Important Baseball Skills Honed During Baseball Practice

By Louis Liem

Anyone who aspires to play baseball satisfactorily - either at amateur or professional levels, or for recreational purposes - should give all their mind and heart to mastering baseball skills. There are at least four fundamental baseball skills: batting, pitching, catching, and running. While some players can specialize in mastering one or two of these skills, it is important for them to realize that for a more fulfilling baseball experience, they should be adept in all four skills, and learn how to recognize situations where each of these baseball skills apply, in baseball practice and in real games.

The most important of the four baseball skills is hitting, as this action is the one that gets the baseball team a potential score (home run). Hitting the ball hard and accurately could be difficult for some to develop, for during formal baseball practice, many players rarely get hold of the bat for them to practice their hitting. Therefore, a good advice for aspiring hitters is to practice their batting during their spare time.

Here is some advice for players wanting to improve their hitting:


1.Players should hold the baseball bat with their fingers and not with their palms.


2.The left and right knuckles - the hand portions used for knocking a door should be vertically aligned together.


3.When preparing to bat, players should not squeeze the bat tightly; they should hold on sufficiently and keep the hand muscles relaxed, but not too relaxed as to make them lose control of the bat. When they swing, they will feel that their grip steadily tightens.

In hitting, stance is also important: know where to stand, maintain feet at shoulder width or more apart, bend knees slightly, and focus weight not on heels, but on the balls and the back of the feet. When preparing to hit: keep feet a shoulder width apart, bend knees slightly, shift more weight to back feet, then tighten your grip. When the ball flies in the air, keep your eye on the ball. Then once you decide to hit, you hit. Do not hit baseballs indiscriminately. Hitting and missing will get you an automatic strike; not hitting will get you either a strike or a "ball".

While hitting may be one of the valuable baseball skills, there are other baseball skills that ensure a team's success in the game. Pitching should be done through the "four-seam grip": use only three fingers - thumb, middle, and index; index and middle finger on one side of the ball, and the thumb on the other side; not squeezing the ball, and retaining some space between hand and ball. Baseball should be released by flicking the wrist (not the arms).

While hitting, start with your glove side in front of your target; keep feet a shoulder width apart, shift weight to back leg; move you arm toward the target, flick the wrist, then continue movement of arm down and across body and follow with throwing leg. Catching could be done by applying plenty of hand-eye alertness through properly anticipating the ball. Running should be done in coordination with catching if you are a catcher; or done with all your might if you are on for a home run. All of these baseball skills could be honed with plenty of regard for proper form, dedication, and baseball practice.

What does one need to be a great baseball player? Good baseball training, knowledge and talent. The first two are available on BaseballSquare.com. Just one click away!

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