Mechanics Of Hitting: Part Two – Grip & Hand Position

By Coach Theune

Ok, we know where to stand and what stance to take.

Lets talk about the bat, more specifically, how to grip or hold it. Since how we grip the bat has an effect on how fast we can swing it, we want to use the grip that best allows us to swing the bat freely. The proper way to hold the bat is to open your lower hand, lay the bat handle in you fingers, not in your palm, with the other hand grip the bat the same way, close your hands aligning the middle knuckles on both hands, this will put your wrists just about on top of each other, swing the bat gently and you can feel how easy its swings, remember not to grip the bat tightly, a loose grip allows more freedom in the hands and thus, more swing speed. Try this, put the bat in the palms of both hands grip it tightly and align the top knuckles on both hands and try a easy swing, if you can’t feel the difference, remember, the bat should be a natural extension of the arms.

Now we have talked about where to stand in the box, what kind of stance to use, and how to hold the bat, now lets talk about where to hold the bat or our hand position. I have always taught the kids at old school baseball academy that keeping your hands in front of your back shoulder with the top hand no higher than the top of your shoulder and the bat at a 45 degree angle back is the best place and here’s why. Time, that’s right, time. All decent swings, no matter where you hold your hands, end up going right through the area in front of your back shoulder; all you have to do is try it. If you start your swing there, you will have more time to recognize the pitch and there is nothing more valuable than time.

There are other benefits to this approach, you will have decreased reaction time, that’s the time from the first movement of your bat until it makes contact with the ball, the lower the reaction time, the higher the bat speed, the higher the bat speed the more power. These facts are indisputable and will be agreed with by any good professional coach.