When you step into the batter’s box, everything happens in an instant. The pitcher winds up, the ball is released, and in less than half a second, around the first 200 milliseconds of the ball flight, you have to recognize the pitch, decide whether to swing (or not), and then initiate your swing. Players are told baseball is a game of reactions. But the best hitters don’t just react - they respond. They learn how to appropriately respond by training under conditions that train tactical decision making. They learn how to anticipate, process, and adjust with incredible speed. (If you haven’t seen it yet, click here to see the video explanation on how Freddie Freeman hit the winning home run in the first game of the 2024 World Series).  Understanding how the brain works in these moments can make all the difference between a powerful hit and a weak swing.

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A recent research study titled "Effect of Different Sport Environments on Proactive and Reactive Motor Inhibition: A Study on Open- and Closed-Skilled Athletes" helps explain why some athletes are better equipped for fast decision-making. The study looked at how athletes from different sports respond to movement and decision-making under pressure. Open-skilled athletes - those who play sports with unpredictable environments like baseball, soccer, or basketball - were compared to closed-skilled athletes, who train in more controlled settings like gymnastics or swimming. The study found that open-skilled athletes have superior responsive motor inhibition, meaning they can stop, adjust, or change their movements more quickly when needed.

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This applies directly to the baseball swing. The best hitters don’t just swing at everything in the strike zone. They process the pitch type, location, and speed in real time, and they have the ability to hold back or adjust. A player with poor motor inhibition usually commits to a bad pitch too soon and chase it out of the zone. A player with excellent motor inhibition can recognize a breaking ball early, adjust their timing, and still put the ball in play. FYI, learning the popular ”Yes-Yes-Yes-Yes/ No” (aka go - no go) does not train motor inhibition the way it is taught.

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The majority of hitters struggle because most traditional training environments don’t mimic the unpredictable nature of a real game. Batting practice is often done in a closed-skill environment. Players hit off a tee, take soft toss, or face a coach throwing balls in the strike zone at a consistent speed. These drills aren’t useful and they don’t train the brain to respond to the  unexpected.  In  a  game, no two pitches  are  the same. A pitcher might throw a fastball at 90 mph, followed by a changeup at 78 mph that looks nearly identical out of the hand. Without the ability to read, respond and adjust in real time, a hitter will either swing too early or hesitate too long and miss completely.

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The research definitively tells us that baseball players need to train more like open-skilled athletes. That means incorporating variability and unpredictability into training. Hitters should face live pitching as much as possible, whether it’s from teammates, machines that change speeds, or simulated at-bats against different pitch types. Randomizing pitch speeds and locations forces the brain to process information faster and make better decisions, just like in a real game.

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One of the most overlooked aspects of hitting is the ability to stop. The best hitters know when not to swing just as well as they know when to attack a pitch. Developing this skill requires training in an environment that forces decision-making rather than just repeating the same swing over and over again. The study on motor inhibition highlights that proactive decision-making—choosing when to act rather than simply reacting- is what separates elite athletes from average ones.

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If you watch a great hitter like Mike Trout or Mookie Betts, you’ll see how disciplined they are at the plate. They don’t just react to pitches; they read them, anticipate them, and control their movements accordingly. They have the ability to start their swing and then stop if they recognize the pitch is out of their hitting zone(s). This skill doesn’t happen by accident, it comes from training in game-like conditions where they are forced to make rapid adjustments.

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Most hitters are trained largely on mechanics. Even though important, they are not as important as the baseball industry would have you believe.

 

Mechanics alone won’t make you a great hitter. The real key is training your brain and body to work together in a fast-moving, unpredictable environment. You first have to be able to recognize pitches early, decide if they are worth swinging at, and adjust your swing if needed. If all your training consists of controlled, predictable drills, you will struggle when the game speeds up.

 

This is why hitters who dominate in batting practice many times struggle in games. In a controlled setting, they can groove their swing without thinking. But in a real game, when a pitcher is mixing up speeds, locations, and pitch types, they don’t have the experience needed to adapt. That split-second hesitation or misjudgment is enough to turn a hard line drive into a weak ground ball or a missed swing entirely.

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So, what does this mean for your training? If you want to be a better hitter, you need to practice like an open-skilled athlete. Instead of training by hitting off a tee or soft-toss for hours, which you shouldn’t do (see The Batting Tee Report), train with live at-bats with unpredictable pitching. While not ideal, the next best option would be to use machines that can randomly throw breaking balls and changeups randomly, not just fastballs right down the middle. Work on your pitch recognition skills by tracking pitches without swinging. This trains your eyes to pick up and time a pitcher’s characteristics, release point and ball location early. Simulate game situations where you have to respond, or not, in real time, just like you would in an actual at-bat.

 

Baseball is not just about physical ability or mechanics. More importantly, it’s about mental processing speed and decision-making. Sports science research on motor inhibition proves that the best athletes aren’t just the strongest or the fastest – they are the ones who can control their movements,  make  split-second  decisions, and adjust on the fly.

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If you want to elevate your hitting, it’s not just about having the perfect swing. It’s about training your brain to recognize, adjust with precision, and appropriately respond.

 

The game of baseball is unpredictable. One at-bat might be against a pitcher throwing nothing but fastballs, and the next might be against a pitcher who keeps you off balance with curveballs and sliders. The ability to adapt is what separates a good hitter from a great one. Train for the chaos of the game, and you’ll find yourself making better decisions at the plate, getting more hits, and ultimately becoming the player who thrives under pressure when the game is on the line.

 

So, the next time you are training, ask yourself: “Is this really helping me learn how to hit an unpredictable, moving pitch in a live game under pressure, or am I just getting ‘feel good’ training on how to swing a bat in predictable, controlled conditions?”

 

If your training isn’t preparing you for the unpredictability of a real game, then it’s not training at all—it’s just “feel good’ practice. And that practice DOES NOT translate or transfer to game performance and is a waste of time and money.

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For more in-depth training on all mental skills and physical training, email Coach Helke. Free initial consult can be done in-person or virtually. You can also go to the Hitting Training Section in the Baseball Education Center to initially learn how to hit a moving ball in an actual game with more confidence and success; not just how to swing a bat.