In the previous video we discussed the evaluation or progression a hitter goes through on each pitch as well as practical benefit of more time to react if the hitter can go through the progression quicker. Now the benefits of having more time should be fairly obvious but from the hitter’s perspective (and my own as a hitter), it will appear that the pitch slows down. And that, I believe, is one of the most crucial benefits of training with this system.
Obviously, the pitch does not slow down, but as this has been a very common comment from the hitters, as well as from my own personal experience. It is my opinion (sans any scientific testing), using only logic and my own personal experiences, that every hitter develops their own internal clock going thru the pitch progression. And that internal clock is developed over time seeing countless pitches of a relatively similar velocity (i.e. high school level pitching, college level pitching, ect.). So in my theory, if the hitter can accelerate their pitch progression/internal clock beyond what they have naturally developed, they can make a decision sooner on whether it’s a pitch to hit or not (i.e. increase their time to react). And it is the hitter’s comparison between what was once their natural internal clock and their new, quicker internal clock that makes the pitch appear slower.
To put it another way; think about swinging a weighted bat then swinging your normal bat. Your normal bat will feel significantly lighter. Of course, we know that your normal game bat has not become lighter, but it is the comparison of the weighted bat that gives the sensation of the normal bat being lighter.
It is the same thing with vision training but with one very important difference. Although there will be the “sensation” of the pitch slowing down, in reality, the hitter will actually be processing the information quicker. The “sensation” is not so much a by-product of comparison as it is a function of processing the information quicker. So, the faster the hitter processes the information, the greater the time to react. Hence, the pitch appears to “slow” down.
So in summary:
- Every hitter goes through a progression
- The quicker they can go through the progression, the more time they will have to react
- The more time they have to react, the more the pitch appears to “slow” down.
Ok, so I have explained the concept of vision training a little different than I did in the video. I have explained more what training with our patented Pitch Recognition System will do. Now let me explain how we “slow” the pitch down, specifically how we train hitters to be quicker with the “What” and “Where” (aka Pitch Recognition) of their progressions.
We do this by incorporating the following into a live pitching session:
- We limit how much of the pitch the hitter sees out of the pitcher’s hand. This is the main difference between our training and all other live vision training. This forces the hitter to make a decision with less information than they are normally accustomed to. Additionally, we have the ability to increase or decrease how much of the pitch the hitter will get to see based on their training progress. All of the other live training methods are full path, meaning the hitter sees the ball the entirety of the pitch. The full path method is good training but it is limited in that:
- There is no resistance to quicken Pitch Recognition
- There is no way to determine when the hitter determines Pitch Recognition as it takes longer to verbally say it than it takes the pitch to go from the pitcher’s hand to the catcher’s glove.
- The hitter is not swinging a bat (this is also for safety reasons) so no worrying about the mechanics. We remove all other variables so the hitter is solely concentrating on “what” and “where” aspect of each pitch.
- The training is conducted in a live pitching environment. We train in this environment to most closely mimic game condition.
- The hitter receives instantaneous feedback. The hitter will simply call out the perceived pitch and location which is then marked on the provided charts. The person charting will then mark the actual pitch and location. At the end of a predetermined number of pitches, a total will be made both of correct pitch types and correct locations.
- The training is non-confrontational. This probably doesn’t sound like a big deal but if you think about it, it can have a very positive effect on the hitter. The pitcher, catcher and the person charting are all on the hitter’s team. They should want the hitter to succeed and have no reason to misrepresent the results. It’s definitely not like game condition where the pitcher and catcher are the opposing team and the umpire is technically unbiased.
- As mentioned above, we have the ability to adjust the how much the hitter sees of the pitch. We can literally adjust it from the pitcher’s hand to the catcher’s mitt and anywhere in between. So as the hitters progress in their pitch recognition, we have the ability to continually train them to make quicker and quicker decisions.
An additional by product of our pitch recognition training is the spatial recognition of the strike zone. Because we chart each pitch, a hitter can see firsthand any differences between where they think the pitch is as opposed to where it actually is. For instance, we have had hitters in a session consistently call a pitch on the inside corner a ball but call the pitch 6” off the plate a strike (or vice versa). Again, because we chart each pitch, the hitter can get a real idea of what they perceive as the strike zone compared to what is reality and make the necessary adjustments.