"Look at Freddie Freeman" - Red Sox manager offers thoughts on analytics forcing pull-side hits during batting practice

Red Sox manager Alex Cora has said that young hitters should learn to hit to the opposite field, like Freddie Freeman.

There's a lot of debate surrounding how batters should develop their swing early on. Despite the analytics, few of the biggest and most successful names in the sport have given their two cents on how to go about it.

On the Mayor's Office podcast, Cora offered his thoughts on generating the pull swing for young batters. he suggested that before making the pull side stronger, hitters should develop hitting to the opposite field, citing the example of Freddie Freeman.

In his opinion, Freddie, who grew up practising hitting a lot of balls in the opposite field, is one of the best hitters in the game. The Red Sox manager also referenced Freeman's World Series Game 1 winning walk off home run against the Yankees' Nestor Cortes Jr.

"Yeah, I mean look at Freddie Freeman, right, one of the best in the last 10 years, and if you take a look at his batting practice and the way he goes about his progression, it's very 'old school.'

"He doesn't pull the ball. He doesn't hit homers in spring training, in batting practice, and then he gets a pitch from Cortes and hits it out of the ballpark to the pull side," Cora said. [18:33]

As a young hitter, taking to the world of baseball, Freddie Freeman used to train hitting opposite field balls with his father.

Every day, his father would throw him three buckets of balls. For the first bucket balls, Freddie had to hit them to the opposite fied, the second bucket of balls needed to go to center field and finally for the last bucket, he was allowed to have a decision on his swing.

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Alex Cora names Manny Ramirez as the best Red Sox righty

Alex Cora named Manny Ramirez as his favorite right-handed best pull-side hitter at the Red Sox. The 12x All-Star and Red Sox Hall of Famer owned he ballpark and especially the right-center field.

“Manny Ramirez was probably the best we saw playing on Fenway. Manny would stay on the fastball to right center, and whenever they left something soft in the middle, he'd clip it. I mean, it looked simple, but it wasn’t simple.

"I remember him saying that the wall was his friend. It’s not the wall I’m going toward, now my wall is my friend. What that means is like, I’m going to be on the fastball, right center, and if I’m a little bit out in front on something soft, it’s off the wall for a homer,” Cora said. [19:32]

The big wall at Fenway Park in the right field is quite simply called the 'Monster' because of its height, as it stops certified homers at any other field. But some batters have mastered it.