Red Sox hitters have handled high velocity exceptionally this year. How?

They should start calling getting on plane as going Teddy Ballgame.

The team discusses the sorts of swing paths that will maximize their chances of doing damage based on how the pitch acts. The adoption by several hitters of a swing meant to get on the plane of the pitch — rather than a more traditional approach that is down and direct to the ball — has created more margin for error in allowing hitters to drive pitches even when their timing on a fastball is slightly off.

“I don’t really think it’s anything earth-shattering. It’s just basically like the New England Patriots offensive coordinator talking to the offense and, this is the game plan for the game, this is the playbook, and this is how we’re going to do it,” said Barkett. “That goes into game-planning — how we’re going to attack: ‘This guy is a high-spin-rate guy, you’ve got to set your sites up and stay on top. This guy is a sinkerball guy, you’ve got to get underneath it, stay to it and through it, get it in the air.’

“Those are the kinds of conversations that hitting coaches have with hitters these days because of all the information out there. We talk about getting on plane. We do a lot of drills to work on that and have those types of conversations.”