind 0-2—you’re on offense. Refusing to choke up sends the clear message that you are always attacking, never protecting.
If not choking up, then what?
Instead of choking up, dial in your barrel accuracy. Develop the necessary practice habits to produce the kind of muscle memory that builds the right foundation and flexibility so you can adapt to any situation and pitcher you will face. So how is this possible? Let us help you develop your own Individual Hitting Process or IHP. We teach you the skills and habits you need and the grit and determination required for elite-level success. After all, that’s the goal, right? We put ourselves in a position to control our offensive destiny to put points on the board to win championships.
Read more about how to develop barrel accuracy and swing strength in my book. “BASS The Path to Elite Level Hitting.”
See ya on the field
Coach Leo
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