Chase Less, Think More: The Process of Situational Hitting

Chase Isn't Binary

We’ve all seen it: a hitter steps into the box and swings at everything—high, low, inside, outside. The bat goes, the ball misses, and the result is rarely pretty. Coaches get frustrated, players press, and the at-bat feels lost before it even begins. Too often, we reduce this problem to a simple binary—did he chase or not?—but the reality is far more nuanced.

Baseball is a game of situations. Every pitch, count, and baserunner scenario carries context that shapes the best approach. Players need to recognize these situations and work backward to the outcomes they want. Yet, situational thinking often gets stripped away—not because people aren’t curious, but because it demands a deeper level of reasoning that many players aren’t yet trained to reach.

For hitters, the levers are always shifting. Each pitch, each decision, each outcome changes how the at-bat needs to be approached. Chase has traditionally been viewed in a static way: it’s bad, avoid it. And for the most part, that’s true. Chasing rarely improves outcomes and limiting chase should absolutely be emphasized. But games aren’t static. As the at-bat develops, the value of a swing versus a take shifts depending on the count and situation.