Watch EV in Action!

Recently, one of my 15 year old players was asking me if I ever saw Kirk Gibson’s 1988 World Series Game One Homerun that stunningly turned the Series in the favor of the Dodgers.

Of course! I was watching at the time in my hip bachelor’s pad...cough, cough.

It’s probably the most iconic homer in baseball history. Down 3 to 2, bottom of the 9th, 2 outs, full count, Injured and aged hero pinch hits and makes good off of the best reliever in the game.

But, the backstory to the homer as we have come to know is that Gibson was “hunting” a 3-2 slider.

Gibson would later tell how a scout had told him if Eckersley gets you to a full count he will always throw a slider.

I’ve included the whole at bat at this link. Watch as Gibson (around 6:15), quickly signals for time out just before the 3 and 2 pitch, steps out of the box, flushes and resets his mindset for slider. He would later say this is where he was recalling the conversation with the scout and when he stepped back in the box he was firmly committed to the slider. This IS working EV.

The result? The most popular homer in World Series History outside of Mazeroski’s shot in 1960. (Pirates fan you know)

I bring this up because we now recognize this as hunting and not guessing. In fact it’s what we’ve instructed for the past 20 years. Awareness, Clarity, Mindset, “Right-Now”, and Imagination.

Great hitters commit to an area.

Great hitters commit to a pitch.

Great hitters narrow, not expand strike zones.

He’s not guessing.

He’s committing.

Coach Perry calls this "hunting."

That’s how you hit great pitchers. YOU can’t hit MY fastball and curveball, let alone a bona fide pitcher if you’re trying to cover both pitches and all areas.

You must do only one thing. Know what that one thing is.

The one thing is location, shape, and speed.

With younger players we always start with hunting fastballs for an obvious reason I’ll get into in the near future. As they progress to HS we expand their ability to hunt.

If you want to be a battle tested and game ready hitter that hunts location and speed then contact me at coachbill@betterballplayer.com and we’ll set up a time to get together.