I am not sure how many coaches have a tennis ball machine to do the Longoria vision drill. So my question is how many have you have done this via pitching machine with hard balls, how have you done it, and what kind of success have you had?

What drill?

During the game they were talking about a vision drill in which they shoot tennis balls out of a machine. On the tennis balls their are numbers in different colors and the players work on their tracking abilities.

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Originally posted by socalhscoach:
During the game they were talking about a vision drill in which they shoot tennis balls out of a machine. On the tennis balls their are numbers in different colors and the players work on their tracking abilities.

Yeah, Edgar Martinez has been doing that drill for years. I heard that Matt Holliday actually hits balls being shot at 115mph. Most of them just watch them at those speeds and try to track and identify.

It's good to see that you baseball boyz have finally stepped up to what the softball girls have been doing for some time.

We have an ATEC Hitting Streak that uses the white or yellow foam balls. We colored the seems red and put numbers on them, similar to the tennis ball trick. Had the guys identify the color of the ball and how the seems are turning and what number the ball is.

Obviously the better you get, the more you can identify.

Basically, all it does is slow the game down in your brain. The first time someone walks into the box and faces a 98mph fastball after hitting upper 80s fastballs, they actually say, "oh sh**!" But, after awhile they get more used to it and many actually end up being able to hit them. That 92mph fastball you get after that doesn't seem nearly as fast.

Probably, but it may help you focus more. They say when you are thrown a slider, you can see a red dot, but I never saw it. I could see rotation and just followed the flight of the ball. Larry Walker always said he didn't know what the Pitcher was throwing, but I'm not sure I believe that either, but only he knows that for sure.

I can see that focusing on the numbers can help with seeing the ball, but doing that and swinging the bat at the same time would be difficult.

I still dont know if you can see the spin on the ball while waiting for a 90 mph. Power said he didnt. Anyone else able to see the spin on the ball when batting?

Blue...so you are saying that US softball team and multiple major league baseball teams are doing drills that are useless? In regards to the red dot yes I have seen when I was playing.

Ok let me rephrase that since the rhetorical question has apparently escaped you. Explain why you think it is useless.

socal,

How dare you ask bluedog to explain himself. BTW, he won't. I too have hear that Edgar Martinez was one of, if not the first to use this drill. The object is not to swing at them, just reach a point where your eyes can track a 100+ mph ball.

bluedog, if you weren't always so sure that you knew everything, you might actually learn something.
Just a guess, but if it wasn't of some use, the guys who get paid to hit the ball would probably not waste their time, ya think.

Drill;

Several years ago, when I attended the Mariners Spring Training *our Australia coaches are Mariners coaches]
I observed Edgar, Gullian and Ichiro using this machine with tennis balls at 150 MPH.

Edgar was traching the ball, Gullian was bunting and Ichiro was actually hitting the tennis ball.

Later, Edgar and I discussed hitting for one hour.

Bob Williams

Back to the circular discussion. You don't know what I'm telling you and I'm not going to tell. So since you don't know, and I won't tell you, then you are worthless and don't deserve the blessing of my instruction/advice. Because after all, I know everything, but I won't tell you anything because you just don't seem to understand it.

Now this thread will fall right into the useless column. At least it started out well.

You can recognize it and put a good swing on it.

You can recognize it and not put a good swing on it.

You can not recognize it and put a good swing on it. lol

You can not recognize it and not put a good swing on it.

The colored balls have little to do with it, other than make someone feel smart.

Ok Blue what is your definition of doing it properly?

Actually bluedog, it's people like yourself that let nothing of any use happen on this forum. Every conversation you get into turns into a series of riddles and rhymes and then blamed on us poor uniformed souls. You're entirely too smart to talk in anything but secret codes, and if we don't understand...well, we're not worthy.

Focal vs ambient huh? Perhaps we could include rods, cones, optic nerves and the associated blind spots?

I would assume that during batting you use ambient vision? though this sounds counter intuative.

This is all I could find:
http://www.autism.com/ari/editorials/ed_visualmanage.htm
Focal vision, which involves the central visual field, is largely a conscious process. Focal vision, which works independently from other sensory systems, allows us to answer the question, "What is it?" This is the visual system that traditional optometrists and opthalmologists address with eyeglasses or surgery.

Ambient vision, which involves the entire visual field, is more dynamic and largely non-conscious, and integrates with other sensory systems. This is the visual system that answers the questions, "Where am I?" and "Where is it?"

Funny its in an autism article but makes sense.

sometimes, we go on long journeys to find what is in our own backyard:

http://hsbaseballweb.com/eve/forums/a/tpc/f/8291034941/...911085552#7911085552

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You're entirely too smart to talk in anything but secret codes, and if we don't understand...well, we're not worthy.

Sounds like someone should take their own advice:

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However, with your thin skinned approach thus far, I'd suggest you be very very careful in the hitting forum.

Actually, the forum tends to drag when BD isn't posting. There have been a few very good hitting guys in this web site. But, they come and they go. BD sticks around...my guess is he likes to have a little fun with it.

Try not to be so thin-skinned.