Squaring up...

[traveler]

I keep hearing the term "squaring up" as in the hitter excels at squaring up the ball. What exactly does that mean? What is the hitter doing to accomplish this and are there techniques or drills that work on "squaring up" a pitch?
Thanks for clueing me in.

[Chris O'Leary]

I keep hearing the term "squaring up" as in the hitter excels at squaring up the ball. What exactly does that mean? What is the hitter doing to accomplish this and are there techniques or drills that work on "squaring up" a pitch?
Thanks for clueing me in.

Squaring up means hitting the center of the ball (pretty much) in the vertical and horizontal centers of the fat part of the bat. The alternative is hitting slightly under the ball, causing a pop-up, or slightly over the ball, causing a grounder, or hitting the ball off the handle or end of the bat.

Squaring up the ball will generally ensure that it will travel the farthest.

I'm not sure there is much you can do to improve your ability to do this, since it is highly dependent on hand-eye coordination. However, swinging down on the ball will pretty much guarantee that you will never square up on the ball, which is why it is a problematic cue beyond 3rd grade.

[korp]

Yep basically to hit the ball solid. It just comes from normal bp and all the hitting drills ... you won't always hit it square but having a good eye and practice will increase your chances of doing it. There aren't really any special drills for it.

[b4uplayball]

Squaring up is getting the hips out and the bat around with a nice level swing. This also implys the head is on the ball and "tucked" on you lead shoulder.

[azmatsfan]

Squaring up is getting the hips out and the bat around with a nice level swing. This also implys the head is on the ball and "tucked" on you lead shoulder.

Uh-oh........

[Mark H]

LOL As Azmat dives into the foxhole, level to what?

[Mark H]

Any cue/term such as square up the ball means whatever the speaker thinks it means. To me, in addition to some of the comments above, it implies making contact late in a good whip/uncocking of the wrist/insert your own term for same.

[Jake Patterson]

It's a term we use in basketball. I have never heard it in baseball when refering to hitting.

[mudvnine]

"Squaring up the ball" has also been used to describe a hitter that has the uncanny ability to get the bat perpendicular to the flight path if the ball.

In other words, it is a RH hitter that consistently hits the inside pitch "early", pulling them towards left field . . . pitches down the middle are driven right back into centerfield, and on outside pitches his timing is such that he is able to let the ball travel deeper, so he can "square up" his bat to the ball and hit it into right field.

Obviously, the fields are just the opposite for the LH hitters. That's my understanding of the term anyway.

[scorekeeper]

"Squaring up the ball" has also been used to describe a hitter that has the uncanny ability to get the bat perpendicular to the flight path if the ball.

In other words, it is a RH hitter that consistently hits the inside pitch "early", pulling them towards left field . . . pitches down the middle are driven right back into centerfield, and on outside pitches his timing is such that he is able to let the ball travel deeper, so he can "square up" his bat to the ball and hit it into right field.

Obviously, the fields are just the opposite for the LH hitters. That's my understanding of the term anyway.

Maybe I’m misunderstanding, but it seems to me that anything perpendicular to the flight path of the ball is gonna be pretty much parallel to the rubber, and that means everything would go basically right back where it came from.

As I understand it, the flight path of a batted ball is generally perpendicular to the angle of the bat. In order for a RHB to hit a ball to LF, the bat has to hit the ball someplace out in front of the batter.