StonesJournal

This article interviews former Major League Baseball player Ryon Healy on his hitting philosophy and general advice for young hitters.

Written By: AJ Stone (1/29/26)

The intricacies of hitting a baseball are often more dynamic than anyone can fathom. Former big-leaguer Ryon Healy understands this better than most. Throughout his career, he accumulated more than 1,500 at-bats, launched nearly 70 home runs, and recorded multiple seasons as an above-average hitter at the highest level of baseball. Now, he finds himself giving back to the game that gave him so much. During his career, Ryon dealt with struggles of his own at the plate. In his words, he was “Chasing mechanics, chasing cues, chasing feels, or chasing former versions of myself, [I] wasted so much time where I could have been focused on getting better today.” Nowadays, Ryon coaches young, aspiring athletes on the complex nature of hitting. Ryon sat down to discuss how his personal philosophy on hitting has evolved from his playing years until now, and what it means to remain involved in the game that he loves. 

When asked about his personal philosophy, Ryon spoke about the importance of mindset: “How we load our bodies is directly correlated with how we unload our bodies. Hitting is offensive, and the more offense-based thoughts we have, the more repeatable our swing will become.” He continued, “If we’re cautious as hitters, our bodies can become slow, causing us to rush our forward move.” Ryon is a firm believer that, like anything in life, hitting demands a foundation. He went on, “The proper biomechanical sequence in the swing is from the ground up. Lower body loading patterns can clean up a lot of timing issues.” In his career, Ryon struggled with mechanical pitfalls of his own that constantly had him saying, “This is it! I found it! I found it!” The process of building from the ground up allowed him to simplify and redirect his attention where it was most needed. 

Having a straightforward approach as a hitter is incredibly important as you start working through more precise issues within your own swing. Ryon preaches starting simple, addressing problems one at a time. “We have to know what the one problem we’re trying to solve is. If I can have a player understand the main problem, then we can move forward toward a solution. Trying to solve 3-5 problems at one time is very detrimental to a hitter’s confidence.” Remaining confident, especially when shifting from one level to the next, is a necessity. 

The biggest jump the game of baseball provides comes when transitioning from college to the professional ranks. When asked about the differences between collegiate and professional hitters, Healy replied, “Collegiate hitters are still very emotional about misses. Professional hitters are curious.” Ryon believes it’s important to remain curious in a game that orbits around failure, stating that “Professional hitters carry more failure with them because they have more opportunities they can filter through. The really good ones can filter quickly. The ones that tend to struggle at the professional ranks filter through too much information and end up chasing former versions of themselves rather than staying present and focusing on what to do about current problems.” Processing information as a hitter can be equally as important as the actual action of hitting. 

One of the talking points at the forefront of player development is technological advancement. Coach Healy hasn’t ignored what’s available to him in the current landscape of hitting. His views on technology reflect a realistic outlook on the modern game. “Bottom line is that if you aren’t using some kind of technology, you’re refusing to entertain that the game has changed.” 

In Ryon’s cage, you can find a Rapsodo, concurrent video, and Blast Motion. Rapsodo is used to measure the “low-hanging fruit”: exit velocity and launch angle. As Ryon puts it, “they’re fundamental to a hitter’s success.” One specific metric catches his eye as well: “I look at spin rate on the Rapsodo. When I was playing, I struggled to drive the baseball the other way, and I couldn’t figure out why. It turns out I was too steep, and I would clip the baseball to the opposite field, causing it to have too much spin. When you put too much spin on a baseball, they tend to parachute out rather than keep carrying.” He also keeps an eye on average exit velocity, as it’s indicative of consistency and more easily translates to game situations. 

Ryon never considered being a hitting coach during his playing days. “I never saw myself doing this full-time as a career, and it’s been one of the most rewarding things I’ve ever done.” As a coach, Healy has found a purpose that not only allows him to provide for his family, but also remain involved in baseball. “I had the opportunity to play a children’s game for a living, and it wasn’t always as fulfilling as you dream it up to be. The trick is, I know what my ‘why’ is, I know why I work hard. It’s for my family. My biggest challenge was to build a fulfilling career. I find that by helping young hitters solve problems they can’t figure out on their own. The better I get at that, the more fulfilling my job gets. It’s become an ecosystem that kind of feeds itself, and I truly don’t know the difference between work and leisure because it’s all been so fulfilling.” This ecosystem has led Ryon to realize the important takeaways from the storied game of baseball.

Ryon’s main piece of advice for young hitters is to find themselves outside of the game. “Baseball is a lot more similar to real life than we realize when we’re young. It’s the vehicle we’ve chosen that’s going to prepare us for what real life is like. Each one of us is going to be a retired athlete a lot longer than we were an active athlete. If you can enjoy the journey and take in the lessons that baseball is teaching you, the transition out of the sport will be much smoother than mine was. Baseball is not our identity; it is a piece of what we do, so bring who you are and what you’re good at to the game of baseball rather than deciding on what that is through the game itself.” 

Longtime big-league coach Tim Laker is a massive influence in how Ryon teaches the game. He also credited Laker’s mentor, the legendary Craig Wallenbrock, as someone whom they’ve both learned from. Wallenbrock was often called the “Oracle of Santa Calrita” and was known for “Rejecting traditional coaching myths like ‘squashing the bug’ and focusing on the subtleties in elite hitters’ swings…” (Brent Lillibridge, 2025)

You can find Coach Healy on Instagram @rchealy25, ryonhealy.com, or on X @ryonhealy25. Coach Healy preaches the individuality of hitting, breaking down the journey to personalized success. His extensive experience at all levels equips him to diagnose a hitter’s shortcomings and devise a plan to win the day. At its core, Healy’s message is simple: understand yourself, simplify the process, stay curious, and the swing will follow.