Coach Ward

When I was with the St. Louis Cardinals, we had a team meeting about hitting with two strikes. Albert Pujols was leading it. At the time, he was hitting something ridiculous with two strikes. I want to say it was around .265. Naturally, everyone wanted to know how. So somebody asked: "What's your two-strike approach?" Albert's answer surprised me. He said: "I think fastball inside and hit it back through the middle." That was it. No complicated mechanics. No secret formula. Just: Fastball inside. Back through the middle. I remember sitting there thinking: "Why would you think fastball inside with two strikes?" So somebody asked him. And Albert said something I'll never forget. He said: "If I can hit a fastball inside back through the middle..." "I can hit the fastball away." "I can stay on the changeup." "I can stay on the slider." "I can stay on the curveball." Then he paused. And said: "The ball gets deeper." That's when it clicked for me. He wasn't trying to pull the inside fastball. He was using one thought to cover everything. The more I thought about it... The more it made sense. So I started trying it. And it changed the way I thought about hitting with two strikes. Instead of worrying about every pitch... I focused on one. Fastball inside. Back through the middle. See it DEEP. If you're struggling with two strikes, here's what I'd do tonight: Round 1: Short Box (Set the distance somewhere between front toss and batting practice.) Have a coach throw only fastballs inside. Your only thought: "Fastball inside." Drive the ball back through the middle. 10 swings. Round 2: Mix Speeds Now the coach mixes: - Fastballs - Changeups - Breaking balls - Sliders But your thought never changes. You're still looking: "Fastball inside." 10 swings. Round 3: Two-Strike BP Every pitch starts 0-2. Compete. Battle. Use the same approach. "Fastball inside." Back through the middle. 10 swings. That's it. 30 focused swings. One thought. One approach. One goal. Drive the baseball back through the middle. One thing I've learned: Most hitters get worse with two strikes because they add thoughts. Albert got better because he removed them. With two strikes, simplicity is a weapon. Thank you for reading, Jermaine Curtis P.S. - If you enjoyed this and thought it was helpful, please share it. (When you share it, it tells me you want more content like this.)