Why can't I hit the ball far

by Andrew Chen
(19711 Drake Drive Cupertinio CA)

Andrew asked: I exercise and go to the gym on days I don't play sports.

I make good contact and I have good bat speed.

Also there are a lot of kids who are a lot smaller than me and they can hit it twice as hard.

Also I hit everything to left field and I bat left. Please help me solve this problem.


Rick answered: Andrew, thank you for your question.

I will need some additional information concerning your situation, to better get a picture of what is taking place.

1. Your age

2. Level you are playing at.

3. Number of years you have been playing.

4 Has the problem you asked about always been a problem, or is it something which just recently came up?

As a beginning, look at the images above, and compare a couple of things from them, to your situation.

1. Are you balanced over your knees when you make contact with the ball, or when you complete a swing, even if you do not make contact?

2. Are you getting the bat head into and through the hitting zone, and more times than not getting the barrel on the ball, rather than the end of the bat, or off the handle?

3. Do you get your front foot down early, or do feel rushed in your at bats? If your front foot is late, it will cause you to feel rushed to get your swing started, which can cause you to have a long looping swing, thus making you even later on pitches. This will cause you to get under most pitches, generating fly balls and pop ups, rather than line drives and ground balls.

4. Are you seeing the ball at the pitcher's release point, and tracking it all the way to the hitting zone. It is not uncommon for players to see the ball at release, and for no apparent reason, stop tracking it as they swing. If you don't know if this is happening, try making seeing the ball the focus of your at bat, even taking pitches that you track from release, all the way into the catcher's mitt, or the back of the cage if you are in BP.

Seeing the baseball is simply essential!

If you could resubmit your question on the site with the additional information, we can start up from there. In a perfect world, it is always best to see a hitter swing to make an accurate analysis of what is happening with them.

That is seldom an option when distance is involved. We will still be able to figure this out and provide you with some things and ways to work on it.

Thank you again for your question. I look forward to receiving the additional information.

Yours in baseball,

Rick