Repost from SightBridge Blog.
Recently, before a baseball game that I was coaching, I asked my leadoff hitter, “What is your primary job as leadoff hitter?” His response was simple. “Get a hit.” While he did not specify what type of hit, single, double, triple or home run, I can assure you he was talking about a single.
Why only a single? Doesn’t every player want to hit a home run? It’s exciting! However, home runs are hard to hit. Home runs without anyone on base do not produce as much “punch”. What I’ve tried to teach the players on my team is that a sustaining rally in baseball starts with singles, walks, errors, etc. Basically, the rally begins with getting on base. The “punch” is brought by those intermittent home runs, the ones that are fortified with runners already on base. ...