Donegal Fergus's experience with HitTrax dates back to his role as a hitting coach for the Minnesota Twins in 2020, continuing through to his current position in his second season as head coach at Loyola Marymount University. During his Minnesota Twin days, he was skeptical of how much they would use the system because the team trained outside most of the time. However, he quickly realized what the HitTrax technology could do.
Fergus told us before he had a HitTrax, there was a player that he coached that could not hit a slider even though he knew it was coming because it always looked like it was headed right down the middle. Fergus told him to avoid swinging at pitches that were in the bottom three of the zone so he could learn how to differentiate between the two types of pitches. In this scenario, he wished he had a HitTrax because the visual strike zone provides immediate feedback in the cage that allows the player to stop guessing where that lower part of the zone is. It accelerates the process for the athletes and now he can give them very specific goals to focus on.
“It turned into one of my absolute favorite tools because so much of what we wanted to do early on was change swing patterns, discipline, and swing decisions. A lot of these young players understand the concept of swinging at better pitches but getting them to SEE what pitches they were actually swinging at, in real-time, was the quickest and easiest way for players to control their own process of changing their swing decisions.”
“When you can show the guys visually that they are improving, you can add many things to their arsenal because now they know and feel like they are making progress and it’s sustainable.”
Donegal Fergus
Head Coach
Loyola Marymount University
Fergus talks about his current season and says, “For us right now, it’s giving them the ability to create their own profiles and opportunities to challenge themselves in different ways… it might be swinging at strikes versus balls, or for younger hitters, let’s learn what the strike zone is first, or for an older guy who has already had some success, it might be very specific such as only taking the inner third of the strike zone.”
Giving players control over their swing decisions is important in a game where there is so much lack of control. “All hitters face that lack of control. It’s one of the most fundamental fears of human beings. Players think if I don’t have control of my world, I’m in trouble, my career is over, I’m not going to play. Allowing our players to take some control over something in their world, is a huge step in their mental preparation.” Practicing swing selection in the cage with HitTrax prepares the players for game play because now they have more control and confidence in the batter’s box.
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