Lesson 2: Stance and Ready Position

Today's Lesson

“You can’t be explosive from a bad stance. Get athletic before the pitcher ever moves.”

Your stance is where you stand and wait. Your ready position is that stance coming alive as the pitcher starts. Good looks like this: feet a little wider than your shoulders, weight on the insides of the balls of your feet, knees flexed, torso tilted slightly toward the plate, hands near the back shoulder in a relaxed hammer grip, and the head level with both eyes on the pitcher. Hand height, foot angle and style can vary. The athletic position can’t.

It should feel like an infielder before the pitch: loose, balanced, ready to go any direction. Aggressive and athletic, not stiff. Keep a little rhythm in the hands or knees so you’re not starting from dead still. The common mistake is the frozen, upright stance: knees locked, bat squeezed, weight on the heels. From there every move is late and every move costs balance.

Softball note: at 43 feet you have far less time, so be in your ready position before the pitcher starts her circle, not during it. Set your eyes on her release hip, where the ball comes out low, rather than her face. Slappers use a separate stance and footwork; this lesson covers the hitting stance.

Why It Matters

Every checkpoint after this one inherits the stance. Start balanced and athletic and the gather, load and launch have something to build on. Start stiff or off balance and you spend the swing recovering.

Today's Work

Stance build (5 min): in front of a mirror, build your stance 10 times from a normal standing position. Check feet, knees, tilt, hands and eyes each time. Hold each for 3 seconds.
• Push test (4 min): partner gives 10 light pushes from the front, back and sides while you hold your stance. Stay athletic without stepping. If you get moved, widen a little or sink the knees.
• Grip reset (2 min): 10 reps of squeeze hard for one second, then relax to a hammer grip. Fingers and pads, loose until go.
• Ready reps (6 min): 15 reps against an imaginary pitcher: relaxed stance, pitcher starts, rhythm turns into ready position, hold 2 seconds. Then 10 tee swings starting from that ready position.

Track It

Write how many of 10 mirror stances passed all five checks (feet, knees, tilt, hands, eyes), pushes held out of 10, and whether you caught your weight on your heels at any point.

Next: Lesson 3, The Gather: how the ready position turns into a loaded back side without swaying.