A Blueprint to Hitting with Two Strikes

Hi everybody, welcome to another edition of the Lab at Steve's on the podcast out. This podcast where we talk hitting and coaching and baseball hitting the hardest thing to do in my opinion in all of sports. You can subscribe to the show Apple Google Spotify. We're on tune in radio, I hard Pandora, wherever you get your podcast and watch the show on YouTube. The lab Epstein

hitting podcast page that is at the lab Epstein hitting podcast. On YouTube for those who enjoy handles speaking of which we are also on Twitter and Instagram. I'm at Jim Tara and he for those watching across from me or next to me is at Epstein hitting. Now who is at Epstein hitting? He is professionally by a waiter successful business owner former coach friend and co host

Jake Epstein. How are you, fella? I'm doing good. I'm feeling good today. Yeah, me too. It's gonna be a good show. Good topic, important topic for players. Two strike hitting. So looking forward to getting into it. Glad you're here. Couldn't do it without you. Likewise. Okay, you got a couple of things to talk about before we get to our main topic today. Episode 124. Two strike

hitting. First off, I was thinking about this last night. We want to dip into the topic a little bit first. I don't know how I would have fared coming up in today's game. In the year 2020. In the year 2023. For those who don't know when I was a kid and Ep could attest to this, I had good back to ball skills and I'd never really

struck out much. But when I was a kid, I was always kind of embarrassed to strike out. I never liked to strike out. But it seems like we fostered an environment where striking out is not only something that is accepted, but it's accepted as a necessity for the bigger picture, which is hitting for more power and beefing up those analytical statistics and some data points. I'm

just thinking last night, I'm kind of thinking out loud now, Ep, I don't know how I would have come up in today's game. Because I used to hate strike. I literally, when I'd walk back to the dugout after striking out and then do it often, I would feel embarrassed. I'd rather ground out 100 times and strike out. So I'm not sure how it would even fit

in as a player in today's game at the high school or collegial level. Yeah, I think at the low levels or the amateur levels, it's still, I don't know, frowned upon. But kids, it's not a natural thing to not be upset. After striking out, you know, I mean, I coached my kids at the, whatever, 10, you and 12 you now kids that strike out, they still

get upset and they cry. I always use our member. I played with Nick Punto a lot growing up when we were in Little League. So that was 12 years old. And then he was on a really good team. He was such a good player. But that dude, if he made an out like he cried, he would cry in the dugout. This was when he was like

12. Cry the dugout and then boom, he'd right out on the field, play shortstop, make a diving catcher too. Be totally fine. Come back in, you know, get a couple of hits. Then he make an out cry. I mean, it was just like an instinctual move. And I think that's pretty natural with kids where they get upset. Like they don't like to strike out. But I

think as you go through the minor leagues and again, this is, this is data driven. This is, this is coming from, you know, people that are crunching numbers and looking at all kind of statistical data. And they're passing it down to maybe the minor league coordinator. And the minor league coordinator is creating a system where, hey, we want to do this and not this. You know,

if you strike out, if you have two strikes and one out of 10 times you, you hit an extra base hit or one out of 20 times, you get an extra base hit instead of, you know, a ground ball or something like that. But you strike out three times more with two strikes. Well, that's going to be better for the team or as a whole. And

so I think it's bread more in a minor league system. Maybe in the college, I really didn't see it at the college system as much where people were, were okay with that. I guess if you have a lineup that allows for it. If you have a lineup with two or three guys that can hit the ball out of the park. That's not really a good situation

for guys striking out a lot. You know, we had to put a ball and play. But maybe you have a really deep lineup where seven guys in the lineup have double. And if you have a double digit home runs at the college level, then maybe you make that adjustment. But I think it's, it's player oriented. I think it's, it's really pushed at the, you know, at

the higher levels. You know, once you get into Pro Ball and you have a big analytics department and they find that, hey, this is probably going to be beneficial for us. Then it gets implemented throughout all levels of the minor league system. I don't think college, some of the big college schools do have some analytic students for the most part. You know, student helpers, right? Managers,

you know, they will. But like at Mizzou, we had, they were like engineering students, you know, we had our, or, or, or math majors. And they would come in and, and essentially crunch numbers and do heat maps and, and all that stuff. And whether it was useful or not, I'm not real sure. But they're trying, you know, those are people that want to have a future

in the, in the professional baseball. So it's a really cool thing for them to do at the college level. It doesn't cost the colleges. The athletic department or the, or the baseball and softball budget any money. It's good. To get into. By the way, you mentioned Nick Punto, when he first came up with a fill, he's, I don't know if you knew this, but when he

first came up, he was kind of like a bench player. You know, I don't know what fifth, was he now, field, or fifth in field, I think, actually an infield. Well, he had such a good presence in the clubhouse. And he was such a good teammate that he loved to celebrate his other his teammates when they would hit a home run or they would get a

big hit. And he used to almost like beat up his teammates after they would get like a big hit. Like he pushed him and he'd like punch him in the chest. And I think one time he said, going down the dugout, who's ready to get a beating tonight, meaning, you know, who's ready to get that walkoff hit. So I don't know if that he was like

that as a kid. It sounds like he was an emotional guy though. He was intense. Yeah. Cry when you get out. Yeah. I mean, kids, if you cry, and if you cry as a kid and the kids listening, if you cry after you make out, you can still make it to the main. Yeah. And that's what it means. You're passionate. You know, be upset. It's okay.

Although I'll tell you though, you know, my father, he didn't like when I would cry. If I ever tried, if I ever even showed a tear or I was about to, he would look at me and give me this stern look. Like, don't you dare. I'm going to slap the shit out of you. And which I actually don't mind at all. I don't mind at all.

I like how I was brought up in that way to be tougher and to be able to accept a loss and to move on and to learn from it. Yeah. Now it is. It's just a knee jerk reaction for some kids. You don't want to say it's funny, but it's just funny. I'll say it. It's just like, what are you? What are you so sad for?

At Jim Tara saying it right now. It is funny when kids cry after they make it out. It's a little regret. Especially when you make it. You're a real moral gem. I'm just telling you, this is Jim talking. Okay. My kids will not cry after they make it out. And if they do, I'm going to, I'm not going to take my father's approach. I'll probably laugh

at them. Like what are you crying about? Yeah. I don't have a cry. You know, I don't have a cry. He's one of those people that just lost the boatload of money in that FDX scandal. And you're crying about making it out at 11 years old. Grow up, Johnny. You're gonna be okay. And you're gonna be okay next week Cody Ballinger episode 125, a special mechanical

breakdown series. And we're going to be doing this. In the year 2023 probably next off season as well. It's going to be like the gold edition, but it's going to be fixing edition next week. We're going to be fixing Cody Ballinger. He is a free agent. He's seeking a one to two year deal. I would think a one year deal would make the most sense. But

how about this with Cody Ballinger speaking of striking out two strike hitting in the last two years. He has struck out 244 times. At of 819 at bats. It's a lot 200 again 244 strikeouts in 819 at bats. But he is certain to get a one year deal somewhere. Now it's not irrefutable though that a guy like Michael Confort who is still a free agent didn't

play at all in 2022 coming off the shoulder injury a subpar 2021. He might be a free agent going into 2023. And even when the season gets going. I got to ask you though. We got to talk a little bit about Michael Confort. Because there's something that's bothering me about him not being signed somewhere and not actually being on the field. I haven't heard that he's

a bad teammate. He's a great athlete. He's a productive hitter and I have some numbers to back that up. So okay. Michael Confort. So I'm going to talk about his career average. This according to MLB.com his career average per 162 games. 28 home runs. 85 RBI's 86 runs. 356 on base percentage and a 468 slugging. Furthermore, from 2019 to 2021. His OPS plus was 123. That

was a head of Jeff Medell who by the way were breaking his swing down coming up in the future. One of our mechanical breakdown series. And his hard hit rate speaking of Cody Ballinger. 38.8% 95 miles per hour plus. That was harder than Cody Ballinger. Cody Ballinger. It's almost guaranteed he's going to have a job come 2023. It's not guaranteed that Michael Confort who at one

point was offered a 100 plus a 100 million plus million dollar contract is not going to have a job in 2023. Something's bugging me about it. I can't figure out why I think he's a productive player. One year deals certainly should be on the table. What do you see with him in his swing? What's going on? I don't think it's him. I mean, unless he's the

injury was worse than people thought. I'm sorry for their context purposes. He also has a hamstring problem. But. Okay. So my concern. Well, let's start with what I like his swing. I like him as a player. I like him as a hitter. I like his moves. I like his mechanics. I like his swing plane. I really think he's, you know, he's going to be a 260

hitter. I think he's going to hit 20 plus home runs. He's going to, you know, depending on the lineup, he's going to, you know, drive in, drive in 90. I think he's a quality player. I think he's a, you know, he's not a below average outfielder. He's a quality outfielder. I don't think he's, you know, nimo quality outfielder. I don't think he's belliger quality outfielder. But

swing wise, he's great. I think one of the problems that faces him is his agent. I think people, you know, Boris is his agent. And that was an issue last year when he was. I don't think he was supposed to have shoulder surgery last year. If I'm not mistaken, he held out for a really long time. And maybe the injury was known, but he wasn't signed

we're just going to sit out of here and get our shoulder replaced. So I'm not really sure the ins and outs of that part of it. But I do know owners in front of us, people were afraid of what they were getting and what Boris wanted for him. Furthermore, the only concern I have because I do like him as a hitter is it's right shoulder surgery,

which is his lead arm, which is his lead shoulder. And sometimes when you have right hand, because he's a right hand that throw around. Pretty. Right hand, throw or left hand a better. Yeah. When you when you have those guys, a lot of times that lead arm, they'll start to baby it. That shoulder. That's an elbow. It's usually down this you. But if it's a shoulder,

they'll start to shrug it. As their first move to get it out of the way instead of pulling that lead arm forward. So that would be, nobody knows what that's going to be like. Nobody knows how it healed. Nobody knows what his swing will look like in a game. He took a year off. Right. He went a year. He has played a lot. He's 30 years

old. It's not like he only played two years in the big leagues. So I'm not overly concerned with that. Maybe it takes him an extra 20 or 30 at bats to get back into where he should be. He's got out for an entire year. That's a lot of time not facing life pitching. So that would be concern number two. But you know, the main one for

me would be how does he respond after a shoulder surgery where it's his lead arm. If it was his back arm, not a problem. You know, if it was a lefty lefty kind of thing and it was a shoulder. Now if he was a lefty lefty and it was an elbow, sometimes that could lead to some weird stuff. But as a player, I just I really

like it. I couldn't believe he didn't sign anything. He didn't sign anything last year. That blew me away. And then when they said, okay, he had surgery at a shoulder. He's going to sit out the year. Maybe that was a red flag during physicals for a free agent. That would be my hope. And it wasn't that his agent was trying to set a record for the

largest salary ever. He was trying to do a surgery or just trying to resurrect their career. They have a lot of showcases. And they plashed it themselves on team's radars. And we just have really seen that with Michael. Look and Ford. Yeah. I don't know what I mean, he's rusty. Like I wouldn't want to go up against somebody throwing really hard unless it was just like

an easy workout. But it's not like a picture throwing a bullpen. Yeah, those guys come back and they throw. Oh, I'm throwing 96 again. Okay, he's good. He's throwing strikes. He's throwing 96. You know, as a hitter, it's a little bit different. But I hope that the shoulder, the surgery was a success. He had everything repaired that he needed because he is a really good player.

And he's fun to watch. And he, he seems like a pro. You know, he's, he just gets out there and does his job. And I could be wrong. I've never, you know, obviously I don't have any first hand knowledge of being in the dugout with him. But he just seems like a pro and a guy that you would want to run out in the run out

in the outfield every single game. All right. Well, be sure to email us. Jim podcast. If you have any questions for the show, we will try to answer them and reach out to us as well on social media at Jim Tara and at Epstein hitting. Okay. Today's topic, episode 124, two strike hitting. By the way, I was reading your one of your dad's books this morning

when I was preparing for the show. And he talked about. There's a chapter about two strike hitting in the book. And he was discussing some really tough pictures back in the day or late 90s. 2000s. He mentioned Randy Johnson, Greg Maddox. And he talked about sitting dead red with those guys, but there was one picture that he mentioned that I laughed out loud about. That was

Kevin Brown. Kevin fucking brown. He was so nasty. I remember when he was slated to start game seven for the Yankees in 2004 against the Red Sox. Everybody to a man. And this was published in multiple outlets and books. Everybody knew him on the mound. The season was over. Kevin Brown, Pedro, yeah, Greg Maddox, Randy Johnson, Kevin, no offense, Kevin Brown. Anyway, two strike hitting all

about knowing. Nice self. Correct. It is. Yeah. And how comfortable you are. You know, guys that hit well with two strikes or girls that hit well with two strikes. It's. They're comfortable. It doesn't. Well, I don't know. It doesn't bother them. They don't step out of the box and think, oh my God, I have two strikes. You know, they get in the box and say, you

know, now it's a challenge. There's a player I coach that probably gets as many hits with two strikes as or more hits with two strikes than with less than two strikes because they concentrate more. They're really into it. And you can see it. They get in the box and they'll dig in a little bit more. So some players like that. They get they get upset. You

know, maybe there's a bad call. The young age, you know, those umpires are, you know, the strike sons are big because they're trying to get the games going. But, you know, the kids get a little fiery like that's how it's going to be, huh? And then they get more focused. And I think big leagueers are the same way too. I think some guys slow the heart

rate down and they don't try to. They don't try to do too much. So there's there's different things you can do with two strikes. Depending on, you know, your mindset, if you're a player that's typically early, like I had never had a problem with 95. But I had a real problem with 81, you know, I was just I was early. I could dial up for Christmas

at any time. But man, when I had to wait, it was it was a lot harder. And so I would sit. I would sit off to a two strikes because I was big and I got a lot of breaking by bet, you know, two thirds of the pitches I got with two strikes were some kind of off speed pitch. So I would sit on that. And

then if it was a fastball, I, and it wasn't, you know, above 92, I was still able to put it in play, right? Or still able to fall it off. But I wasn't going to get fooled as much on that breaking pitch. So there's there's that motto. And some people are, I got to look for the fastball and just adjust to everything else. But essentially what

you're doing is you're you're opening up the entire play. The best way not to not to strike out is to don't get to two strikes. And that's the best way to, you know, if you're facing an ace, if you're facing a Randy Johnson or you're facing Pedro, you know, like you were talking about you just Kevin Brown. I mean, don't forget Kevin Brown, man. I mean,

you're Kevin Brown. I mean, you saw him after an injury in New York when he was with San Diego, his singer must have moved three feet. Like there was no way to hit that thing coming down and into a right hander. It was just vicious. But you have somebody like that. You don't get to strikes. That's that's the best way. But you are going to get

to two strikes, right? We're we're going to hit with two strikes, whether it's bad calls, whether we, you know, our swing plane's not good, right? We fell off a lot of pitches. Now we got two strikes. A lot of people say great job battling with two strikes. You fell off like four pitches with two strikes. Well, you have three of them. We're really good to hit,

you know, so swing plane does does play a part of it. But my dad used to say that when you're looking for a pitch, when you're anticipating a pitch and we don't like to use the word guessing because that means you don't have a plan. Okay, we're looking for a pitch. We're looking for a fat ball. Say my dead red zone is a hitter. If if

I could put a ball on a tee and say throw it right here every time it would be like one ball in from the middle like ball three. And it would be thigh high. Okay, that was my pitch, maybe thigh to waste high. So if I had that target right and that target was this big, I can move that target around to different parts of the

strike zone. So now all of a sudden, I know that's my pitch, but this guy's throwing me outside. I'm going to move that target. I'm going to move my dead red window to middle away. And now all of a sudden I can cover that pitch easily because I'm just looking that way. I'm anticipating that way. I'm, my body knows what to do on that pitch, even

though it's not my strength, I can still cover that pitch easily. Now if they bust a ball in, I'm not going to be in position to hit it. Okay. But with two strikes, we have to open everything up. So instead of that dead red, window being this big, you know, now it's got to be this big, right? And I'm not going to be able to cover

that quite as much. So the key is you can open it up and just look for everything. And typically when players do, there's so many different philosophies here. So when a lot of times when that happens, then you get players that swing and miss the balls in the dirt all the time. Like I'm opening up my window. And then there's major league organizations that actually want

you to shrink. They want you to shrink the zone so that you don't chase. And this is why you're seeing so many strike three calls now. We're seeing a lot of pitches that, you know, we're not swinging and missing necessarily on a fastball or a slider in the dirt or a splitter in the dirt or a curve in the dirt. We're taking pitches for strikes because

we're trying to not chase. So I don't know what's right or wrong for different players. I think every player is different. But I do think that you take the percentages with two strikes. As in I'm not going to be able to do that. I'm going to look middle away here. You know, what is this? How does this guy usually try to get me out? Usually tries

to get me out middle away. I'm going to let the ball travel. I'm going to slow. So what I teach my players. I guess that's probably what you're asking not what everyone else does. But what I teach my players is to slow the rhythm down a little bit. Okay. I'm going to slow the rhythm down a little bit so that I can cover pitches of both

speeds. Ted Williams said if a guy throws 95 mile an hour fastball and a 75 mile an hour curveball. I'm going to look for the 85 mile an hour slider. Okay. That way I'm a little bit late on the fastball and a little bit earlier. So I'm in the middle of the two extremes. Well, in order to do that, you want to kind of slow your

body down and slow your rhythm down so that that ball travels. So we're so we're not out in front a lot. So that is for 90% of players from college down. That's what we're doing. Now, professional baseball is a little bit different, especially the big level. Where with two strikes, you see a lot of belly button, the letter high fastballs. Okay. This is where you need

to do your homework and you need to know what this guy likes to put, you know, how he likes to put players away, especially me. So you always have to have a plan. Regardless if you're OO count or you're in an O2 count, you have to have a plan. You have to know what you want to do. You can't go into that at bat blind. So,

you know, my advice again for amateur players is very different than, you know, maybe a pro player who's facing somebody with serious VLO. Alright, you made some great points there. Two points that I want to hit on number one, the two pitches per game point that I'm going to parlay off some of the stuff you just talked about, but also shrinking the zone with runners and

scoring position. First off, you get two pitches per game at the major league level. Two cookies to hit. If you miss them, there's a good chance you're not going to get a third. And that's where that separates the good hitters from the great hitters. Great hitters can take a pitch like a Joe Mauer in the 2010 All-Star game. Pitch on the black of the plate, fastball

99. And go the other way with it down the left field line. Not a hitable pitch did it anyway. That's what separates the good hitters from the great hitters. Oftentimes we hear announcers say, well, I was a great at bat, eight pitch played appearance, nine pitches, 10 pitches. You saw a lot of pitches and made the pitcher work. True. But I think when it comes to

two strike hitting and you factor in that you get two pitches per game that you can actually hit hard and you should really do damage with. If you continually get more and more pitches in that play to parents and you miss those cookies, well, how good of a play to parents wasn't really at that point. Yeah, it's a result. How did it turn out? So now

extending the bat is great because maybe the first pitch was a slider on the black strike one. The second pitch was a high fastball, you know, or not too high, but you fell the back. Now you're 0 to and you really didn't have any hitable pitches. Now all of a sudden you bat a little bit one to then it goes to two to then you start

falling off pitches, right? Tough pitches low in a way. Tough pitch. And then all of a sudden you get a cookie with the count two and two because you're seeing like pitch six or seven from the guy instead of striking out on pitch three. And now all of a sudden boom, you jump on that mistake. He made the six or seventh pitch of the bat. That's

a great at bat. But if you there was a bat everybody posed a years ago and you know, I like to shed a lot, right? But it was one at bat and he felt off like 10 or 12 pitches. But I bet five of them were like ball two, three and four of the plate. And he was just under him, you know, and just fell them

back and fell them back where, you know, ideally the first one of those hangers or the second hanger he would have, you know, hit hard somewhere in place. So just recapping that it's great to get. It's great to battle during a bats because you're battling off tough pitches. But it's not good if you're battling good pitches. If you're falling off good pitches to hit that's not

battling that's missing. Right, right, right. And often times it is a product that you're going to get hit by a bat. Yeah, probably nothing mechanically. You know, you hope that your hard work and what your swing plane is, especially about time you get to the big leagues, but if you have a good swing plane, I'm not really concerned. Like our best two strike hitter again going

back to the amateur level, our best two strike hitter has a very flat swing. You know, she doesn't change her swing with two strikes. She doesn't do anything. It's different. You know, maybe her stride won't be as big, but she's not going to strike out because her swing is on plane for so long if she's earlier, she's late. So if you have somebody that's not like

actually Belinger swing plane is not nearly as extreme as it was a couple years ago. Okay. So that would be one positive. I would look at when we're looking at him next week. But, you know, if you have somebody with a swing plane that gets on plane deep in the zones. For instance, judge judges a guy they can get on plane really deep. He kind of

drops the barrel behind them and swing up a lot. So if he's early, he's going to be over everything. That doesn't make sense for him. So he's got to think, let it get deep, let it get deep, let it get deep. And then he has a chance based on his mechanics. So again, I wouldn't change my swing plane. I would just hope that I had a

good swing plane. And I'm going to put, I'm going to use that swing plane to my advantage when I get a good pitch to hit. So my players, we do a drill every time we get loose, especially my high school players, you know, the older ones that I'm working with are college players. The first 15 swings. I set the ball on the outside corner. I set

it up at the hip and I make them let that ball travel all the way to the middle of their body. If we're looking to the, so pass their front foot. And they have to shoot it down the right field line. Okay. Or in the dugout. Okay. And so what this is teaching them is barrel control. If they have a barrel drop, if they're back elbow

drops too much, if they're back shoulder drops too much, they would swing under that pitch every time. Okay. There's there's no way they can hit that pitch. Or if they drop it a little bit, they're going to pop it up foul. Straight back, not straight back, but up into the opposite side. Or they're going to pop up to the first baseman with third baseman, you know,

depending off their right hand or left hand. So it teaches them barrel control. If they can shoot a 10 degree line driver and eight degree line drive between first and second, it means that they have control. So what does that do? That builds confidence. Now with two strikes, they can take that swing or they have that swing. Yeah. Then we progress from there and then I

move the ball further in, right. And then lower it a little bit. So it's more hit a ball. So that they can cover that pitch when they're really late and they can cover the pitch when they're early. Now with two strikes, they can sit there and be like, okay, this guy's throwing 80% off speed at the high school level with two strikes. I'm going to set

off speed. But in the back of their mind, they know that if that guy throws a fastball, they can still shoot that thing down the, down the opposite field line because of their mechanics and their barrel control. So it's all how we prep. If you have somebody that drops their barrel early, then, you know, there's really no way for them to get to that pitch. And

then they have to cheat out in front a little bit more. And then you could possibly get fooled more often. All right. Talking about shrinking the zone with runners and scoring position. Oftentimes, my dad being a New Yorker, a New York Yankees fan at that. He will watch a Yankee game and be amazed at how players take pitches that are borderline for strike three. You know,

do his New York act and come on. All that stuff, right. And I try to tell him, not sure if he's listening or not. Maybe he does. When I say to him, maybe he doesn't. I don't know if my sister said it. I'm sure that he would listen a lot more. Wow. Now we're getting really into the family dynamic. I have no problem with it. That's

okay. I understand. You know, when you're relegated to backup quarterback, yeah, I get comfortable with that job. You still get paid a lot of money. And you're still getting all those benefits that come along with being an NFL quarterback. Okay. And you mentioned, I'm nervous about, you know, doing this on your own. And the word that comes by. Maybe just Jack or just like, you know,

early rectangle? You'll have it really. Good. Which way the umpire is leaning? It may go in your favor and it may be a ball. Now if you swing at that pitch and it's a wild swing in your off balance and it's strike three, you're going back watching film and you're kicking yourself because number one, it could have been a ball and number two, you didn't put

a good proper swing on it. So talking about shrinking the zone, that's really at the major league level and the professional level of that when it's really appropriate to shrink the zone. When there's runners, the scoring position and the count is three balls and two strikes. And there's two outs. So, you know, if there's nobody out, put the damn ball in place. If there's a runner

on third base and there's less than two outs, put the, put the damn ball in play. That would be my motto runs, runs, runs, runs, runs, runs win games. I don't care how ugly it is. I don't care if it's a pushbunt. Yeah. I don't know how many pushbunts I see at the college level to get that fourth run across during the game with one out,

you know, when a runner on third base and somebody that is prone to striking out. So yes, with two strikes and a runner on second base. And even one out, you are, you were trying to drive that player in. And if it's a borderline pitch, you know, maybe we don't. But you know what, the dang Astros, they hit some pretty damn tough pitches during the World

Series pitches and balls that weren't hit hard, balls that they asked out and hit a big hole between first and second. And I don't care if it's a good one. I remember Maldonado doing it, right? And just that was a back breaking run on a pitch that was, you know, two inches off the plate. And he put it in play with two strikes and they scored

a run. And then there was a Bregman hit, I had like a broken bat on a hit and run, you know, to right field. That was ugly. It was up and in pitch. But he moved a runner from first to third. So I think you have to know your players. Obviously, that was the Yankees mindset. Right. I mean, it was, it was a quote, hey, we're

not changing our strategy. Now, even though they were, they were failing and the players weren't performing in the playoffs, they weren't going to change their strategy. That was productive during the season or, you know, it met their level of productivity. So. Yeah, you're right. I mean, you don't want to, it's a fine line. And I think every player is different. Every player is comfortable with two

strikes or not comfortable with two strikes. And I think every organization has a different philosophy on what they want to do with two strikes. But I will say that there, there are a lot more call. We should probably look up this number. A lot more strike threes looking. This past year, then I remember in other years. And that is the philosophy of, you know, we're not

going to chase. We're going to try to still do damage with two strikes. You know, whether it's a running in runner in scoring position or not a runner in scoring position. I'm writing that down by the way. Yeah. It would be interesting to see. Because that's mindset. Again, pictures. Look, I look at, I don't know. I was watching something. It may have been because, you know,

Lord Perry passed the other day. And I was, I was, what a big strong dude. He was, I really never saw actual footage of him. So I watched like a little tribute to him yesterday on MLB.com or whatever media source it was. And. I mean, here's a big strong guy that was throwing kind of hard, like pretty hard. But it wasn't nearly what the heck is

going on today. I mean, guys really throw hard. The ball moves a ton. You can't, if you can't look for everything. You just, it's too hard. And I hear, you know, Jeff Fry on social media. And he's everywhere on Twitter now. And he's like, you know, you can't guess with two strikes. That's why people are, you know, swinging a miss and so often at this. But

it's like. Buddy, you can't, the stuff that guys are throwing today. You just can't sit there with less than two strikes and look for everything and hope to react to a breaking pitch. It's just, it's just too difficult. I think with the stuff that guys have today, you do have to pinpoint your mental approach. And I think that's why we get. Steuied was a term Dave

Serrano. If you're listening to this coach Serrano, he told me about the Stewie, which I'll tell you off air. But essentially he was our pitching coach. And whenever he would strike three somebody, he would call it inside fastball with two strikes. And I would jump away from it. You know, like, ooh. And I'll try. But. I think that that's just kind of the way it is.

You know, I think we have to be pitchers are really good. And they throw. And if we're looking middle away and all of a sudden they throw something up and in. We're toast. You're right. Jeff Fry's going to be mad at you by the way. Look out. Here come the, what does he call the. Yeah, I love. I love it. Actually, what he talks about the

way he pretends. But I do think that anticipation. He calls it guessing. And I don't think guessing. Right. There's differences we've talked about. Yeah, guessing. But anticipation, you know, having a plan and trying to, trying to, you know, look middle away or whatever it is. I think that's beneficial. I think most big leagues with two strikes could probably put a ball in play. Yeah, they have

bats at ball skills. Right. They can take a little off, if you will. I got to hit a fairway here. I got a two stroke lead or a one stroke lead. And I'm headed into the last hole. All I got to do is hit a fairway. I can, you know, choke down a three wood or something and and bump it down there. You know, 250 yards.

Baseball players can do that. Major leagues can do that. They can shorten up. They can hit anything, but they're not going to hit it hard. And I think that's the difference of mindset is, look, if we want to cut down on strikeouts, guys can cut down on strikeouts. I have no doubt in my mind that they could do that. But what it does is it will

take away from, you know, maybe there are B.I. Totals or their extra base totals. And ultimately that leads to runs. And so that change isn't going to happen. So I was listening with one ear and doing some research with my eyes. I guess with your other ear. Yeah, I guess. Gay Lord Perry. You're right. He indeed just passed away. December 1st. So we record this on

a Saturday, past week, Thursday, actually. And at the age of 84, in Gaffney, South Carolina, here's something interesting about Gay Lord Perry. He was notorious. This isn't the interesting part. He was notorious for doctrine baseball. He was like, but was he? Right. He won 314 games in his career. Five time all star blah, blah, blah. Okay. Here's what the interesting. Do you know where he played

college baseball? You would think back then, of course, he was. All right. Let's see here. I don't know when he was signed. He made his debut in 1962. So he was signed probably a couple of years before that. You would think you wouldn't get signed out of college. It wouldn't be as prevalent as it is now. There was no draft back then as far as I

know. Well, anyway, he attended along with his brother, where they both played college baseball. Campbell University. So Campbell University's baseball program. If they ever need something to hang the old proverbial hat on. Yeah. It's that gay Lord Perry went to Campbell University. Yeah. So I was watching it. And he was known as the spitball master and whatnot. And we know now today that. They want just

the opposite. They want more grip, right? They want more spin. They don't want to slide out of their hands. They want more control. But it was, I forget who he said, oh, it was Driesdale. He's he was he heard something that drives. And he wasn't having a very good career up into this point. Right. He was very mediocre. And Driesdale said something like I wanted the

hitter to think about something. Right. Like I wanted to get in the hitter's head. And so Perry that night started just. Touching his ear and touching his hat a couple times. And all of a sudden he did that the rest of the season. And hitters started to think, oh, he must be loading the ball up. And it was just adding that one thought. Like he wasn't

loading the ball. Maybe he did later in his career. But he wasn't loading the ball up. When he first started touching his hat and touching his ear and touching his neck. But he wanted the hitters to think that because now all of a sudden the hitters go back to that gosh darn it. He's loading it up. He's doing this and that the balls probably moving more.

And now all of a sudden he started to have success. So it was a really wild interview. I heard that. And from him about that. And it was just entering fear or another thought into a hitter. And we talk about clearing our mind and clearing the mechanism as a hitter. Man, how important is that. If you're with we're out there and we got the pitch. Remember

right in Demester, you know, flipping his flipping his glove around, you know, trying to like make sure you didn't steal the grip. There's such a gamesmanship in, you know, the game between the pitcher and the hitter that goes beyond just what the pitch is. And what I'm trying to do is just make sure that the pitch is. But the swing is, but it's mentally changing the

mindset. I mean, look at hit, look at pitchers now with different windups. You know, guys that come out of the bullpen, but there's nobody on base, right. And they're throwing from the stretch and they have a pause. Right. Because they have a natural pause with guys on base. But now they're, they're essentially throwing from the stretch, but they go straight from, you know, the ball behind

them into their wind up because they can because there's nobody on base. I mean that messes a hitter up, but it doesn't just mess them up in the moment. Now all of a sudden the hitters on deck is like, Oh crap, I got to keep an eye out on that. You know, or Nestor once in a while, he's going to do this weird, crazy hesitation move.

Right. And I'm telling you that stuff that gets in the head will play more tricks than a ball that's moving more than it's not. All right. Final point. I want to go through each one as it pertains to hitting with two strikes out of high school hitters, out of college hitters and professional hitters approach. What kind of advice and plan would you give them when it

comes to two strike hitting. I don't like that question. I usually like my question. Okay. A little surprise. But what don't you like about it? Was it too loaded? It was just your delivery. Was it too informational? Well, I can't help that. That's what I'm making. I'm looking right at your face. That's how God made me. I can't help that. You know, you should host the

podcast with the number one quarterback, QB one, my sister. That's right. We'll be going to run next week. Okay. So amateur hitters with with two strikes. You know, if you're 10 years old, if you're 10 to 13 years old, man, don't strike out. Have fun. You got to bat in your hand. The pictures for the most part aren't going to be totally overpowering you. Maybe if

you're playing travel ball, there's going to be one picture, maybe two in that entire tournament. That's that's going to just own everybody. Okay. Don't worry about him, but or her. So get out there and swing the bat and have fun. You have two strikes. I would take away the outside outside pitch. Okay. In fact, we can bump this up to the high school age as well.

If you have two strikes, take away that outside corner pitch. Okay. Let the ball travel a little bit. Take away ball six or ball seven. You know the umpires going to call it a strike when it's on the river between the corner and the batter's box line on the outside corner. Take that pitch away from look out there. Why? Well, on the outside fastball, you got

to let it travel. Right. Well, what do you have to do on a breaking ball? You got to wait and let it travel too. So if you're letting outside pitch travel with two strikes and they throw you a hanger, your barrel should run right into it. If you have a decent swing, you can't make it to the right level. You can't make it to the right

level. You can't make it to the right level. You can't make it to the right level. Okay. So that is my advice for anyone, you know, below the college level. Now where are you going to get beat? You're going to get beat with an inside fastball. So look back at your life. If you're 17 or younger, how many times over the past year? Have you got,

you know, have you punched out on an inside corner fastball with two strikes? Okay. Think about that. How many times have you, have you been punched out? Is it a lot? What? Is it what? Right versus how many times are you chasing sliders in the dirt? Because maybe we're not looking middle away with two strikes. So the great part about looking middle away is you got

time. You can let it get deep. You're not trying to, you're not trying to hit a ball over the fence. Right. You're trying to let it get deep and shoot a line drive to the opposite field. Don't get too fancy with two strikes. Okay. If you're a professional, now it's different. You know, we've faced that picture multiple times this year. We probably have some scouting reports

on this picture. This is he typically like to do. And more importantly, what has he done against me? You know, go back and look at your at bats against them. Don't look at, you know, Johnny's at bats against them. How is he pitched against you? Okay. Well, he tries to attack me slow early in the count and fast late in the count. Okay. Take that with

you. Now what do good major league pitchers do? Well, they switched that up. You know, I just see Verlander will throw breaking balls early in the count to get ahead and then fastballs. He'll change. And then the second time. He's a lineup. He might do something totally different. Okay. So we have to be on the lookout for that. But for the most part, if you're in

the minor leagues, we probably don't, you know, our scouting reports aren't intense. We just have to, you know, no, with two strikes, you know, maybe we're trying to take away that pitch middle away. If the guys not throwing 95, if you still 90, let's take away the pitch middle away. If you still 95, okay, we may have to be a little bit more aggressive early in

the count. So we don't get to two strikes. So it to each their own. But I will say the majority of players under under the college level, you know, if you're playing the SEC and guys are really bringing it into the pack 12 or the ACC, you know, and guys are consistently throwing in the mid 90s, then, you know, it's going to be a little bit

tougher. But I would rather get beat with two strikes. Again, this is a broad spectrum because I'm not talking to an exact hitter. But I would rather get beat with two strikes on a fastball for a strike. That I'm late on. Yeah. Then a breaking ball that I'm out in front of. I think those percentages will play because I think if it's a fastball for a

strike and I have a decent swing, I can probably still foul that off. Even though I'm going to be late, I can fall back or back, you know, towards the opposite side. But I would rather not be out in front on a breakable because if I'm out in front on a slider at, say, 85. And then he throws an 82 mile an hour curveball. That pitcher

can keep two. And then he can take and stuff off his breaking ball. What he can do, if I'm just a little bit late on his 90 mile an hour fastball in college, he can't hump up to 94 and blow it by me. He can't do that. That's his top speed. So if I can be late on his fastest pitch, that I can time up his

slowest pitch. But if he keeps throwing slower and slow, if I'm out in front on a breaking ball, he can take some more off that breaking ball. Then I'm going to miss the next one. So know the kind of hitter you are. Have a good swing plane, have good mechanics. Otherwise, you wouldn't be there right if you're professional level. And then you can use your brain

and you can use your feel to create a plan to be successful with two strikes. Well, great job. This week, up great information. Next week, we actually will dive into a little more. We're running out of time, but we will dive into a little bit more about two strike hitting as it pertains to second, third time through the order, fourth time through the order when you're

facing different pitchers will touch on that a little bit next week. Plus, I think that's a good thing. We're going to look up that number. How many times players struck out looking last year and maybe discuss that a little bit. But our main topic next week will be fixing Cody Ballinger mechanical breakdown series episode 125. That's coming up next week. What do you got coming up

at the lab? We have our college hitting program going on about a month, a little less than a month. All the college players are coming out. So we'll be working them, getting them prepped for the season. And we just finished our assessments for all our in town. Amateur players. So that was fun. So they're going through all their reports. I would suggest all of you guys

that got your K vest reports. Make sure you make an appointment with your with matter Kenny. To go over the people don't matter Kenny is. We've listened to friends and so Matt Eagle Australia candidate. Yeah. Yeah. All right. So Matt Eagles are like lead instructor down the lab. So he's been there since we opened X pro played played the Marlos organization for many years played Texas

say to him and then Kenny Jackson who played Texas say to him as well and was a college coach in the junior college ranks in Texas. So those are the guys that run our hitting classes down there. So make sure you get with them. In order to go over your results. So you can create a plan to fix whatever deficiencies that they saw. And of course

you can log on to. The lab BCS.com. For more information. And if you want to be better this winter. This is the time for the Epstein online Academy. I can't push it enough. This is the time. Don't wait till February. Okay. Let's get those mechanics. Let's get the winter training. You can do it in your basement. You can do it in your garage. Or if you're

lucky enough in California. You can Florida. Texas. You can do it outside. But get the swing plane locked in and I'm here to help you do that. What is it? What's the online Academy website? Epstein hitting dot com. That one's and with that. That is very easy. And with that we will talk to you all.