On-field batting practice is dead. Here’s how All-Star sluggers prepare to hit.

When it comes to velocity and a vast menu of pitch shapes, hitting in the major leagues has never been harder than it is today.

In just the past 10 years, the average four-seam fastball velocity has shot up from 93.2 mph to 94.8 mph, giving hitters less time to react. Simultaneously, hitters have more pitch types to decipher in the literal eyeblink it takes to decide to swing. Despite increased velocity, fastball use (four-seamers, sinkers and cutters) has dropped from 61.5% in 2016 to 54.8% this year.

Thousands of old-school heaters have been replaced with sweepers, kick changeups, seam-shifted two-seamers, splitters, splinkers, knuckle curves and assorted other lab-grown pitches designed to keep hitters guessing and miss barrels.

The expanded arsenal of pitches is working. Since the advent of the DH in 1973, the five lowest first-half league batting averages have all occurred in the past five years, from .240 in 2021 to .245 in 2025. (It was .244 at the break this year.)

What’s a hitter to do? The hitter can also make use of technology, analytics and innovation, all of which has greatly changed how hitters prepare for a major league game. Home teams can hit off Trajekt pitching machines, which recreate the exact release heights, spin rates and pitch shapes from individual pitchers. The machines lease for $500,000 over three years. But they are not portable (which puts road teams at a disadvantage) nor moveable (so the extra foot-and-a-half release point of Jacob Misiorowski, for instance, cannot be dialed up).

Home and road batting cages are outfitted with enough laptops, $4,000 pitching machines, machines that spit out foam balls that resist gravity (simulating fastballs with elite ride) and high-speed and motion capture cameras to resemble a tech start-up. As recently as eight years ago, Wrigley Field did not even have a batting cage for visiting teams.

The old-school pregame batting practice—coaches and batting practice pitchers lobbing in 55-mph cookies from 40 feet—looks as quaint as a woody station wagon. It still happens, but not as often and with far fewer players taking part.

What do hitters do to prepare for the onslaught of increased velocity and spin they see in today’s game? To find out, I asked All-Star hitters for their go-to method of game preparation, be it drills, analytics or batting practice preference. What emerged was a preference for highly individualized routines. But two trends emerged as most common: hitters love the Trajekt machine, and they are done with the old-school on-field pregame B.P.

Here is how some of the best hitters in the world prepare to hit the most diverse, diabolical pitching ever seen in baseball:

Drake Baldwin, Braves catcher

 Before the day starts, [as catching preparation] I’m kind of looking at all the analytics, heat maps, stuff like that, just watching the players’ swings. From the catching side of it, I think video's pretty important—being able to watch that and just kind of seeing what the scouting reports of the pitcher are and how they pitch guys and stuff like that.

On the offensive side, I think that's part of it, too—just kind of watching the pitcher, trying to pick up on some tendencies. I think talking with a couple other hitters on the team and just seeing what they say. A lot of the guys on our team have faced these pitchers, so I’m trying to learn from them. It's just talking to the hitting coaches and just trying to develop a plan before you get into the game. But, I mean, I think it kind of blends old school, new school, analytics, heat maps, video ... everything. You're kind of trying to make a little combination of everything to get the best approach or the best plan going into the game. As far as go-to drills, I think it kind of changes. I think feel changes, so you kind of have to be tinkering with stuff every day, because you're going to go too far in one direction and then too far the other direction, and it’s just about trying to keep those waves as level as possible. So, it kind of changes day by day. But just going back to what I think is the biggest thing: just competing. I think that kind of brings me back to square one.

Travis Bazzana, Guardians second baseman

 At home I've been loving the Trajekt. It’s the feeling like you almost get one AB out of the way, which is always a tough one against the starting pitchers in the game. For me, it's trying to create a feel and find the ground. Like, I do some step-back drills, sometimes using a longer, heavier bat to sort of feel the barrel, feel where my body sequence is. That is part of my daily routine—get moving to where I can be in a position to hit when the game starts. But yeah, progressing to Trajekt or a machine that emulates maybe the starter's best pitch or what I might see that night. From there, just try to have a plan and go.

Ernie Clement, Blue Jays infielder

We have a Trajekt machine at home, which is very, very popular now. And I just want to look at their arm slot and some of the spin they have. And I like to keep it simple. I don't do a whole lot. I don't take a whole lot of swings. So, that's something that's really helped, just to get a sense of how they throw. But that's only at home. At times, yeah, I miss it on the road. But you know, you just watch video and kind of see what the shapes of their pitches do and try to get as much info as you can. Old school? Yeah. Exactly.

Dillon Dingler, Tigers catcher

 It ultimately depends on what part of the season it is. You know, obviously around this time it’ll be a little bit less. So, ultimately, I just like doing some cage work—some underhand, some overhand hitting—just to get enough swings to where [during] pregame you can take some off the machine just to just feel warm and feel ready. Obviously, we have our advanced meetings talking about the opposing pitcher, so you're trying to think about some of the different things that you're going to get during that game. But I don't have a set routine. I have things that I like to do when I want to swing more and things I like to do when I want to swing less, if that makes sense.

I haven’t hit on-field [batting practice] this year. If I do on-field, it's pre-batting practice in an early slot and I do machine [hitting] on the field. I like the machine. We do have home Trajekt. I will face it every once in a while to see some of the shapes that the opposing pitcher has. But the machine I'm talking about is just the Hack Attack. They'll set it up on-field like they were doing for BP and then just feed you fastball, sliders, whatever you want. 

Freddie Freeman, Dodgers first baseman

So, I have the same approach and plan for every single pitcher because it's how my swing would work. My pregame routine is the same every single day. I hit three times a day and it's usually just flips. If I'm off, there's a net drill I do where it's an arm length away from the net. We move the L screen. So, say this is the net right here in the cage. We'll move the L screen to, like, right here, and I have to try and hit the ball through that hole, and it keeps my swing in line. So that's my one drill I go to. If not, I feel pretty confident in my swing and how it works every single day that I can compete and still get hits. But if I feel like I'm cutting through the zone a little bit, that's the drill I go to. 

I do not hit off the Trajekt. I will not hit a machine. I do not hit machines at all. For me and how my swing works, I lose the timing. I need an arm. With machines, the ball can get stuck in that wheel or catch a seam and misfire. Those things just don't work for me. Not fun. I am not a machine guy. You'll never see me hit a machine. It's mostly flips and just arm.

Riley Greene, Tigers left fielder

 I'm pretty simple. I hit flips. That's my routine. Just straight up flips and then I hit off a machine, a heater machine, and that's it. I never hit on the field, no. Most players, I would say, don't hit on the field anymore. I mean, there's multiple [reasons]. It could be just trying to keep your swing temperament down. And for me personally, I get on that field, and I see the fence and I want to hit homer after homer, and sometimes it's not good for the swing. 

Nick Kurtz, Athletics first baseman

Analytically in terms of preparation, it’s more about the pitcher than it is my swing. I’m a big believer in taking whatever I think is necessary to get ready for that game. It might be five swings. It might be 20 swings. It could be a hundred swings. I think it just varies day to day.

The things I look for from pitchers are what they like doing in certain counts. And I look at other hitters like me and how they attack them to see if they will attack me in a similar way. I also look at my own heat maps—where I like to hit and where I’m not as good at and what pitches they may use to go after me.

Matt Olson, Braves first basman

It kind of depends on the day  of the week—how you’re feeling. I've done a little bit of everything. I think the most important thing is narrowing it down to what you really need, you know? So, like, I don't think taking 400 swings is the way to go. I don't think taking five swings is the way to go. I think it's somewhere in the middle. I think if you haven't seen a guy before, getting off a machine and kind of simulating some pitches I think is important. There's a lot of different ways you can dial things in, especially with kind of where your swing is at. If I feel like I'm missing a lot of heaters and I face a guy with a good riding fastball, maybe I'll go and hit some foam balls that kind of ride more, or whatever it might be. So, it'll change day to day. The options we have to get ready have increased, for sure. I mean, the Trajekt machine is crazy. It’s not perfect, but being able to replicate your pitch shape is pretty cool. We just have to get it on the road now. 

Tristan Peters, White Sox outfielder

 I mean, I keep my routine pretty simple, especially before the game. I'll take maybe 15 to 20 swings as a routine off the flips, and then I'll do some overhand right before the game. I'm usually hitting at the bottom of the lineup, toward the bottom of the order, so I'll hit Trajekt right before I get up to my first plate appearance.

I hit on the field sometimes—maybe about once a series. A lot more players are not hitting on the field. I think it may be just limiting your swings because it's a long season. I think that's part of it. I also think in the cage it’s about hitting the ball up the middle. On the field, you want to let it fly and you can get into some pretty bad habits sometimes, I believe.

On the road, I miss Trajekt. I love the Trajekt. It's fantastic. It's exactly like having your first at-bat before the game. It's huge getting that.

Jordan Walker, Cardinals right fielder

 I think everybody's completely different. For me, I'm more simple. I have three different drills I do before a game. I knock those out. Then I go eat. We do the scouting report on the pitcher, and then we come back, and I hit off the machine, and I just hit whatever pitcher's fastball. I just take a bunch of swings off of that, and then I get ready to play the game.

One of my three drills is a short bat drill. It’s a short bat drill with a step back in which I try to go to right field. The next one is the same thing with a heavy bat. And then I do ‘Around the World.’ I call it Around the World, where I try to do a homer to right field, a homer to right center, a homer to center, homer to left center, a homer to left—just to kind of feel what hitting the ball to every part of the field feels like. Miguel Cabrera did the same thing. And he had a great career. This routine is something I've been working on since the offseason, and I've kind of tweaked it a little bit during the year with the help of everybody on the [Cardinals’] staff.

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This article was originally published on www.si.com as On-Field Batting Practice Is Dead. Here’s How All-Star Sluggers Prepare to Hit..