By BK, Athletic Hitting Development
Complete Hitters Are Built… Not Given. Earned!
Key takeaways for hitters
- What you feel in the swing is often not what’s real. Feel isn’t real.
- It happens through every inch of the swing: setup, load, stride, path, contact, timing, decisions.
- The AHD fix is to go the opposite. Under? Swing over. Late? Feel early.
- The opposite will feel like too much. That’s usually the real right amount.
- Never trust the feel alone. Prove it on video and let ball flight tell the truth.
“Coach, I was right on that.” Then we watch the video, and he was a foot under it.
What a hitter feels in the swing is often not what’s really happening: you can feel on time and be late, or feel on top and be under it. The AHD fix is to go the opposite on purpose, then prove it with video and ball flight.
Train it: Swing Structure & Mechanics Masterclass →I’ve heard that sentence thousands of times in 52 years of playing, coaching and scouting. The hitter isn’t lying. He really felt it. That’s the problem. The feel is honest, and it’s wrong.
This is one of the most important ideas in hitting, and one of the least taught. At AHD we call it Feel vs Real, and it runs through everything we coach.
1. What feel vs real means
Your body reports what it thinks it did. Your eyes, the camera and the ball report what it actually did. In hitting, those two reports disagree all the time.
A hitter can feel on time and be late. He can feel short to the ball and be casting. She can feel like she stayed on the rise ball and be way under it. A hitter can feel like he saw the pitch the whole way when his head pulled out at two-thirds.
Feel isn’t real. The feel is a report from your body. The real is what the ball did.
The swing happens in a fraction of a second. Your brain can’t track every part of it, so it fills in the gaps with what it expects to feel. Do a move the wrong way long enough and wrong starts to feel normal. Then the right move feels wrong.
"COACH, I WAS RIGHT ON THAT."
FEEL ISN'TREAL.
- Your body reports a feel.
- The ball reports the real.
- Wrong starts to feel normal.
THE FEEL IS HONEST, AND IT'S WRONG.
2. It happens through every inch of the swing
Feel vs real isn’t one fault. It shows up in every part of the swing process and every pillar of the complete hitter:
| What you feel | What’s real | AHD: go the opposite |
|---|---|---|
| “I was right on that ball.” | You were under it. Pop-up, fly ball, foul back. | Swing over it. |
| “I’m on time.” | Contact is deep. Fastballs go the other way or foul. | Feel way early. Try to pull it foul. |
| “My hands stay in.” | The hands drift away and the barrel goes around the ball. | Feel the knob brush your back hip. |
| “I stayed through it.” | Your front side opened and pulled off early. | Feel closed. Hit it the other way. |
| “I barely moved my head.” | Your head drifted forward several inches. | Feel your head go back as you stride. |
| “I saw it the whole way.” | Your eyes left the ball before contact. | Watch the ball hit the bat, then keep looking. |
| “I’m in a slump.” | Hard-hit outs and good decisions. | Stay the course. Make one small adjustment, not five. |
Every one of those hitters is telling the truth about what they felt. Every one of them is wrong about what happened.
3. The AHD fix: go the opposite
Here’s where AHD teaches it differently. Most coaching tries to fix a fault with a small, polite correction. “Get a little more on top.” “Be a touch earlier.”
That doesn’t work. If your feel is off by a lot, a little correction still feels like nothing changed, and nothing does.
So we go the opposite, on purpose, all the way:
- Under? Swing over.If you keep popping up, try to hit the top of the ball and drive it into the ground.
- Late? Feel early.If you’re late on the fastball, try to be so early you pull it foul.
- Pulling off? Feel closed.If your front side flies open, feel like you stay closed and hit the ball the other way.
- Casting? Feel cramped.If the barrel goes around the ball, feel like the knob stays on your back hip way too long.
Under? Swing over. Go the opposite.
THE AHD FIX
GO THEOPPOSITE.
- Under? Swing over.
- Late? Feel early.
- Pulling off? Feel closed.
- Casting? Feel cramped.
IT WILL FEEL LIKE TOO MUCH. THAT'S THE POINT.
4. Why the opposite works
When the feel is off, the real is usually somewhere between where you are and the opposite extreme. Aiming for the extreme is how you land in the middle.
The hitter who tries to swing over the ball doesn’t actually chop it into the ground. He finally squares it up. The hitter who tries to pull the fastball foul doesn’t actually pull it foul. He finally gets the barrel out front on time.
It will feel wrong. It will feel like too much. That’s the point. When the right move finally feels strange, you know you’ve found the real.
The opposite feels like too much. On video, it’s usually exactly right.
5. Prove it: the real always wins
Going the opposite only works if you check it. The feel got you into trouble, so the feel can’t be the judge. The real is the judge:
- Video. Film from the side and from behind. Freeze it at contact. The camera doesn’t care how it felt.
- Ball flight. Ball flight tells the truth. Pop-ups mean under. Weak grounders to the pull side mean over or early. Line drives mean real.
- A second set of eyes. A coach or partner calls what they see, rep by rep.
- A number. Count hard-hit balls or on-time swings out of 10. Feelings don’t count. Numbers do.
This is the same rule we use everywhere at AHD: judge the result, not the look, and never trust a feel you haven’t proven.
6. How to train it this week
1. Find your gap
Film 10 swings. Before you watch, write down what you felt on each one. Then watch. Every swing where the feel and the video disagree is a feel vs real gap.
2. Pick one
Pick the biggest gap. One. Not five. Fix the earliest part of the swing first.
3. Go the opposite
Take 15 swings exaggerating the opposite. Under? Swing over. Late? Feel early. Make it feel like too much.
4. Prove it
Film again. Check ball flight. When the video matches the model, slowly turn the exaggeration down until it holds at game speed.
Every lesson in the AHD courses now has a Feel vs Real check built in, so hitters train this every day, not once. Find your first gap for free with SwingChecker™.
THELESSON.
- Find your gap.
- Pick one. Not five.
- Go the opposite.
- Film it again.
- Ball flight tells the truth.
- Trust the real.
Complete Hitters Are Built…Earned.
Quick answers
What does feel vs real mean in hitting?
It means what a hitter feels in the swing is often not what is actually happening. You can feel on time and be late, or feel on top of the ball and be under it. Video and ball flight show the real; the feel alone usually lies.
Why do coaches say to swing over the ball if you keep popping up?
Because the feel is off by a lot, a small correction changes nothing. If you’re under the ball, the AHD fix is to go the opposite and try to swing over it. It feels like too much, but on video it usually lands right on the ball.
How do I know if my swing feel is real?
Prove it. Film from the side and from behind, watch where the ball goes, and have a coach or partner call what they see. If the feel and the real disagree, trust the real and change the feel.
Does feel vs real apply to softball hitters?
Yes. Fastpitch hitters have even less time, so the gap between feel and real shows up fast, especially on timing, rise balls and drop balls. The same rule works: go the opposite, then prove it on video.
Why does the right swing change feel wrong?
Do a move the wrong way long enough and wrong starts to feel normal, so the right move feels strange. When the opposite feels like too much, it’s usually exactly right on video.
Don’t collect drills. Build a complete hitter.
Want a coach’s eyes on the real? Start with SwingChecker™ for free, train it every day in the AHD Complete Hitter Masterclass, or contact Coach about online remote baseball and softball training.
Complete Hitters Are Built… Not Given. Earned!
From the 2015 archive: Don’t Squish the Bug: What the Back Foot Really Does.
This article is part of the AHD guide Baseball Swing Mechanics. Start there for the full picture and every related article.
