Lesson 2: Catch It With the Barrel

Today's Lesson

“Let the ball hit the bat. Don’t hit the ball.”

Set the bat at the top of the zone and cover the plate with it. That bat is now your strike zone. A pitch below it means you drop with your legs, not your hands. A pitch above it is a ball, so pull the bat back. Your legs are the elevator; your hands just hold the angle.

At contact, the hands give back an inch or two, like catching an egg. Keep your chin down, eyes on the release point, and follow the ball all the way in. Bunting is the one at-bat where you can actually watch contact happen, so see the ball touch the barrel every time. Holding that angle through contact is the same skill behind the Mechanically Advantaged Angles (MAA) AHD hitters build in the full swing.

Why It Matters

Bunters who chase with their hands lose the angle and foul it off. Soft hands turn a hard pitch into a ball that stops 20 feet up the line; firm hands turn it into an easy 1-3 putout.

Today's Work

• Mirror (5 minutes): dry squares. Bat at the top of the zone, then drop to low pitches with the knees only. Hands never move down on their own.
• Egg catch (5 minutes): 10 soft tosses where you only try to stop the ball dead. Bat should feel almost dead in your hands.
• Watch it in (5 minutes): partner writes a number on a few balls with a marker. Call the number after contact.
• Put it together (5 minutes): 25 bunts off tee or soft toss. Barrel above the hands, see contact, take anything above the bat.

Track It

Log how many of the 25 stayed fair and on the ground, and how many you watched hit the bat. Count pitches you correctly took above the bat.

Next: Lesson 3 starts the sacrifice, the bunt where the out is the price and the base is the job.