In baseball, it is more common to hear of a pitcher dominating the strike zone than a hitter. While I believe this is because the number of consecutive attempts a pitcher gets to attack the strike zone in a game, elite hitters command the strike zone and win an at-bat with an "aggressively selective" approach.
The most successful hitters in the game are going to the plate ready to hit, and expecting to hit. First pitch, every pitch, they are thinking "YES!" As hitters advance from high school to college and possibly to the professional level, the number of good pitches to hit in an at-bat decreases; when facing top tier pitching, you may only get one pitch to hit, you can't miss it because you're not ready to swing.
Nowadays hitters are routinely facing pitches greater than 92 mph. I remind you of this because it means hitters have less time to react and need to be efficient with their swing. So how do they prepare to hit a 92 mph two-seam fastball running in, but at the same time, manage to hit a home run on a back-up, 83 mph slider? They hunt speeds and zones while always thinking "SWING!" Easier said than done and there is a lot of work to do and swings to take to master this (more at a later date...). Hitters must learn to sit fastball and recognize the "shape" of a pitch out of the pitcher's hand. My advice, stand in during bullpens. Pitchers typically don't like this, and you should encourage them to throw in when working on fastballs inside (move out of the way, no pitcher wants to plunk his own player). Ask the coach/pitcher/catcher's permission and ask to know what pitch/location he is trying to execute. Learn the shape and learn which shape results in a hittable pitch. Also, wear a helmet - it's safer for you and eases the pitcher's mind.
Let's get to to the point of this article. Consider this: Have you ever noticed how many check-swings there are in a MLB game? Why do you think this is? These hitters prepare to launch their barrel on every pitch, or in the case of a swing or check-swing, launch their barrel towards the hitting zone. By preparing their barrel and getting it on path to their hitting zone, their thought process changes from "Yes" or "No" to just "No." Get it? Hitters are always thinking "Yes," until the pitch turns out to be a "No." If a pitch is in their hitting zone, they just continue through the swing, if the pitch moves out of the hitting zone, they shut it down. By getting the barrel ready, hitters make up time needed to have success against advanced pitchers. When do you think Forsythe decides "No" on this fastball in the video below?
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So, where to launch the barrel? Right down the middle. Let's divide the strike zone into nine zones. Take away the first and last and we're left with 7. If you were trying to hit zone 3 and possibly zone 7 as well, where would you aim? Yes, you got it: zone 5. I attempted to simplify this and I hope you get the gist. If hitters start to launch their bat on every pitch into the middle of the hitting zone, that will require the smallest possible adjustment to hit other pitches, and gives us the greatest opportunity for success. We will always be ready to hit.
Notice how the hitters begin to launch their barrels into zone 5 and check their swing when they realize it is a breaking ball not a fastball in the following videos:
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The middle of your hitting zone may change depending on the pitch you are hunting, which is dependent on the pitcher you are facing. If the pitcher is going fastball/slider, you're not going to sit fastball/curveball, you gotta hunt what's in the field.
Prepare to and launch your barrel to your hitting zone and make adjustments from there.
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One final note. Did you notice the difference between the hitters' takes on the fastball (in the first video) and the curveball (in the second and third video)? The hitter in the first video recognizes the fastball as a ball a bit sooner in the process than the hitter recognizing the curveball as a curveball, not a fastball. The curveball is thrown in the same "tunnel" as the fastball (it looks like a fastball "shape" out of the pitcher's hand).