Every Hitter Leaves Clues

A few weeks ago, one of my remote hitting clients reached out because something didn't feel right.

Through his first 10 games of the season, he was hitting just .136.

Like most players, he was trying to figure out why.

He wasn't completely lost at the plate. He was still competing. He was still putting balls in play. But he wasn't finding the barrel consistently, and when he got pitches he felt he should be driving, the results weren't matching the quality of the swings he thought he was taking.

So he sent me a message.

Like many hitters, he had already started trying to diagnose the problem himself.

The conversation that followed looked like a normal exchange between a player and coach.

What I saw was information.

The Symptom Isn't Always The Problem

One of the biggest misconceptions in baseball instruction is that great coaches always have immediate answers.

A player explains a problem. The coach identifies the issue instantly. A drill gets prescribed. Problem solved.

In reality, that isn't how most good coaching works.

Most of the time, coaching feels less like instruction and more like investigation.

If a player tells me he's hitting weak ground balls, that information alone doesn't tell me very much. Weak ground balls can be caused by timing issues, drifting forward, poor pitch selection, getting jammed, poor posture, being late, being early, or several other factors. The same symptom can have multiple causes.

That's why immediately jumping to a solution can be dangerous.

If you diagnose the wrong problem, you can spend weeks trying to fix something that was never broken in the first place.

The goal isn't to find an answer as quickly as possible.

The goal is to identify the right problem.

Following The Clues

As our conversation continued, I started asking questions. Were the ground balls hard or weak? Were they being pulled or hit the other way? Was he getting jammed? Where were pitchers attacking him? What part of the bat was making contact?

Each answer started narrowing the possibilities. Some explanations became less likely while others started gaining support. Instead of jumping to conclusions, we were slowly building a clearer picture of what was actually happening during his at-bats.

The player explained that many of the balls were being hit toward the opposite field. He wasn't consistently getting jammed. He felt like he was making contact, but not the type of contact he expected. Pitchers were attacking him away more frequently, and he was struggling to consistently drive those pitches.

At that point, the conversation shifted from speculation to investigation. Rather than focusing on individual swings or isolated results, we started looking for consistent patterns that could explain what he was experiencing at the plate.

The information suggested he was likely getting out in front of the baseball. His weight appeared to be drifting forward too early, making it more difficult to stay through pitches on the outer half. Instead of driving those pitches, he was creating weaker contact and losing the ability to consistently square the baseball up.

The weak ground balls weren't the problem.

They were the symptom.

Why Communication Matters

One of the challenges in coaching is that coaches don't actually feel what players are feeling.

We're not standing in the batter's box. We're not seeing exactly what they're seeing. We're not experiencing the same timing, rhythm, pressure, or visual information.

Everything has to be translated through communication.

That's why asking questions is such an important coaching skill.

Players often provide valuable information without realizing it. Sometimes what they describe directly points toward the problem. Other times it helps eliminate possibilities until the real issue becomes clearer. The quality of the information a player provides often influences the quality of the solution that follows.

Video Changes The Conversation

One important detail in this particular situation is that this entire conversation happened before I had seen any video.

At that point, all I had was information from the player.

His observations.

His descriptions.

His feel.

That was enough to begin building a working theory, but it wasn't enough to completely confirm what was happening.

That's where video becomes valuable.

Video allows coaches to compare what a player feels with what is actually occurring. Sometimes those two things match perfectly. Other times they don't match at all.

One of the reasons remote coaching is more effective today than it was a decade ago is because technology allows players to send information almost instantly. Game at-bats, batting practice swings, training sessions, and competition footage can all be shared within minutes.

The player's observations and the video start working together. What the player feels can now be compared to what is actually happening, allowing the coach to move from theory to confirmation.

That's when the real coaching begins.

Because identifying the problem is only the first step. Once the cause becomes clearer, we can start building a plan. We can select drills that address the issue, create movement patterns that support better positions, and develop training environments that reinforce the desired change.

The Result

Baseball doesn't work in perfect straight lines, and no player suddenly becomes a great hitter because of one conversation. Better understanding often leads to better training, and better training often leads to better performance, but players still have to do the work.

Over the next 10 games, the same player who started the season hitting .136 hit .438 with a .500 on-base percentage. Was that entirely because of our conversation? Of course not. He still had to train, compete, make adjustments, and execute those adjustments against live pitching.

What the conversation did provide was a starting point. Instead of randomly changing mechanics and hoping for a different outcome, we had a plan built around evidence. We had identified likely causes, established priorities, and created a process for moving forward. That's a much better place to start than guessing.

Players Need To Become Better Observers

One lesson players can take from situations like this is the importance of paying attention to how they're getting out. Most players know when they're struggling, but far fewer can explain why they're struggling. That distinction matters because identifying a problem and understanding the cause of a problem are two very different things.

If a player simply says, "I'm not hitting well," there isn't much information to work with. But if he can explain that he's rolling over pitches to the pull side, getting beat inside, hitting weak contact the other way, or consistently getting underneath fastballs, the conversation immediately becomes more productive. Those details provide context, and that context often makes the solution much easier to find.

The more observant a player becomes, the more valuable information he can provide to his coach. Instead of simply reporting results, he can begin identifying trends, tendencies, and adjustments that are occurring during games. That information becomes incredibly valuable when trying to determine what is actually causing a slump or stretch of poor contact.

The best hitters I've coached aren't always the most talented hitters. Often they're the players who pay attention. They understand how pitchers are attacking them. They recognize where contact is being made. They notice how their timing feels from one at-bat to the next. Those observations become valuable tools in the development process because they help players and coaches make adjustments sooner.

Good Coaches Ask Better Questions

People often think coaching is about having answers, but the longer I coach, the more I believe coaching is about asking better questions. Every hitter presents a different puzzle. Every slump presents a different puzzle. Every stretch of weak contact presents a different puzzle.

The challenge isn't finding a solution.

The challenge is identifying the right problem.

If you misdiagnose the issue, you can spend weeks fixing something that was never broken in the first place. That's why observation, communication, and curiosity are such important coaching skills. The goal isn't to rush toward an answer. The goal is to gather enough information to understand what is actually causing the result you're seeing.

Every hitter leaves clues.

Weak ground balls. Pop-ups. Opposite-field contact. Getting jammed. Being late. Chasing pitches. They're all clues. Good coaches learn to recognize them. Great players learn to recognize them too.

Because development doesn't start when you find a drill.

It starts when you correctly identify the problem you're trying to solve.