Situational Hitting: Part 1

Matt Schilling: From the Batting Cage

I have touched on this topic some in previous Blog's but I feel it needs to be clearly addressed again. One of the most important things that hitters can do is execute properly when they have "Situational Hitting" opportunities. Obviously every at-bat technically is a "situation" but in the baseball world some are considered to be of more importance or of greater value. Here is a list of a number of key spots that hitters need to execute well:

1. Sacrifice bunts

2. Suicide squeeze and safety squeeze

3. Man on 2nd nobody out, move the runner over to 3rd (swinging away)

4. Man on 3rd with less than 2 outs

5. Hit and Runs

6. At bats with a runner in scoring position and 2 outs

7. Leading off an inning

Over the next few weeks I will dive into each situation and discuss the importance of being able to execute and give tips to help players improve their ability to execute in these situations.

Trivia questions: (you must answer without looking it up on google)

1. Pete Rose is the All-Time career hits leader, with Ty Cobb in second place. Can you name the player who is 3rd All-Time in career hits?

2. Alex Rodriguez has 6 of the top 10 best home run seasons by a short stop, can you name the shortstop who has the other 4 best single season home run totals?

Please post your answers (dont cheat), and tune in next week for the second blog on situational hitting and the answers to this week's trivia questions.

Schilling graduated from Coastal Carolina University, where he was an All-Conference and All-State player while being voted the fourth best second baseman in the country by the Smith Award Group. Schilling went on to coach at Coastal for five years, helping them reach the top 25. He is also a former Associate Scout with the Atlanta Braves.