To be successful the baseball batter must
swing at good pitches, and withhold
swinging at bad pitches. In order to do
this the batter must discriminate, in less
than a second, good from bad pitches.
The most favorable
pitch is down
the center of
home plate
The other pitches
are less favorable
The Average batter discriminates well
enough to swing mostly at balls toward
the center of the plate
Average Batter's Swings to 500 pitches
Swings
80
60
40
20
0
1
2
3
Pitch Location
4
5
The “Free-Swinging” batter discriminates
poorly, swinging at most of the balls
regardless of their location.
Swings
60
50
40
30
20
10
0
Free-Swinging Batter's Swings
to 500 pitches
1
2
3
Pitch Location
4
5
The discriminating batter swings primarily
at pitches down the center of the plate,
such that small variations in pitches
produce large differences in bat-swinging
responses.
Swings
80
Discriminating Batter's Swings
to 500 pitches
60
40
20
0
1
2
3
Pitch Location
4
5
Swings to 500 pitches
Swings
Discriminating Batter
Average Batter
80
60
40
20
0
1
2
3
4
Pitch Location
5
FreeSwingingBatter
The pure hitters like Wade Boggs and Tony
Gwynn are well tuned to the specific
features of pitched balls. Why are pure
hitters under such precise stimulus
control? Probably because of several
factors such as visual-motor capacity,
extensive previous experience at the plate,
and selective reinforcement of responding.
40
No S -
30
S - = silence
20
S - = 1,000
Hz tone
10
0
30
0
60
0
90
0
10
00
11
00
15
00
21
00
24
00
30
00
34
00
Percentage of Total Responses
Effect of Discrimination Training
on
Stimulus
Control
50
Frequency of Tone (Hz)
Discrimination training as a sharpener of stimulus control.
After Jenkins & Harrison, 1960, 1962