Should You Swing At the First Pitch?
By: Dan Blewett
Tags: Pitching, Coaching, Sports, Baseball, MLB

Swing First Pitch. Please and Thank You.

Here’s the thing, though. You hitters suck. Even the best of you only get a hit 3/10 times and most of you, only 1 in 4.

So, as a pitcher, the odds are good for me when you swing at the first pitch. I’ll even entice you by throwing a bunch of fastballs early in the game. If you swing at the first pitch, I get a one-pitch out 3 out of 10 times, and now my innings are nice and easy.

And even if you get a hit, chances are it’s not a bomb, and I’ve still only thrown one pitch. 4 pitches later, I’ve gotten a ground-ball double play and have two outs on five pitches. I’ll still pitch deep into this game.

What really hurts pitchers is 3–2 walks, 3–2 hits, 2–2 bloopers. Those cost us much more dearly, as we wasted 5–7% of our available energy (assuming 100 pitches) and got zero outs to show for it. If I’m a reliever and want to be fresh for tomorrow, I want to be back in the dugout in less than 15 pitches.

And Here’s The Thing: Pitchers Miss Their Spots Even When Grooving Fastballs.

Even Big League pitchers don’t hit their spots as much as you think they do. So when you get super hell-bent on ambushing the first pitch, even if he tries to groove a first pitch fastball, it may end up on the outer third, and now you’ve grounded out to short. If he throws an off-speed pitch for a strike, you’re definitely on your front foot if you even make contact. And like I just said, if you’re going to swing at a bad pitch, it’s better to swing at bad pitch #6 than #1.

Rules To Swing By:

#1: (Almost) Never Swing at A First-Pitch Off-Speed Pitch.

If you’re sitting on one…ask yourself why? Are you even that good at hitting breaking balls when you know they’re coming? If it’s down in the zone you’re still probably rolling over. If you’re sitting on a slider that shows up much less frequently…you’ll let fastballs (literally) pass you by.

And if you’re looking fastball and decide to swing at a first-pitch slider, you’re probably not going to barrel it up well. In the Majors, more 0–0 off-speed stuff is thrown, because hitters are so good. But at lower levels, first-pitch breaking balls freeze and eat guys up. When hitters swing at them, the result is usually a weakly-batted ball.

#2. Never Pre-Choose A Specific Count To Swing

Your goal as a hitter should always be to select the pitch that you can barrel up with authority. The best hitters I faced in pro baseball were always exceptionally picky — they knew the strike zone and knew what their limits were; if they couldn’t hit my fastball on the inner third or closer, they’d choose a looking strikeout rather than a deviation from their plan.

So, if you’re getting yourself excited to “jump on the first pitch,” without having any idea what that pitch will be until it’s on it’s way, you’re setting yourself up for a poor decision; you’re making your mind partly up without any clue if the pitch is in your comfort zone.

I yelled at my 16U Warbird Senators team last year when they started getting excited about a pitcher who was throwing a lot of first-pitch fastballs.

“He’s throwing first pitch fastballs! Start swinging first pitch, guys! Let’s get him!”

What happened? The kid went through two consecutive innings on like 13 pitches. It was embarrassing, as he had quick innings and forced our pitcher back into the 96 degree heat after what seemed like a 30-second break in the dugout.

Sure, he was throwing first-pitch fastballs. But, this pitcher also barely had a second pitch to speak of, so he was throwing first-pitch fastballs, second-pitch fastballs, all the way down to 7th-pitch fastballs. Most 16U pitchers don’t have much else. We just helped him until I set us straight and reminded guys to swing if they could drive it and that there was nothing special about getting a first-pitch hit.

#3. X-Out Pitches That You Don’t Want.

Make a list for yourself by asking, “What pitches do I hit really well?” If it’s not on that list, then it’s definitely not for you on an 0–0 count, and you need to X it off your list; you don’t even consider swinging at it on 0–0. Off-speed in general is probably on this list.