In time, coaches at all levels will experience players being overwhelmed by a new competitive environment. Many of us can recall the “deer in the headlights” look from the middle schooler who couldn’t take the bat off their shoulder when facing a hard-throwing eighth grader, or a junior-varsity pinch hitter waving weakly at a real curveball he’s never seen before. Any player with limited competitive experience can struggle with higher pressure moments. Two-strike hitting with runners on base is an example. Through trial and error experience, research and reference to past mentors, our coaching staff built an approach that works for a developmental international team.
The two-strike challenge can be an issue for inexperienced players anywhere on the planet. I can tell you firsthand this is no different for us here in Benin, a small West African country that was introduced to baseball less than 20 years ago. There is no field space dedicated specifically for baseball in the country, so our practices take place on a field with an all-dirt surface that is typically used for soccer. And though the young players on our team love the game, personal transportation costs, school/work schedules and large distances separating them from each other make it difficult for the team to meet more than once a week.
Our players’ experience with competitive at-bats was restricted to informal pickup games played in schoolyards in Cotonou, the country’s most populous city. As a result, our coaching staff (head coach Fernando Atannon, along with assistants Cristina Vargas and the author) had to devise ways to build a more aggressive yet contact-oriented approach at the plate.
After some brainstorming and trial-and-error during the first few months in the team’s existence, we put together an approach grounded in what we saw as sound mechanics of an effective two-strike approach. We reinforce these mechanics off the tee, during soft toss, with “live-arm” drills, in our weekly batting practice “games” and our intrasquad games.
“We may not have umpires…but that’s not your job anyway”
That is the phrase we’d often use with the players in the early months of our team practices. We want them stepping into the box to swing the bat. During Situational BP we would want them to hunt for contact while developing the ability to establish strike zone discipline and “hit the brakes” to check-swing on pitches out of the zone.
We would separate the team into two groups just as we would for a regular intrasquad. Hitters face live pitching with either “advantageous” (2-0 or 2-1) or “disadvantageous” (1-2 or 2-2) counts. In those disadvantageous counts, the objective is to aggressively look for contact—in other words, expect to swing—even if the pitch is a borderline strike. In the 2-0 or 2-1 counts, the emphasis shifted to our pitchers as we implored them to focus on throwing strikes. Any ball put in play is considered live, and score is kept just like a regular game, with a few exceptions when we want to reward proper execution of fundamentals like moving runners with two strikes, for example.
Of course, bases on balls happen often during the “advantageous” hitter counts, so we placed a ball on a tee right after ball four, with the rationale simply being the more balls in play, the better.
This approach to batting practice paid dividends almost immediately. We saw a reduction in the number of called third strikes against us, and fewer hitters behaved tentatively when they fell behind in the count. Our strikeouts-looking went down and our contact rate went up, which is exactly what we were trying to accomplish.
“Everyone Looks for Contact”
As the team’s overall quality of at-bats increased, we as coaches still saw room for improvement. We started thinking about strategies for in-game performance, and I recalled a conversation I had years ago with a coaching mentor— who was very successful at both the Division III and Ivy League levels—at a baseball camp in New Jersey. Essentially his idea was that productive contact skills with bunting and two-strike hitting should be taught early and often, reinforced at every practice with competitive drills, and used frequently in game situations.
With his words in mind, we came up with the following in-game two-strike strategies:
- Every time anyone in our line-up reaches a two-strike count, they move into a two-strike posture: open stance, back foot two to three inches from the batter’s box inside line and at least six inches behind the back point of the plate, with the front foot roughly parallel to the plate’s inside edge. The hitter can also move up in the box if the pitcher lacks velocity or if we notice the pitcher tends to throw breaking pitches in two-strike counts. Also the hitter moves their hands at least two inches up from the knob of the bat, resulting in more of a fake-bunt-slash approach. We’re looking primarily for a pitch on the outside edge of the plate and are prepared to fight off a good inside pitch at the same time.
- The next two steps emphasize the seriousness of our approach. First, if a player gets caught looking at a third strike, he should attempt to bunt all the way through the next at-bat. The directive still applies in every subsequent at-bat for the player until they either:
- Advance a runner on a sacrifice; or
- Beat out a bunt for a base hit, or reach base on a fielding or throwing error.
In other words, the player has to earn the right to swing away in a subsequent at-bat by making productive contact through an effective bunt. Second, if the “caught-looking” hitter is in the fifth spot in the batting order or below, every subsequent hitter attempts a bunt all the way through the third strike until a bunt is executed successfully.
Here’s an example from a recent intrasquad game: The fourth hitter leads off with a double down the right field line. The fifth hitter takes a called third strike. The sixth hitter attempts a bunt three times and is called out on strikes as he bunts the third strike into foul territory. With two outs and a runner still on second, the seventh hitter then successfully lays down a bunt that he beats out for a base hit. The runner on second scores due to an error on the throw to first. The eighth hitter, who can swing away, is out 4-3 on a hard-hit grounder, causing the third out. The team’s next inning starts with the nine hitter, who can swing away due to the eighth hitter’s hard contact third out in the previous inning.
We started implementing these approaches directly after the winter holidays this year. Our overall offense continued to improve as our two-strike ball in play percentage rose to about 80 percent. And, while it may not be a sound strategy for the big leagues, it helped our players buy into our two-strike approach, developed their hand-eye coordination, and put added pressure on the defense, even if we were putting bunts in play instead of batted balls.
“We’re Ready”
Baseball in Benin, Present and Near Future: Our team’s frequency of play remains an issue, even though baseball can be played year-round in Benin’s sub-tropical climate. We’ve started hosting shorter mid-week workouts for positional groups (e.g., pitchers and catchers, infielders and outfielders) at a local international school’s turf field. Our players overcome obstacles each week that might easily deter less committed players living in places with the kind of sports and transportation infrastructure seen in the U.S., Canada and Western Europe.
Our skill development is hampered by the limited range of competition. Traveling across national borders to play our closest competition is challenging due to the expenses, but it is not impossible. And with the lifting of pandemic-related travel restrictions, the team displays commitment and looks forward to games against its neighbors this fall.
The “we’re ready” comment expressed often by our players is a reflection of their desire to take on bigger challenges. They are keenly aware of the competitive growth of the sport across the continent. These young players want Benin to lead and not just be a small part of this growth. We feel that the U-23 team’s improvement and execution in two-strike hitting is proof of their drive.
Brian Covell recently completed a two-year tour as a family member affiliated with the U.S. diplomatic mission in Cotonou, Benin, where he served as an assistant coach for Benin’s national Under-23 team. After playing college baseball, he coached baseball at the junior high, high school and collegiate levels in his native New England, including at Colby College (ME) and Brandeis University (MA). He retired from full-time service in parish-based ministry in June, 2014.