Day 8 in the Void – how did a .366 lifetime hitter do it?
This is the only picture I could find that shows what I wanted to discuss. Here’s the batter with the highest lifetime average of all time and notice how he holds the bat.
Why do we as coaches insist that kids hit with their hands together?
What are the advantages or disadvantages of doing either way?
If you’re attempting to learn to place the ball where you want to, split hands are a great way to learn it. Even if you revert back to batting with them close together, splitting them while practicing will help you learn how the hands interact. It does detract from power, in fact when Ty Cobb wanted to hit it harder, he’d bring his hands together as well.
This kind of refers back to our discussion as to having singles hitters or home run hitters a few days back. Hit for average or for power
Have you seen someone hit this way? Do you think it would work today? Let me know your thoughts.
The picture CREDIT: American Tobacco Company. "Ty Cobb" 1909-1911. Baseball Cards, 1887-1914, Library of Congress.
How to Hit Like a Major Leaguer 
Shouldn’t this be Day 8, or am I missing something?
One problem I could foresee with switching between split and closed hands is doing so could tip off the defense as to what approach the batter is taking. Unless the batter can slip his hands back together at the last second and still get power in his swing, the defense could adjust to anticipate either a bloop or a blast.
Though I would never try it myself being a player I cannot see why it fails. How the defense plays is not going to be soley based on the position of a batter’s hands, they are going to play standard defense and try to get the out bloop or blast. When I think about it seperating the hands really gives a batter better control and it would make it much easier to wait back and drive any pitch with bat speed. Had I not already been hitting the way I do for 10 years I certaintly wouldn’t mind practicing Cobb’s style because the bat control is amazing when seperated and bat control and bat speed produce hits.
bigjf507 – You’re right, I guess I’m hoping to speed up getting out of the void 🙂 So if you see it changed you’ll be to blame.
I had a student that felt comfortable enough that even though we used the split hands method more for a drill, he liked it even for games, so I didn’t change it since we had precedence in a .366 hitter. I wrote up a story about him on the day he hit his first home run – http://theInternetHittingCoach.com/littleleague.html