Staying "Inside the Baseball"

A great example of staying inside the baseball is Buster Posey of the San Francisco Giants and Derek Jeter of the New York Yankees.  Both do a great job of "backing up the baseball" and driving pitches to the right-center gap.  By doing this, a hitter realizes that they have more time to commit to a pitch.  This will help with recognition of pitch location and pitch type.  Staying inside the baseball is when the hands stay inside, tight to the body, as the ball approaches the contact zone.  When this happens, the barrel lags behind, allowing the swing path to stay through the strike zone longer.

If you are inside the baseball your hands are in front of the barrel at contact (retrieved from findtheswagger.tumblr.com)

(retrieved from: theepochtimes.com)

The idea of "throwing our hands" out to the baseball will keep the barrel from casting out and around the baseball.  A drill that can strengthen a hitters ability to stay inside the baseball is hitting front toss in a batting cage.  Have somebody toss balls on the outside corner of the plate and then work towards the middle; focusing on driving everything to the opposite field.  Here is a video of Alex Rodriguez of the New York Yankees working on this very thing.