Welcome to the Swing Smarter Hitting Training podcast. Hey, coaches, players, and parents. I'm your host, Joey Myers. And today, you're in for an absolute treat. Joining me is none other than Jeff Frey, former Major League Baseball player, renowned hitting analyst, and the charismatic voice behind the She Gone movement that's shaking up hitting conversations across social media.
Jeff spent nearly a decade in the MLB showcasing exceptional skill as a contact hitter and setting the standard with his versatile play. Since stepping off the field, he's turned his sharp eye toward analyzing hitting advocating for traditional approaches that stand the test of time. In this action packed episode, Jeff and I dive deep into some heated hitting topics. Why do so many former big leaguers contradict today's popular hitting gurus? The critical difference between a real versus feel and swing mechanics, what coaches and players get wrong and how to get it right, effective strategies for mastering barrel path and staying competitive against elite pitching straight from Jeff's own playbook and experiences facing legends like Greg Maddux.
Coaches and players, if you're looking to gain powerful insights to instantly elevate your hitting game or your coaching strategy, is about to make your hitting approach smarter, simpler, and way more successful. Let's dive in. Coach Jeff. Hey, man. What's up?
How's it going, man? I've been following you every day. I mean, you got I don't know. How many how many times do you post a day? What'd you say on Twitter?
I don't know. Too fucking many. No. I love it. It's entertaining.
I get on, and, I mean, you're you talk about so many different things, and this is kinda off the record. But, you know, so many different things, and we we know you talk about somebody in particular, and we don't have to mention that name, but everybody knows who that is because Right. He knows your enemy number one for you. But, yeah. No.
I've been watching you and then following you and kinda took a little hiatus this last year, focus on some other things, and some I wanna get back into again. I was doing this quite a bit. You know, I mentioned I I had, interviewed Matt Noakes and Aaron Miles and some of these guys that played played big league ball and stuff like that. And so I was like, you know what? Like, I talked to my dad.
I still do lessons and stuff, and and my dad's like, why don't you keep doing your podcast? Why don't you keep doing your pod? I was like, you know what? That might be a good idea. Yeah.
Yeah. Well, I mean, I I excuse me. I've, kinda took a break from my podcast for a while. We moved I moved to Maryland, and my girlfriend got sick. And so I took a break, but then I started doing it back, and it's really kinda taken off.
And Mhmm. I don't make 1p from doing it, but I like being able to, you know, get former players on there that echo the same things that we talk about. And then why are all the former players saying this is the way, you know, which is the opposite of all the the social media gurus, but somehow we're all wrong. It's and it's a consistent drumbeat too. It's a consistent drumbeat along former big league players and big league players consistent.
I mean, it has been over the years. Listen Bonds, listen to a rod, listen to pool holes. All of them say the same thing. And to be honest, eight years ago, I was attacking the same Barry Bonds and things and Mike Trout because what we were seeing and, you know, I can include myself in with those hitting gurus, you know, because I didn't play Major League ball. I played college ball and, Fresno State.
But, you know, I was going, well, look at Mike Trout. He's saying he gets on top of the ball. He works on getting on top of the ball during batting practice. And you go you look at his swing and it doesn't look like that, You know? But I think people are getting lost in translation, the real and the feel thing.
That's the problem. That is the problem. Because people sorry to interrupt you, but No. Go ahead. That's what they always go to that.
Somebody just went to that a minute ago. I showed a buddy of mine, you know, using an ax on a tree. He's like, yeah. J. J.
Munoz? J. J. Munoz? Yeah.
Yeah. And they said, oh, well, you know, George Brett told me to extend his arms. He always extend full extension, but he never did that. And, you know, what about feel versus real? So they, you know, they like to look at video Mhmm.
What we did. Mhmm. Right? And say, yeah. You thought you were doing this, but this is what you actually did.
So we're gonna teach everybody to do what what you actually did. And then, you know, part of it is the mindset, the the the idea that I need to get on top of this ball because the weight of the bat when you swing is naturally gonna flatten out. Mhmm. So just think if you're trying to flatten it out, how much lower it's gonna go than where you want it. So this idea of swinging down, sure, we didn't swing down like this the way they all demonstrate.
You know? They're like, oh, you don't swing down. No. You swing down to get your hands and the barrel in the hitting zone, and then you try and stay in the hitting zone. And, you know, they'll say that the uppercut swing, the long swing that they teach stays in the hitting zone longer.
And it's just like, come on. This just defies logic. Right. Well and this is where I started going down some of the rabbit holes on the science. Like, you look at centripetal force.
I don't wanna get too much in the weeds. Centripetal force. So there's those forces acting. You have gravitational forces. You have all kinds of forces acting on the barrel, and our hitters do a lot of overload training.
They swing heavy, heavy bats, and I and I love in loaded, but any heavy bats fine, cam wood, whatever. But I love the in loaded heavy bats, and I got that from Perry Husband. I don't know if you've done a lot of research on that. I know who that is. I I don't know that I actually know him personally, but I I know the name.
I've heard the name. And Effective Velocity. So, one other company I wanna mention them, they've they've pretty much stolen a lot of his stuff, his research over thirty years. He's a great, great guy. Effective lot, I think he's, like, at effective velocity or something like that.
Perry effective e v e v, Perry husband or something like that. But he's, what's his name on MLB Central? He's on there a lot talking about effective velocity and sabermetrics, former big league player, his name will come to me, lefty, played on the Rays, had some pretty good years back in the early two thousands. Lighter? No.
Lefty hitter. Lefty hitter. Oh, Carlos Pena? Yes. Carlos Pena.
So Carlos Pena worked with with Perry, and and Carlos loves it. I mean, you you talk to Carlos, and he's like, effective velocity. You know? But like Perry, I I learned the heavy bat stuff from him. And so when you can get kids controlling on a high t controlling a heavy bat, and we're swinging down.
I mean, that's what I'm telling. That's the cue we're telling is swing down. Right? And when they can do that, it's amazing what they can do when pitches are down or wherever on the on the in the zone. Yeah.
It's easy. Yeah. It's and and some of my swings, a lot of my home runs were balls that, were down down and in almost like a lefty, you know, you don't pitch lefties down and in and the few home runs that I hit a lot of times were just me dropping the head of the bat. And and kinda almost like golfing a ball down and in over the fence. And because of that, you know, it created that arc or whatever, I elevated the ball.
I didn't need to. You know? I never practiced on hitting that. That was just a reaction. And I think a lot so much, of what's being taught out there in the hitting world is, you know, we're overcomplicating this stuff, and and we're just thinking too much, man.
When I've stepped in the box, I had when I had a clear mind, and I was confident, I didn't think about anything. I didn't think about my mechanics, where my hands were, if I need to get my foot down. It's just like simple stuff that because of repetition just becomes, you know, the way you do it, it's natural and not thinking. Clear your mind to get in the box and see the baseball, and that's really the thing is, you know, if you don't see the baseball, which I don't know how you can see the baseball when you're all torqued up like a pretzel over here and can't even turn your head and, you know, you gotta snap everything and explode your whole body. How long can your body withstand that type of torque anyway?
Right. And I think one of the big things that that Perry says that he he uses a metaphor, and it's like you have the speedboat coming across the water, the lake. Right? And then if you shoot a torpedo, so the speedboat represents the baseball. The torpedo represents the barrel path.
Right? So if you shoot a torpedo from the bottom of the lake to try and hit that speedboat, your timing has to be perfect. And if you're too early, you're gonna miss it. If you're too late, you're gonna miss it. Right?
And so that's where you go back to this one swing fits all thing doesn't work for all pitches because you got a 95 in the big league. If we're talking big leagues, ninety five plus mile an hour fastball up in the zone coming down at around two degrees or three degrees. I mean, that's almost literally straight like a speedboat coming in. And so the big thing is to shoot why can't we shoot the torpedo from the top of the water, like, right at it? Because it doesn't matter whether you're gonna be early or late with your barrel launch.
You're right on target. So you're gonna hit the target a lot better. You know? So it's like matching the plane of the pitch, whatever the plane of the pitches with the barrel coming in, and you can't do that with the barrel that's coming up at 15 degrees and a ball that's coming down at three degrees. Right.
And that's really what that's really what you're doing when you swing down. Because like I said before, if you don't swing straight down and through and hope and, you know, across it, you swing down and to get your barrel as quickly, and efficiently in the hitting zone. K. And not I argue with these guys about this this whole, you know, what they call barrel depth. Like, what is barrel depth?
Why do I wanna swing back here? This is a waste of time. This takes longer. I start my bat here. It takes longer to get to where I want it.
I wanna go from here to there and then stay through as long as I can. Mhmm. And, I mean, it's almost universal. Almost every player that played the game, at least in my era, says the same thing, and we all none of us understood what we're doing. Is that what they're trying to tell us?
Right. Well, I think it's and and when you say, you know, clear your mind when you said this a little bit earlier, clear your mind, keep it simple. And I think those are great, especially at the higher levels, even high school, high school, college on up, you know, professional ball. The problem with the youth is that it's all about fear of missing out travel ball games where they're playing travel ball games, like, nonstop. There's a tournament every single weekend.
52 they got 52 chances to win a ring. Right? 52 chance, fifty two weeks. And the problem is is that they're not developing. And when those players that haven't put in the repetitions like you have and many other form big leaguers and big leaguers haven't put in the repetitions, they can't put it on autopilot.
And so they start thinking about all this stuff, and it makes it even worse. It's like a big old fat snowball that gets bigger and bigger and bigger. And so my thing, like, my own son, my 12 year old, he's one of the pictures back here is little little younger in these pictures, but he's 12 now. And I have I have, for a reason, not put him in a travel wall. It's not that I don't like it.
It's just that I wanted him to grow a love for the game that I had, and I know you had. And I know many former you listen to any former big leaguer, big leaguer current and and, future, they're all gonna say I I mean, they love the game because there's no reason why they would put in the work that they do if they didn't love the game. You know? And I think growing that love for the game early on and getting out of this whole trap of fear of missing out. I gotta play more games.
I gotta play more games. Why don't you listen to people like coach Jeff and and others that are giving this knowledge and use that to get a little bit better? You know? Is that is that your kinda take? Yeah.
And I I mean, I'm not a big fan of the, select ball just because it's too much. These kids are playing too much in my mind, and they're not playing other sports. And but I blame a lot of that on the parents because it's like, you know, they think their kid's gonna miss out. Their kid's gonna fall behind. And I tell people all the time, I was like, if your kid is talented enough and has the drive to work at it, he has a chance.
But youth forcing him to do it, it's just gonna make him not wanna do it. It's gonna turn it into a job, and it's not fun. Mhmm. Let him do it on his own. You'll find out.
And this I mean, so few people make it to the big leagues. It it it does it make sense that everybody's trying to turn a little 12 year old into a big leaguer? Just let them be kids, man. Nobody forced you to play. You played if you played because you wanted to play and because you loved it.
Nobody ever, you know, nobody ever forced me. Oh, you have to go do this. You have to no. I wanted to go do that because I wanted to compete, and I wanted to get better. Mhmm.
There was a kid, so we were playing in our school ball game because we're playing school ball, and then we have our our rec. It's very competitive rec. It's probably one of the best competitive recs in the Central Valley in California. And there was a kid, little chatty kids, good little kid, you know, talking trash to one of our other players who are their buddies. They played together on on their travel team.
And this poor kid he pitched, did alright. You could tell he's a good little ball player, but when they took him out, because we're hitting him around a little bit, he's playing at first base. And I'm co I coach first base. So my the sixth grade coach is the head coach, you know, for the school ball. So I'm over at first base.
He's playing first base. He starts chatting it up with me. And and I asked him, I said, hey. I heard hear you're playing with so and so on this travel ball team. Yeah.
Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Well, I'm not playing on that one anymore. I'm playing another one.
Oh, you're so you play with so and so. Oh, yeah. I'm playing so. So you're going into seventh grade yet next year. Right?
Yeah. Are you gonna you're gonna play, are you gonna switch travel ball teams for the seventh and eighth grade year? Because it's kind of a gap, you know, between they get to the high school. And he says, I don't know. He said, I might take some time off in the summer.
And I go, why not? Why not take time off? He goes, well, I I just don't wanna fall behind. It's what he said. Broke my heart.
Broke my heart. I said, hey hey, kid. You're not gonna fall behind. You're actually gonna come back probably stronger because his his arm was killing him. That's what he was saying.
He said, my arm's just killing me. Just got back from an Arizona tournament the weekend before. And I told him, I said, dude, work on you, recover, get better, develop. You're not gonna fall behind. If anything, you're probably gonna leapfrog because a lot of these players are stuck in this mainstream travel ball, play every weekend.
They're not even thinking about developing. They're just thinking that playing more games is gonna make them better. And and I believe that that helps up to a point. But then they they reach a plateau, and they don't go beyond that because they don't learn the skills that a lot of you guys share. You know, former big leaguers and big leaguers share, about the mental side of things.
Mhmm. Plus they don't practice enough. Yep. You can't work on all the stuff you need to learn just playing games all the time. Right.
You know? And and and back to that little boy, that's that makes me sad because the the only reason he thinks he's gonna fall behind is because somebody told him that. Some adult told him that. Mhmm. You sure you don't wanna play?
I I can almost picture it. You sure you don't wanna play? You might fall behind. So now in his mind, he thinks he might fall behind when he just wants to be a kid. What you know, why should a 10 year old, 12 year old kid's arm be hurting?
Only because he's playing too much. You know? Right. Well, who is it I just saw on MLB network? We have these great and this is why I love the experience with my son, and I've the dads that come in with their sons.
You know? Hey. Johnny doesn't listen to me, so I'm hoping he's gonna listen to you and or I'll say something, and dad will say, I've said the same thing to him. He doesn't listen to me. You know?
And I I'm just blessed to have such a great relationship with my 12 year old. At least right now. We'll see what happens when he goes into the testosterone teenage years. You know? But we watch MLB Network a lot, and we'll we'll watch games, and we'll we'll we'll go and start breaking down how a pitcher is sequencing a hitter or how what a hitter's hunting or what they're looking for.
And, you know, it's it's such I never dreamed that it could be this cool to, like, sit with your 12 year old and and go over this kind of stuff. And he's just, like, wide eyed, you know, looking looking at it. And so we were so we were watching it'll be and when we, network, and, one of the teams I can't remember who it was. Maybe you know. I wanna say during spring training, they have, like, six or seven guys, Tommy John.
Like, they're out. Injuries, Tommy John. One team. White Sox. White Sox.
What is going on? And it's chasing velocity and spin rate, man. And and, actually, one of my old teammates, who actually works for a team, I won't say his name. I wanna get him in trouble, but he told me, about I think it was last week. He said and he calls me Friday.
He said Friday. He goes, man, these guys got it so easy. It's like a country club. He goes, they don't run. He goes, these they never run.
Mhmm. You know, pictures used to that used to be the deal, man. You throw, you go run. Yeah. Yeah.
You know? And some guys were obsessed with it, but everybody has to run to get the blood flow on and all that kind of stuff. And he says they don't do that anymore. And everybody's, you know, I think the bullpens what used to just be, hey, go throw a bullpen between starts or whatever. You know, you got your bullpen catcher and you got your pitching coach and that was it.
Mhmm. Now they got seven dudes down there with iPads tracking every pitch. So you're, you know, you're not going through it at 70% just to keep your arm fresh or whatever and work on little mechanical things. Now it's like every pitch is see how much we can spin it, see how hard we can throw it. And I just think these guys' arms are wearing out, man, because they're not they're not getting a break, and they don't do the little the the stuff that the old school pitching coaches always knew about.
You know? Places take a day off, and we'll have a flat groundwork, and then we'll do a bullpen and another day off, and you'll start. Yeah. That's interesting. We didn't have a million Tommy John it was rare to hear that one of your pitchers was gonna miss the season with Tommy John in spring training.
They just had five months off. Why are they hurt now? Because they're all at training at velocity training centers and drive lines and stuff like that, tread in the off season trying to throw harder or spin the ball or create new pitches. Mhmm. Yeah.
They have seven pitches and six pitches and things like that. And, I mean, it's to watch the Greg Maddux documentary. I haven't been able to sit down and watch the whole thing all the way through, but I've seen bits and pieces that have been floating around x. Amazing. I mean, the guy I don't know.
Do you did you face him, Greg Maddux? Yeah. I've seen him four times. So so take me through that before I get into kinda what what that is. How'd that go?
I was one for two with two walks. Okay. He didn't walk anybody. Yeah. But the cool thing about when I faced him was, and I I did this a lot.
I would watch pitchers warm up, k, and see how they grip the ball, different things, see if they hold the ball behind their back, whatever when they're getting the signs. Just see if I could see the grip on the baseball so I could maybe have an advantage of what's coming. Mhmm. And so Maddox, I saw him. I knew I knew what he threw, you know, pretty much already as three or four pitches that he threw.
But I saw him warming up between innings, and he got this grip, like, cutter grip. I saw him grip it, and then he put it his hand in his glove, and then he motioned to the catcher cutter or like this, you know. Uh-huh. And he did that a couple times. I was like, alright.
I wasn't really thinking about it. Then I get in the box since I think it was, like, one o count or something like that, and I saw him get that grip. I was like, he's still gonna be a cutter right here. And he wasn't messing with you? No.
No. No. He wasn't. And, I mean, I don't know how many other guys look for that stuff, but I look for that stuff. Mhmm.
And sure enough, man, he throws me a ball that is probably middle part of the play and cuts away on the outside corner, and I just hit it freaking lenient to right field. Mhmm. I was looking for it, and I hardly ever looked for pitches Mhmm. Besides the fastball, but I was like, he's throwing me a cutter. And it the thing about Maddox, man, is the ball was like you can't believe how much the ball moved.
It was almost like a wiffle ball Mhmm. Where you just didn't see very many pitchers. I mean, guys had movement, of course, but not like this. Not like a two seamer that would run this far or, you know, it was just kind of a different thing, and you could see why he was so successful having that type of movement and that type of command at the same time. What do you what do you think that was?
Because today, you mentioned spin rate, and they're talking about, hey. You gotta increase that spin rate because that's how you're gonna get that big break. But I don't think he could break a pane of glass. I mean, he threw low nineties, which is pretty good, but, you know, in college, at d one level, low nineties is BP fastball. Right?
And I know probably for you guys for sure. So So what what do you think that was? What what made that happen? He just was is that good? Man, he was just a a master.
You know? And a lot of it's just his intelligence and that, you know, he knew that he probably got hit harder when he was throwing low nineties than when he was throwing 88 to 86. Mhmm. You know, because he knew what was more important was location. Mhmm.
And that if he could paint that outside corner and then come in and just I heard he used to, like, make an x. I don't know really the whole story, but it's kinda like he never wanted to throw two pitches consecutively in the same place Mhmm. Which that that seems pretty logical. Right? Mhmm.
And so you could throw two pitches the same velocity, but one's inside, one's outside, and it's a totally different look. So he was just I mean and I think he also did the opposite of what a lot of guys do is he subtracted more than he added. So if somebody hit him, he didn't try and throw it harder next time. Mhmm. It'd be easier.
Mhmm. That's it. Everybody else is like, oh, this sucker got a base hit. I'm a throw harder this time. Mhmm.
Then they're gonna hit it harder the next time. You know? I mean, that that's what they don't understand about guys in not just major league guys, but guys that play at a high level, big time d one, guys in the minor leagues. Man, we can hit a fastball. Mhmm.
And he did it doesn't matter. Yeah. Throw it a hundred and five. You're still gonna get hit. Please throw it harder because I'm gonna hit it hard.
Mhmm. You know? And the more harder you throw, the the the less effort I have to use and just relax and make contact, and you're gonna provide the power. Mhmm. You mentioned the x in the strike zone, and that goes I go back to Perry.
Perry has been on that, and that's effective velocity, basically. So the the one leg of the x and and this was something I'm sure Greg was way ahead of the the curve on this because Perry will Perry's been talking about this for for decades. I mean, he's done thirty years of research on this. And like I said, some couple one company in particular has ripped them off and is claims it's theirs, their idea, and it's not. And so the idea, which you just said was that an up and in fastball is same pitch, say, 90 miles an hour, same pitch looks plus six to the hitter because it's closer to the eyes.
And then that same 90 located down in a way, so on that leg of the x looks minus six. So it looks 84 miles an hour. So the difference between that perception perception to the hitter is, like, 12 miles an hour. And Perry says that within six miles an hour is where all hard contact happens. So he said the problem with today's game is that pitchers tend to take their hard stuff and they locate it away.
So if you guys got a hundred mile an hour fastball, he locates it down in a way. To the hitter, it looks 94. Now that's that's a lot better to hit, and you got more time, and you don't have to turn as much on that pitch to be able to go up with it. Right? You don't have to do as much work.
You just relax and just kinda let it go hit at the opposite field. So that's kinda interesting with with Maddox and something that I think since I've met Perry, it's been a lot more open. But there weren't a lot of pitchers, and you could probably speak to this because you played around then. A lot of pitchers that did that kind of stuff. No.
Nobody could do it like he could. Right. Another thing with what what you're talking about is the fast fall away. K. So if I'm hitting a fastball away, you say a hundred mile an hour fastball is 94 perception to me.
Well, that hundred mile an hour fastball from here is probably 95 by the time it gets to home plate. Mhmm. 94 as it loses velocity. So now now it looks like it's 88. Mhmm.
Right? And all I have to do to hit a pitch away is get my barrel to this part. Mhmm. K? But if I'm gonna hit a fastball so if I'm gonna pull a ball, which normally I pitch up and in, you're gonna have to pull I gotta get my bat head way out here.
Mhmm. You know? Otherwise, I can't hit this pitch up and in here. I gotta get the head out. Mhmm.
You know? So that that takes even longer Yeah. To do that. Well, in well, in timing too. So one of the biggest examples that I talk with my hitters with Judge from the regular season where, you know, everybody you had a great season Hit three twenty, 60 homers, hundred something RBI, something like that with the Yankees.
And then he gets into the playoffs, and we're watching my son and I were watching games just like that. We're watching Yankee games and A's game. He likes the Dodgers because of Ohtani and, you know, bets and everybody. And we'll watch Yankees game and during the season, and I'm like, if you could public available public available heat maps on Google, you can look them up. Look up Aaron Judge heat map.
Right? And you'll see dead red. I mean, it's completely hot, red hot down in the zone, more towards the down and away. Right? Then you'll see it go away too.
So it's red hot out here. But he's ice cold up in the zone, especially up and in, and then a little bit inside. Ice cold. So I you know, we've had these conversations. My son and I is like, why aren't pitchers I major league pitchers are not stupid.
Like, we have a couple of them, former big leaguers in our neck of the woods that we talk to friends with and things and freaking wicked smart, these guys. Like, they're not doughheads. I know there are some, you know, on the spectrum, pitcher wise, but why how is he allowed with that one swing? It's a one swing. And I love Judge, by the way.
He's a Fresno State guy. I love Judge. It's not Judge. It's more of the one swing barrel path, that upswing barrel path. How is he allowed to hit three twenty where you got a guy like Bobby Wood Junior, one of our favorite guys right now in the league.
Right? And Witt can cover the top half. He can cover the bottom half, the outside, the end. He can cover it all. Right?
How is he allow how is Judge allowed to hit three twenty, 60 homers, hundred? But then we look at the playoffs. We're watching these playoff games and the world series, and we are seeing hard fastballs up and in, cold zone, and then we're seeing a lot of these sweepers and sliders down in a way. And he is just whiffing, and I felt so bad for the guy. It was about I think it was the second game of the World Series, and he's dealing with these Dodger guys.
These Dodger guys are just tearing him apart. Felt so bad. It gets it up fastball, puts a d swing on it, a d swing, not even a b swing, puts a d swing on it, and then he gets, like, four sweepers down and away. Swing and miss, swing and miss, swing and miss. And then the minute he gets the actual fastball on the outer corner of the plate, that's his wheelhouse.
He takes it, and I could see him go, fuck. Like, like, he missed it. You know? And I and I felt so bad for the guy because he didn't have in that moment, he didn't have, like, another plan. It was just that that one plan.
And, you know, unfortunately for him, he got exposed. Like so why not the regular season? Why only in the playoffs in the World Series? I mean, he I think he led I can't remember the stat I saw. I don't know if it was historical or on the year or whatever it was.
I don't know if it was playoffs and world series, but he led he led in strikeouts in playoffs and world series, like, 35 strikeouts. Mhmm. Yeah. And I and I love Aaron Judge too. Yeah.
I've been honest. He wasn't for his swing coach, that I think brings him negative attention. Right. But what I see with Judge, he's got long arms. He's got big long levers.
You know? So, obviously, common sense says pitch this guy inside. Mhmm. You know? Don't let him.
And then I watched during the regular season, it's like, every time I somebody says, oh, no. Judge hit a home run. Little Richie's gonna post a video. And you look at his pitches, and these pitches are, like, center cut, 85 mile an hour sliders that anybody could hit over the fence. I'm like, sure.
You throw that to me, I might hit a single. But how can you throw these pitches to this guy? Right. And I'm just watching, and I think, honestly, I think these pictures, I know they're not dumb. Some of them are probably not the sharpest knives in the world.
Yeah. Yeah. But it's like, I think, honestly, they've been told that if you throw this pitch with this spin rate, it's a good pitch. If the guy hits it, he hits it. But you know what?
You threw it three 2,800 RPM No matter where you throw it in the zone. And he just happened to hit it. But that's what we're looking for. We're looking for that high spin rate, and that's a good pitch because it has this much movement. And I don't know.
There's another guy argued with on Twitter about and when you talked earlier about a pitch, you know, that's coming down at two degrees, and they're like, oh, this curve ball dropped six feet. I was like, six feet? How could you say that? Just because a six foot six pitcher lets go fit here and the guy catches, doesn't mean it's dropping six feet. Okay?
Or a fastball. The fastball, they said, you know, drops 34 inches. It's like, it's not dropping. A 95 an hour pitch doesn't drop. Right.
It shows you that it goes down at an angle, but it's not dropping. Right. Just because something goes from here to here doesn't mean it dropped four feet. Mhmm. It's going on a direct line to that spot doesn't mean it's dropping.
And I think that's the biggest thing when they when they do all their measurements and they they talk about these pitches. So this pitch had two feet of vertical movement and, you know, 18 inches of lateral. It's like, if if it was really moving that much, nobody could hit it. Right. Right?
Who could hit it? That's a football blitzball. Blitzball. Yeah. Yeah.
It's a wiffle ball. You know? It's a wiffle ball. Yeah. You could throw a wiffle ball that breaks six feet, but you throw you know, I don't know.
Was it five five and a quarter ounce baseball is not gonna drop like that in six feet. Sorry. Well, and the and the other thing is is that when when I talk about hitter with the Aaron Judge example in the playoffs, is that I I tell him. I say, if you had one swing, if you had his one swing and you couldn't change your swing, your swing path, because we have two swing paths. We do a swing down, we do a swing up.
So we we tell them if it's up, we swing down. If it's down, we swing up. If it's far away from your eyes, which is away, we swing up In close to your eyes, just like up, we swing down. So we hunt. We do a lot of hunting, and I learned this from Perry Perry husband.
But we do a lot of hunting. And so I told them, I said, you couldn't change your swing path, but you're getting fed fastballs up and in, which isn't tailored for your swing, or you're getting fed three or four sweepers down and away and in a bat. What pitch would you wanna be more on time with? And they would say, well, the sweeper, obviously. You know?
And so, like, my thing to you is if you got a guy that's if I told you that I was gonna throw you up in the zone, you would hammer it. If I told you he's gonna throw it down in the zone, you'd hammer it. It didn't matter whether I'm throwing a a good splitty, if I'm throwing a cutter, just wherever the destination of the pitch lands, anybody can hammer that pitch. And that's the thing is let's let's say it is dropping six feet, okay, which it's not. If it is dropping six feet, well, what's the final destination of that pitch down in the zone?
Okay. If you knew it was coming down in the zone, could you hammer it? Mhmm. Right? I mean, the destination part of it, the traveling of it, what it's doing doesn't really matter.
I mean, we we have to, younger kids, we gotta train them to see that and trust that that that that slider. I have a a high school senior right now who I've worked with since he was 11 years old, and he said he saw the best pitcher that he's ever seen. And coming from this kid, that that's that's legit. He said he threw 94, and this is in high school. He threw 94, and then he threw a a slider that came right at your head and ended up, like, on the inner upper part of the part of the strike zone.
You know? And I told him, I said, I and his name is Drake. I said, Drake, it's not about where the pitch starts. It's where it ends up. And we were working together, and I was throwing fastballs up and in.
And he's hammering the ball, keeping it fair, hammering the ball, swinging down. And then I threw him I do more of a curveball because I don't wanna ruin my elbow, so I don't throw the sliders or anything like that. So I was throwing curveballs, like, tight spin curveballs up and in, and I would start it, like, at his front shoulder and I'd have it break in. And at first, he was pulling off pulling off pull I go, dude, you don't do that on a fastball. Like, you're not pulling off on a fast.
And, so that's when I told him. I said, hey. You have to trust if you've done your observation that that pitcher, when he throws that pitch, it's gonna start here and it's gonna end here. Right? And so what you're concerned with is where it's gonna end.
Where it's gonna end, that's what you're gonna hit. Just imagine it's a fastball, but the fastball is straight coming in that same spot. You know? Like, it doesn't it doesn't matter the the desert, the destination matters. It's not the what the pitch is doing that matters.
You know? Yeah. And and the keyword for me right there was trust because nobody wants to get hit with the ball. Yeah. So when you initially see and he knows what you're throwing.
I mean, as a pitcher, he's facing a pitcher who throws, and that's a tough combination, a guy that has can throw a hard fastball up and in and breaking ball out of the same Mhmm. The same, slot. That's that's why I couldn't hit Mike Messina because that's what he did. Mhmm. I I couldn't tell the difference in what was coming.
Mhmm. And so that's the thing is the trust is that you have to trust and keep that shoulder in there, not flinch Mhmm. Of fear of getting hit by the ball. Yeah. You know?
And it's I mean, it's easier to do facing you when you tell him he's gonna throw some curve balls out of him than when he's facing the pitcher. Controlled environment. Yep. It looks like a curve ball, but, oh, crap. It's 94, and it's up and in.
I just got hit in the, you know, in the shoulder or something. Yeah. Yeah. And and he did actually one of their pitchers, their closers, actually through '98. Crazy.
He had a school? Nine in high school. Yeah. This is in Oakdale Oakdale, California, which I think is Bakersfield ish. I think it's down down south.
And, he he was our closer. So 98 mile an hour fastball through a sweeper and a slider, and it was wild. Oh, nice. You can't be allowed to throw 98 and be wild. I I mean, I wouldn't even wanna hit off that guy.
Crazy. But he said there was one that he I don't know if it was him or the and the the other one threw the slider, and it didn't break as much. And so it almost almost got him. He turned away, and then they're catching it up, clipping off his glove and going behind the plate. But you're right.
In a controlled environment, it's different. And we do do that because I want its pattern recognition is my main thing. I want them to recognize patterns. I had another hitter who, a big kid. He's 12 years old, but he's he's got his his he emotionally, he's still he's not there.
He's still maturing emotionally. So he gets you can rile him if you throw a ball behind him or or whatever he gets. You don't even have to throw it by him. Just throw it behind him, and he'll get, oh, and then you start throwing it away, and he's easy. So I'll I'll put him in there, and I'll say, okay.
This is what I'm gonna do. So I'll throw it behind you couple times hard, and then he'll flinch even though he knows. And then I'm gonna go away on you. So you need to stick with your plan. So we we use a controlled environment, but it is, yeah, it isn't the same as in a game.
Of course, you're gonna have a little bit of trepidation. You know? You got a guy throwing that hard. And I don't see that as much in the game today, which to me, you know, people I argue with people all the time. They talk about how much harder it is to hit today.
And I there there there's no fear factor anymore. Mhmm. You know, you don't have to worry about the guy dusting you off because they hardly do that anymore. Mhmm. My thing with Judge, was get him off the plate, man.
If you get him off the plate and then just keep pounding him in at his hands, he's gonna have to start making an adjustment. He's gonna have to he's gonna have to cheat a little bit, and then you have him set up to go away. And I don't know if that if they figured him out in the playoffs, if they'll keep doing that. But I I mean, I bet you 45 of his home runs last year were center cut, belt high, and you're just like, how can you throw that pitch to Aaron Judge? Right.
That's a good and it was a great observation that you made. Maybe it's just that these pitchers are so obsessed with spin rate that they just, hey. Throw this pitch with this spin. No matter where you throw it, it doesn't matter. It's gonna be effective.
Maybe that's what's going on. Like, you know, I put my tinfoil hat on. I know this isn't true, and I've seen, Jonathan LaCroix shoot somebody down that that said it. I know it's not true, but it almost seems like with nondisclosure agreements, they've told pitchers, hey. We're gonna fine you for throwing any fastball up and in to judge.
That's what it feels like. Because, like, why aren't they doing that? I mean, I can look on Google and look at his heat map. Yeah. I mean, he and he's got a and most hitters are weak up and in.
Yeah. You know? I mean, that was nobody wanted to get pitched up and in. Mhmm. And a lot of times, I was able to hit that pitch if I was maybe cheating a little bit or looking there.
Like Mhmm. I'll never forget. I faced Darren Oliver who, you know, was my teammate in the minor leagues, in the major leagues. I was his agent for nine years at the end after I retired. Mhmm.
And so when our teammates, I said, hey, Dee. I said, if I ever face you, I'm on another team. How are you gonna pitch me? He goes, he bust you up and in. I said, alright.
So the very first time I faced him, I was with the Red Sox. Very first pitch, he threw me up and in, and I freaking crushed it. I turned on a basketball. Third basement jumped and hit off his glove, but I got a base hit. But he told me how he was gonna pitch me.
It'd be stupid not to be ready for that pitch. You know? Yeah. It's it's the toughest pitch. And the the swing down thing, that's the only way to get to it.
Like, we the the closer it is, like I tell my hitters, the more you wanna shave your face with your barrel. You wanna feel like you're shaving your face. You know, and everybody on on the axle say, no. That's not what trust me. Like, my hitters all do it, and they can keep it fair.
But it has to be that extreme. The closer it is to your face, the more this way you gotta be more down, the more extreme it needs to be. You know? Plus the I I think one of the big mistakes that I see with the everybody's teaching the gurus are teaching is they're all teaching this. Yeah.
And, like, as soon as you do this, you're done. Yep. You better it better be a low pitch. Mhmm. If anything belt high or higher, you're done.
There's no way you can hit a pitch Mhmm. Elevated pitch like this with any authority. You just can't do it. You break your wrist. And I I talked to, I went to Red Sox Fantasy Camp this year.
I talked to a bunch of guys. Victor Rodriguez is, you know, hitting coach for the Padres. Great guy. Knows hitting. He's been in the game forever.
I talked to, Billy Miller. Mhmm. You know, guy had a great career. Yep. And so I was talking to him about hitting, and he and he said three keys.
He says, your your front hip, you kinda roll your front hip in. It goes in your back hip or the gut crease, you know? Mhmm. Then you turn it and he goes in. You keep the relationship with your hands, which means you keep your hands here as long as you can.
Mhmm. You know? And he kept saying, keep the relationship. I was like, I'd never heard that, but that's what it says. Hip hip and keep the relationship with your hands until they break on their own.
You don't have to that's why the whole snap it thing is a joke to me. Disconnection. Well, in in at our tryout for Riverpark is where we Riverpark Little League in the center in Fresno. And, during evaluations, we're doing, I think, a bunch of 11, 12 year olds. We're just watching the hitters.
I was at the hitting station. I had my assistant coach who was watching all the fielding and stuff, and they were rating the the players between one and five, you know, five being really good and one being really low. And I can tell you 85% of the hitters, they weren't all doing the, you know, the TM stuff, but they're just naturally like Bobby Bond still buried. It's easy to swing up. Right?
And at the younger ages, they don't know how to control the barrel. And 85% of the swings were swinging up. So when my my son came in to the the hitting station to do his thing, I go, Noah. I go, dude, these guys. All we're gonna have to do is set the tire swing at about the armpits this season and just throw it through the tire.
Through throw it through the tire. Throw and it's just swing and miss, swing and miss. And that's really what what it is. All our pitchers on our team, we default to middle up pitching, fastballs, middle up fastballs. And I tell them, I say, you don't have to worry about a change up.
You don't have to worry. And we don't we don't allow our kids to throw breaking balls. No change ups. You don't even have to move the ball around in the zone. Just throw it through the tire right up right up at the armpits, and it's just swinging, miss, swinging, miss, swinging, miss, swinging, miss.
It's crazy. Yeah. And because and that pitch looks so good to hit too when you first see it and because you see it's high, it's like, you know, you wanna swing at it. And then once you realize that you shouldn't have swung at it, it's too late. But that's the thing.
And I mean, you see that in the major leagues every day. Everybody's swinging under the ball. The pitchers know that everybody's trying to elevate the ball. So you think at some point common sense would kick in and say, hey, wait a minute. They're pitching us up in the zone.
I have to make an adjustment. But no. Consistently swinging under, under, under all day long. And that's why we see so many strikeouts in the game is because I know. The pitchers are telling you they're gonna do this, and you're still gonna swing at it.
And even if you hit this pitch up in the zone like this, it's not gonna go out of the ballpark unless you're a monster like Aaron Judge or or Joey Gallo. Most guys, that's a can of corn. And I've I've really noticed the last couple of years. I really pay attention to this stuff, but I've never seen so many lazy fly balls to the outfielders in my life. It's just everybody's you know?
And I and I I hope it's not happening, but I feel like in the dugout, it's happening when they come back and they, you know, hit a 320 foot fly ball to center filter. And and the the guy with the iPad says, hey. That was a good swing. You know? I just missed it.
It's like, no. It's not a good swing. You know? You don't have to hit every ball in the air over the fence. Mhmm.
There's other ways to score runs. You know? Well, you know, the thing is a fan and paying paying the money that we gotta pay to go to some of these games. You know, Oakland now not being Oakland. So I'm I'm an athletics fan, and now they're in Sacramento.
But go to a Dodger game, go to especially a Giants game, and you're spending a family of four. I mean, you're talking 250 plus dollars for that day. I mean, you're talking tickets and food and and parking and the whole thing. And we're watching a guy go one for four with three strikeouts and a homer. Like, those three strikeouts are a complete waste of time, especially for a guy, say if it's Ohtani.
We're coming to watch Ohtani and he strikes out. I think we watched him. He came to Oakland. It was one of the last couple weeks that they were home games. Right?
So we went to go one last hurrah at Oakland, the Coliseum. And, they were playing the Dodgers, and you probably had 80% of the stadium was blue. I'm a Dodger fan. And you had a lot of the Japanese were there. I mean, it was all I mean, it was it was it was a electric environment, but there weren't a lot of athletics fans there.
And Ohtani, I think, he almost hit went out. He flied out to the warning track. He was struggling at that at that time, but we watched him strike out, I think, two or three times, had that warning track fly out. And, of course, when he hits it, everybody goes, but he stands up and catches it, you know, at the warning track. But like you said, you probably came in dugout.
Hey. Way to go. Way to go. Bumps. You know?
But complete waste of time of watching Ohtani, and I love Ohtani. But watching a game like that where we're not and he wasn't making any adjustments. Like, I always stress door hitters. You gotta make an adjustment. You fly out next time you need to hit a hard chopper, and that'll get them typically back to the line drive.
Right? So doing the exact opposite of what you did and do it right away. Like, don't fly out three times and then go, oh, you know what? I gotta make an adjustment. Let me swing down.
Do it, like, right away. And and I tell them the best hitters will do that, like Mike Trout and stuff in the game. They'll do that from swing to swing. So every swing they take, they're calculating and they do it naturally. It's not something that needs to be talked to them and you were probably the same.
You naturally make those adjustments quickly. Right? How do how do I get on top of this ball a bit more when you're following it back? Right? And that's the thing that I'm not seeing and it's really the strikeout you mentioned.
It's crazy. Like, I asked my I asked Noah, I go, hey. Ask, Chad GBT or or go to Google and see how many 300 hitters were in the league last year. Do you know how many, Jeff? Seven.
Was it seven or was I thought it was, like, four. Was it seven? Both leagues combined with seven, I believe. And then it I go I go go back to, like, 95 or I can't remember what I told them. Go back to the nineties and look at it.
Do do I know you've done this research before. In the nineties, how many? There's, like, 40 or 50 every year. Like, what are we doing? Yeah.
Well, pitching's better. We faced a bunch of firemen and plumbers back in those days, and now everybody Electricians. Now now everybody's stolen a hundred and, you know, it's just too hard to hit now. Yeah. Everybody tells me I couldn't even make it in double a today because these guys are just too good.
That's all. Okay. You say so. With all the strikeouts and the Yeah. Yeah.
I couldn't I mean, just think and I've had actually had a Jay Gibbons on my podcast, and it's like because I I don't I remember when when I was playing with the red sox, we started getting influx of some data guys. We called them Nerd. Nerd. Yep. And it started showing up.
You know? And they walked through the the they came through our our clubhouse. It was it was on. And they usually walk through like this with their head down real fast. Nobody noticed them.
Yeah. But those guys started showing up, and I asked Gibbons. I was like, so if somebody came up to you, some 23 year old intern said, hey, man. I really I've been watching some video. I really think you should try and do this, and, you know, don't worry about striking out.
That's not you know, we don't even care if you strike out. We'd rather you strike out than shorten up on the bat with two strikes and put the ball in play because you're gonna be out anyway. I said, would you have done it? And he goes I mean, just think if you had a free reign to strike out, they didn't care. I said, yeah.
I get that, but I don't think I could have done it because I'd have been like it defies logic to me that it's okay to strike out. Mhmm. That's what is the biggest failure you can have. Yeah. As a player, the two biggest failures for me were striking out and making an error in the field.
Mhmm. I I I mean, I couldn't sleep at night if I made an error. Right. Not just because I knew that, you know, it might hurt my team, but it was like I felt like I was letting down the the infield coaches, the coaches who coached me, by not doing something right. And just I mean, there's an e on the scoreboard for a reason.
Right. Errors are part of the game. But I I just could never I I could never buy into the it's okay to strike out. It's just an out. To me, that's because something can happen when you put the ball in play.
And if you saw the world series, sometimes the pitcher forgets to cover first base. Mhmm. And if he struck out, it wouldn't matter. But it should change the whole series around. Well, there was a game I think it was the A's in in Detroit last year.
And, I can't remember who was pitching, but big dude, and the a's put down three consecutive bunts. First one was I think it was a safety squeeze. So they put it down. He what did he do? He throws it up he throws it up the line, couldn't get the runner coming home, throws it up the line, then they bunt on him again, or maybe the safety squeeze was second, the second one.
So the first one is just a drag, I think. He throws it up the line. Second one's like a safety squeeze, runner on third. He puts it a guy puts it down, and then the pitcher comes off the mound, picks it up, spikes it, throws it right in the ground. He's trying to throw it to the catcher, spikes it, run scores, and then they do it again.
This time, I think they did a push bunt. This is the funniest one. They do a push bunt. All the same guy. They're picking on the same guy.
Push bunt, goes to second base, or towards the second basement. And, you know, push bunts done perfectly are, like, fun to watch because it's like a circus even at the major league level. Right? So you get the First Basement and the pitcher crash on the ball, goes by both of them. Right?
So now the second baseman's covering First Base, so there's nobody there now. It's not the pitcher goes running out. Second baseman sees what's going on, turns around, goes and chases the ball, and it's kinda trickling into the outfield now. It's like and so the pitcher the pitcher and the and the, second basement, trip over each other and the pitcher ends ends ends with his butt on on the dirt. And I and I tell my hitters this because we we do a lot of we do a lot of bunting more for eye hand coordination because it really helps eye hand coordination.
And Aaron Miles told a story I thought at the time, I thought it was kinda I thought it was good advice, but I just was like, who who butts? You know, the time I heard it. But he was saying that he was struggling one time. Did you ever did you ever play you played against Aaron, didn't you? He played, like, when Pujols or the Cardinals.
He played with, yeah. Yeah. He played against the National League, but I do remember him as, like, a guy about my size, second mate. Switch hitter. Yeah.
And he was telling a story where he was struggling a little bit, and he decided that he wanted to set up the machine before a batting practice and just bunt. Just bunt, bunt, bunt. Crank it up to, like, a hundred miles an hour. Had his buddy out there throwing to him, and he said he bunted, like, 450 balls. And I was like, wow.
And that if it's one thing about big leaguers and former big leaguers, you you learn that there's an obsession. Right? And I tell my hitters, you don't have to be that obsessed, but if you wanna make it to the big leagues, there has to be an obsession there. And so after he did that, he ended up going the next six weeks hitting, like, five fifty in the next six weeks. And I and at the time, I remember thinking about that.
I was like, what? And then over time now, we do a lot of bunting with our guys. We do a lot of bunting. Our guys know how to hit. Like, I'm not worried about that.
We teach them how to hit, but the bunting part is is interesting because of the eye hand coordination. And then I tell them that story about the a's in Detroit. I said, even at the big league level, guys have a hard time feeling a bunt under pressure. Like, it's it's hard if you if you put can put it down the third baseline or even like in the case of the Detroit where you got a runner coming in now on a safety squeeze. I mean, the time is of the essence.
Even if the bunt is not perfect and it's right to him, he spikes it in the ground. He's a big leaguer. Yeah. And I look I use the bun a lot, man, and I I always looked for the opportunity to bun. Mhmm.
They were giving it to me. I thought it was stupid of me not to take advantage of it. And then, I was a really good runner and I practiced it a lot. And one of the things about bunting I mean, you're right. It is great for hand eye coordination.
But something about when you square around, and I didn't square square, but turn around. Yep. There's a it also brings in the fear factor a little bit. Mhmm. Because you can't move out of the way as quick too.
You know? So you really gotta trust yourself and trust your hand that you can get out of the way or whatever. But you have to really focus when you bunt on getting the bat right because you got the wrong angle. It's gonna pop it up or it could ricochet funny back at you. You know?
So you really have to focus on that. So you're really focusing in on watching the ball all the way to the bat. And that's what they say, you know, when they talk about hitting. Watch the ball hit the bat. Right?
Mhmm. So it I mean, it just makes sense that practicing that, you know, would would help your hitting and your hand eye coordination. And we used to always I mean, you didn't swing the bat when you got in the cage until you got your bunts down. It didn't matter who you were. Mhmm.
Lovan was bunting first two. Mhmm. You know, Juan Gonzalez, you name it. They were bunting. And if they messed one up, they bunted again.
You gotta get one down to first, one down to second, then we'll do hit and run, get them over, get them in. That was our routine, but we practice it all the time, man. And it was a weapon. For me, it was a weapon because I knew I could bunt and, you know, most of the time I did a drag bunt. Mhmm.
It was easier for me to drag bunt. Yeah. Me too. So I would ask my coach. I was like, hey.
I know you want me to sack. I mean, to move a guy over. I said, but is it alright if I do it, you know, this way to, like, a You might be able to get a base hit out of it. Man, it's hard to square around, and you you're totally squared around, and everybody knows you're bunning. Mhmm.
And this guy's throwing fastballs up in the zone at 95. It's hard to get that down. Mhmm. So it's easier to me to disguise it Mhmm. And wait for the last second and get it down.
Mhmm. But I would look for that. I mean, my favorite time to bunt, honestly, was first and third. Mhmm. First and third Mhmm.
As a right handed hitter. Because you're blocking. You guys blocking the runner. Mhmm. Less than two outs.
And I knew that if I and I would all I would tell I had a sign with the third base coach even in the Big Leagues. I'm like, hey. If I freaking grab my belt, make sure that runner knows that to be ready for a bunt because I don't wanna put down a freaking great bunt, and he's got his head up his butt, and he's still standing. Right. And worst case scenario for me in that situation was I got the runner home, and I moved the runner to second.
Mhmm. I'm out at first on a sacrifice. Yeah. And you got a you got a ribby and you got a and you're going No a b and moved another guy in the scoring position. So why would I not do this Smart.
As a table setting guy anyway? And I and I didn't really like the push bunt because I I mean, I know it's a great play if you're if you can get it right past the pitcher in between the first basement, but I was, like, tried it a few times and, like, did a one hopper right to the pitcher. I'll ask him. That was a waste of AB. You know?
And Yeah. Why I knew I could bun it. And if I was bunting for a hit, it was like, it's either gonna be a perfect bunt or foul. Mhmm. Mhmm.
I'm not gonna bun it halfway to the pitcher. Yep. I'm gonna make sure I've got my angle, the right angle where it's gonna be within two or three feet of the line. Or if I get around, it has some spin, it might go foul. But if if if it goes foul, I can still hit.
Yeah. Because especially with the bigger guys, the so we got a couple big guys on our team or maybe not bigger, but just slower. And that that's what we tell them. We said, don't don't bun it back to the pitcher. Or if you're gonna drag it, don't drag it back to the pitcher because you're out.
Like, you gotta gotta get that third basement running, and he's gotta make and at 12 years old, it's it's not rare, but it's seldom that they're gonna be able to make a throw on the run. Like, they're just not gonna be able to do that that age, you know? And so that's what I tell the big guys. Hey. If we're struggling at the plate, we're o for two, and you wanna you wanna try and put one down, don't just make sure, like you said, it's either third baseline or foul.
It's either close to the third baseline or foul. And I used to try to get it halfway to third. Yeah. Right. Right.
Right. Halfway to third. I didn't want to kill it right there where the catcher could run out there and throw me out at first. I wanted to get the catcher out. He wasn't even gonna be a factor.
It's either gonna be a third base or maybe a a athletic pitcher who's capable of running over there and making a great play. But that if normally, if a pitcher is gonna run over there that far, he's not getting me at first. Right. He might get another guy, but I wasn't slow. So I, you know, I knew that if I made the Third Basement field at about halfway home, I had a good shot.
Yeah. Very cool. Well, hey. We're coming up on an hour. I I I don't even know if I got to any of my questions that I wanted to ask you.
I think especially the first one where we get to talk, we just kinda let the conversation flow, and that's why I like to usually have my podcast flow anyway. But I have a lot of really good questions here. And and if you're up for it, maybe at a later date, we can do a a part two or something like that. But I do wanna I do wanna have you just kinda plug whatever. I know you said you don't wanna plug anything, but just where can people find you?
Well, on Twitter, it's, she gone o three, all lowercase. Facebook is, what is Facebook? Oh, just Jeff Fry, I think. Mhmm. Mhmm.
Instagram is a certified hitting guru. Mhmm. And by the way, I just made that up. I know. It's I know it's sarcasm.
You're using you use a lot of sarcasm. Yeah. It's just like I'm like, wait a minute. This dude's a hitting doctor, and he didn't play. This dude's the pitching doctor.
He didn't play past high school. It's like, I need man, I'm gonna be the certified hitting guru. I'm surprised how many people are like, oh, this guy thinks he's a certified hitting guru. Yeah. But you you don't you don't read my post.
You you don't get the joke. I'm on I'm on LinkedIn, also under my name and Mhmm. I need to do some stuff on on YouTube, but it's too hard to get a thing going. But, yeah, that's it. If they wanna find me, they type in hashtag she gone on their search engine, and they'll find it, I believe.
Cool. Yeah. And I can I can help out with any of that? I, you know, I love hitting. I love baseball.
But the marketing side, I'm I'm pretty good at too. So if there's anything that you need on your end, the YouTube side of it, like, doing it this way is pretty easy. We we shoot the conversation, and then we upload it to YouTube. And what I'll do with this is I'll show notes. I'll get everything to you, the video.
I'm gonna do an intro because we didn't do, like, a, you know, an official intro, so I'm gonna do that. But anything that you need on your end to to help set up, I'm I'm there for you. I'm a I'm a big fan. You know, I love reading your your stuff, your dialogues that you have with some of these people. I'll I'll click the post, and then I'll see what other people are saying underneath.
You know? And I'll I'll share you, and I'll I'll heart you and all that good stuff. But now Twitter doesn't even recognize when you heart. Like, you can't tell who's hearting stuff anymore, which which is crazy. Oh, really?
So I don't why do I do it all the time then? I know. Yeah. I don't know. Maybe they've changed it, but I know after the election or before the election, they were saying, yeah.
You're not, we're not gonna show what you're hearting. So feel free to heart away. And it could be just the intel agencies that are wanting to spy on people. Let's let's take the barrier away, and let's see what they're really into so we can filter and conspiracy theory hack. Right.
I think, I appreciate all that, and I appreciate you having me on. I would say that, the two other things real quick. I do have a podcast, the She Gone podcast, which is on Real Voice of the Game, and I've had a lot of great guests. I'm planning on having a whole bunch more, and it's just good baseball talk. Tell a lot of good stories and It's a lot of former big leaguers and coaches and stuff like that.
Yeah. And and I, I endorse the kinetic arm sleeve Yep. I love it. I would not do it if it didn't work, man. I think you should change your life.
Mhmm. And, Jason Colloran's a a incredible guy, and his wife's a shell. And so I I promote that. So, anybody wants to, look into that or having trouble with shoulder, especially coaches. I think it's I think it's great for coaches to throw BP all the time when you're getting older and you're you know, this thing because of how it's designed, you know, I hurt my arm.
Yeah. I did a real jump. Is the When I hurt my shoulder jumping off the diving board doing a can opener, I was like, I can't throw. I couldn't even get out of the pool. I was like, but how am I gonna I'm going to Red Sox fantasy camp.
So I thought Nixon goes, can you throw BP? I said, I don't know, man. I said, I'll try. And I saw Jason, and he gave me one. And you can strap it on, you know, different ways, but I didn't want want my arm way back here when I'm throwing BP.
I want my arm right by my ear. So I make it tight to where I was almost throwing darts, and I was able to throw BP, you know, twenty one innings of coach pitch BP pain free. I was like, this is a miracle. It is one of the pieces of of equipment that I think should be in every little league organization, every pony league organization, every organization. I would even say if you can call it travel ball organization, they don't really have one, but it should be everywhere and they should allow kit all kids, all pitching, they should be required to wear that.
I agree, man. I agree. And we're getting closer and closer. I've just, you know, I endorse our product and Mhmm. And get, like, a 10% disc Qigong discount Mhmm.
If you if you use my link. But I agree. And you start to see more and more people, more and more kids that are wearing this thing, and I think it's great. Yeah. Very good.
And I agree. I agree. Well, Jeff, thanks, brother. I appreciate you. And and, hopefully, many more of these talks, and I we'll dig in a little bit more in the next ones if if if you if you if I didn't scare you away Oh, yeah.
Onto some of the other cool stuff that you've talked about. And I know we had a lot of cool stuff in this one. So, Jeff, I appreciate your time, man, and and, I'll get all that stuff over to you so that you can share it out to your to your audience as well. Okay, Joey. Well, it's nice to meet you, man.
And, when you ever wanna do part two, and I'll I'll quit rambling on, you can ask me some real questions. No. Hey. The rambling is great. Great value.
Alright, Jeff. Brother. Thanks, brother. Alright. You're welcome.
See you. Hey, coaches, parents, and athletes. In today's episode with former big leaguer, Jeff Fry, we explored a crucial secret to hitting success. Why mastering pitch recognition and adapting your swing path is essential for every hitter. Jeff and I discussed how traditional hitting approaches like swinging down on pitches up in the zone are still fundamental for consistent explosive performance at the plate.
If you resonated with Jeff's insights, I've got something special for you. Swing Shift, our revolutionary hitting program, gives you targeted daily episodes and drills that simplify exactly what Jeff emphasized, reading pitch patterns, adapting your barrel path, and developing a smarter, more effective swing. With Swing Shift, you'll tap into advanced hitting strategies inspired by big league minds designed specifically to help baseball and softball hitters master these exact concepts. And here's the best part. Right now, we're offering a one week free trial to let you experience the Swing Shift firsthand.
Transform your hitting game today. Check out swing shift at hittingperformancelab.com/swingshift and start your free trial. Let's swing smarter together smarter. Thanks so much for tuning into the Swing Smarter Hitting Training podcast. If you enjoyed this episode, please take a moment to subscribe, leave a quick review, and share it with other baseball and softball enthusiasts.
It really helps us reach more coaches, athletes, and parents like you. For more in-depth hitting resources, cutting edge training programs, and exclusive insights, head over to hittingperformancelab.com. Until next time, swing smarter and play hard.
