Machado gives tip on how to hit a home run to 2nd grade Japanese youth club: “I think it’s important to hit the ball hard and strongly. Recently, there’s been a trend of thinking about the angle of launch in order to hit fly balls and home runs, but kids don’t need to think about that.”

2 comments
  1. “I think it’s important to hit the ball hard and strongly. Recently, there’s been a trend of thinking about the angle of launch in order to hit fly balls and home runs, but kids don’t need to think about that. I try to hit the ball as hard as I can and hit line drives as powerfully as possible, so I want elementary school kids to be aware of that too. When I was a kid, I was tall but very skinny, so I couldn’t hit home runs at all.”

  2. I was the chubby kid who could smack the heck out of the ball if I really tried in little league, but my Dad was a huge Tony Gwynn fan, so he always told me to just make contact and don’t worry about power. Never hit a home run but usually got hits. Crazy how the game has changed and it’s all about bat speed and launch angle now, even at young ages, which is kind of sad not going to lie.

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