Mastering the Baseball Swing Trigger: Techniques for Consistent Power and Control

In the world of baseball hitting, the trigger is an essential component that determines the effectiveness of your swing. It's the pre-swing movement that helps stage your athleticism and power, setting you up to launch the ball with precision. Understanding and refining your trigger can significantly impact your hitting performance, so let's delve into what makes an effective trigger and how you can optimize it.

What is the Trigger?

The trigger is the movement you make just before your swing to prepare your body for the incoming pitch. It’s a critical aspect of your swing because it allows you to generate force and transition smoothly into your swing. There is no one-size-fits-all trigger; it varies from player to player. Some hitters have pronounced, elaborate triggers, while others use minimal, subtle movements.

Why is a Trigger Important?

A well-executed trigger is vital for several reasons:

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Stealing Information from Other Players: A Key to Baseball Success

In baseball, the term "stealing" usually brings to mind swiping bases, but there's another kind of stealing that can significantly benefit your game: stealing information. This blog post explores how gathering insights from fellow players can help you improve your skills and reach higher levels in baseball, from high school to pro ball.

Why Stealing Information is Important

As a player aspiring to improve, you can't rely solely on your own experiences or even just on your coaches' guidance. Other players, especially those who have already achieved the levels you aim for, are valuable resources. They have firsthand knowledge of how to apply the mechanics and techniques that coaches teach.

Real-World Application

Coaches provide critical information and training, but players often have unique ways of applying this knowledge based on their individual experiences. By learning from your peers, you can discover practical...

Mastering Barrel Accuracy in Baseball: The Key to Elite Hitting

Barrel accuracy is the cornerstone of elite hitting in baseball. It means hitting the ball's center mass with the sweet spot of the bat, a skill that separates great hitters from the rest. Launch angle and exit velocity are important metrics, but consistently hitting the middle of the ball on the sweet spot is what all elite hitters do and do often.

Understanding Barrel Accuracy

Barrel accuracy can be measured by a hitter’s batting average, which is the number of hits divided by the number of at-bats. While there will always be some lucky hits, baseball is a game of duration. Over time, a hitter’s success reflects how often they can hit the ball on the barrel. As Ted Williams, one of baseball’s greatest hitters, famously said, “Baseball is the only field of endeavor where a man can succeed three times out of ten and be considered a good performer.”

The Sweet Spot and Center Mass

Few sounds...

Dreaming About Being The Best? Here's How You Set Goals To Get There.

Dreaming about being the best is easy–but setting goals to get there? That’s hard. Taking the necessary steps to accomplish those goals is even harder. But it doesn’t have to be.

We’re all guilty of it—especially baseball players—finding ourselves dreaming of the day we drive in the winning run, get the ring, and get awarded the MVP trophy. I bet you have even imagined (or maybe actually practiced) your post-game on-field media interview.  We get this far-off gaze in our eyes and dream of accomplishing these Big Hairy Audacious Goals (or BHAGS) that leadership guru Jim Collins taught, almost as if they are already a reality. 

That far-out gaze you get and that sense of hope for the future aren’t goals. They’re dreams. I know that truth probably stings a little. But if you are confusing dreams with goals, you lie to yourself, and you will no doubt...

Why Motivation Might Be Actually Fooling You

Are you feeling motivated? Ready to take on that goal? Not so fast. That urge or desire to do something might actually be the wrong path toward the goal you set. Motivation can’t be fully trusted. Yet you rely on it. Almost as if it was the sustenance you need for performance survival. Don’t believe me? Google it. 

“How to Motivate Yourself”

"8 Psychology-Based Tricks for Staying Motivated"

"15 Tips on How to Be More Motivated in The Morning"

"30 Tips for How to Get and Stay Motivated"

I could keep going, but for the sake of getting to the point, I won’t. But trust me; there are millions of articles espousing every idea imaginable for how you can stay motivated. The problem is that while motivation sounds nice, we mistakenly believe it will help us achieve our goals. 

It won’t

What’s your favorite sports movie? Take a moment and think about it. Think...

How to Move From Belief Into The Kind of Confidence That Breeds Success

In our last post, Belief and Hard Work are Actually Only Part of Athletic Success. Here’s Why.

we discussed the subjectivity of belief. We want to be a great athlete. We can believe that we will win the game, the championship, or go undefeated. But the truth behind belief will only take you so far. 

Your belief may produce the right work ethic, a commitment to the team, and the grit needed to keep moving forward when the obstacles are too much. That’s still not enough. The key is transforming your belief into tangible, measurable, and objective proof through simulated execution.

That objective proof is in the execution and the confidence that comes from consistent and successful execution. In other words, putting the time into practice simulating the circumstances you will have to perform in. Then correct the errors, re-simulate, and prove to yourself, your teammates, and...