a couple of swing clips to enjoy

Looks like the catcher got drilled......

"Son, when you pitch a strike, Mr. Hornsby will let you know."

You're right Krakatoa. Ouch!

Any of you umpires out there? Is this some kind of "batter interference", similar to throwing the bat? I mean, the ump let the catcher setup there, and he got hit all the way up near the shoulder.

That is too darn funny.

Very nice swings.

Knowledge is Power! Thank you Mavens and HSBBWEB!

toti,

I replied on another site but I will add something. you swing is better than average having all the absolutes. Watching the hip/ shoulder separartion I would say that the most power improvement would come from increasing the hips turn ahead of the shoulder turn . They seem to be moving together through launch. Look at Youthbaseabllcoaching site at Gonzalez at his separation
C-ocking the hips going into toe touch allows you to un-c-ock them harder and increase the x factor stretch. ( see Toms post) . I am sure you would have great power with a focus point being hips rotation ahead of shoulder rotation. Good swing . I would take it any day.

With a base hit in follow through there would be what a no call by hitting the catcher? I don't know?

Agree with swingbuster. Would like to see the hands stay back just a bit better. Would improve a good swing and add a bit more pop.

toti, The game swing is very good. When your front foot comes down, your hands are in excellent position, and you are making a real good swing under game conditions.

I think that you have a good solid swing and you don't need to tinker with it. If you can repeat this swing, you will get a ton of hits.

Good job, Doug

thanks everybody for the swift responses. i really appreciate this site for the quality of the discussions and the people.


Swingbuster:

i defenetly agree with you that i need more separation. i have worked on that lately and have ripped tremendous results. when i hit with the hips it is tremendous bat speed and it feels like the bat has a live of his own. i have to hang on to it because it gets wild. however i dont know if need more pop being a contact hitter. in the live game clip i posted i got a line drive hit that just bounced off the dirt behind second base. the ball was hit hard and square, no chance for the short stop to catch it. that´s all i need. i dont know. i am never going to be a doubles hitter, eventhough i am currently lifting weights. i rather hit for average.
with this swing, i am able to hit the ball hard, even when i am late on the ball. i seem to hit it in the meat most of the time. i really dont know.


bbscout:

your post made me think if I should go back to this swing and forget about too much hip rotation and adding more pop. right now my swing has more hip and the ball is hit harder, however i have lost a little control on the bat head, which right now seems to have a life of its own. and right now it is becoming increasingly difficult to hit the high heat. without the hip movement, i could hit the high better. now it is different because i stride with a bent front knee or "sit to hit" which makes it harder to adjust to high pitches, though it produces much more bat speed and more pop. what do you think?



about the catcher, i drilled him 3 times in that game and got a warning from the umpire. i think it was my fault. i rotated the upper body in the follow through too much and ended up almost spinning back. i stood way back in the box because i was hitting fast balls only. i went 2 for 4 with a walk. fun game. i remember discussing the "swing level" guys before the game and how i should change my swing and not "tilt" or get "under".

thanks everybody

toti.

Toti,

Good luck.

Hi toti, I feel that your hip rotation in the game swing was fine, and also the shoulder rotation was good too. The only thing you did wrong was let go of the bat at the end of your follow through, and that is why you drilled the catcher. Hang on to the bat with both hands and you won't kill the catcher, and it won't change your swing either. IMO, you are a line drive type hitter and you showed a good line drive type swing. How tall are you and how much do you weigh?

toti-

really nice Job!

One reason I dislike the top hand release cue is you end up throwing the bat at the catcher a lot.With a good swing,you can keep both hands on and not lose anything.(Not that you use that cue,necessarily).

I would say you can get slightly more coil/uncoil by trying a few things.

The clip is a little blurry,but it looks to me like the top hand comes away from the shoulder slightly early.This will not happen if you keep the back scap loading as you drop and tilt.See if this accentuates the feel of coil/uncoil/reversal.

Also looks like you are alittle upright/could bend more at waist when yousit to hit.This is a high pitch and maybe you anticipated that or recognized it earlybut in general you want to start out with enough bend to get the low one because it's easier to come up if its higher than get down more later.The added flex in the waist can also transfer momentum better when you commit the backside and go "up" which you do well.

One more generic comment.Donny mentioned hip cok/uncok.Tis is a complex andpoorly described area for the most part.You do it well,so I would be interested in your perception of what you do.My thinking is as follows.

You cok the hip early with the inward turn.Bat tilts up a little,front knee turns in,hip inches/bends/flexes at waist/front hip elevates.As the swing proceeds,the hip turns back slightly with the scap load then "counterrotation" starts and the hip rotates open some by front toe touch lead by the front leg turning open(externally rotating)but hands are stil back and hip is still coked insense of elevated front hip and pinch in waist(front leg didn't reach out along with loss of pinch/elevation-good!).

Now when you "drop and tilt" heel drop will trigger/accelerate the rotating/opening of the hips as the elevation of the front hip drops.You don't want the hips stopping your coil and pulling you off the ball,so you resist the torso opening by keeping the back scap loaded and tilting the shoulders so you feel the front side "firmup"/stretch up to the front shoulder/feel of last quick bit of coil(xfactor stretch),then you are ready to Pull with the bottom handas in Gwynn's description of Bonds swing.This pull then triggers the arch/commiting of the back hip which directs the momentum you are transferring as you uncoil "UP".If you get/retain a little more flex/cok in the hip,you may get more energy turning the bat when you pull/commit the back hip.Let me know if any of this feels right.

hi


thanks for the insights.


that swing is an early Epstein swing, that´s why you see some disconnection. i am in the process of incorporating more leg and scapula load. i have erased the wrapping of the bat to third base you see here and the bat is more centered, plus i lean forward more and bend front knee. then i rotate the heel of front foot and lean back. i haven´t tried this in a real game so far, only with wiffles now. i hope it works better.

bbscout:
i am 1.73 meters tall, 74 kg. i am lean and mean . however i am in the middle of a weight lifting program and protein shakes that is adding a lot of muscle mass. do you really think i am a line drive gap hitter? i just look at myself as contact. i have hit some doubles but....it is hard not let the bat go on the left hand. you cant imagine the rotational momentum that´s generated here. it is hard for me to get a good grip and not let the bat fly. i am moving some serious heavy wood here and i am very skinny.

Tom,

you have given some smart comments. to tell you the truth, i was not awared of the hip **** thing when i took this swing. i didn´t know it was important. you can see this is a very linear stride. i dont hip ****. and i have no clue of how i am going to incorporate it in my swing. i have tried it and it disrupts connection big time. i dont now.

i dont quite follow you in the explanation about how to coil and uncoil. i am gessing here but i am not sure. can you break it down in a much simpler way? anyway, i will try to coil and uncoil together with scap load and unload with the wiffles as soon as i recover from my knee injury. i am just lifting now, no baseball for me at the moment.

you are right about your comment about sit to hit. at that time, i didn´t know this concept. it is hard for me to adjust to high fast balls though.

thanks

toti

quote:

---

Originally posted by toti:
bbscout:
i am 1.73 meters tall, 74 kg.

---

FYI, that's ~5'8" and ~163 lbs.

toti,

If I may - after reading your posts a few times I was very impressed with your description of your swing mechanics. Rarely have I seen a youngster describe his own swing - and adjustments to his swing - with such understanding and clarity.

Do you find that many young players in Spain (or other European countries) have a similar level of swing mechanics knowledge?

Thanks - and again - very impressive for a young player.

toti,

My bad. I was so intrigued with your posts that I went back and checked out your posts on "hitting with backspin" topic.

Your post in that topic said you lost 7 years of your amateur career because of some hitting issues and that you have benched players etc...

I apologize - but remain totally confused at this point.

Posted by toti
Member posted January 22, 2004 02:06 PM
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Excerpted:

"hi swingbuster

way to go swing buster. and while you are at it, tell them to swing with their hands only and not use the legs and see how far the ball travels off the tea.

for the record, i have nothing against pros. i have something against pros that want to teach balloney and they know they cant. i am against a pro, taking his credibility, to go and spread ill advice among clueless amateurs like he was giving candy. giving advice with no basis except your biased mental feel and perceptions.

toti"

Sorry for getting off subject here - but I'm curious - do you feel that most young ballplayers in Spain share this perspective? Thanks.

Posted by toti
Member posted January 22, 2004 08:02 AM
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Excerpted:

"hi jemaz

sorry for being rude before. it has been years of taking this bull in the field that irritate me.

on the other hand, i would never ever pay attention to a "natural" giving advice. they dont have a clue as to what they do with their body, let alone being able to teach anything-most are retards with no education-.

truth is they can not verbalize let alone teach what they do. then just two minutes later, they swing at a low pitch with a tilt in their shoulder and you go "what in the world is this "level" swing?.

in fact, i would not listen to a hall of famer with much attention. they can do ill to you. i would rather "watch" what they do and not "what they say".

have a nice day

toti "
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Posts: 7 | From: spain | Registered: January 20, 2004


Toti,

Sorry again for being such an obsessive pain in the butt - but do you feel most young players in Spain also share these sentiments?

Thanks.

Now I'm confused... Gee thanks itsinthegame.

Flipp,

No problem. The ids are multiplying like rabbits - but not to fear. It always gets a little wacky around here right before the season starts.

hi

i really dont understand your concern but i will try to answer whatever is it that you are asking.

first, i am not a young player(amateur) and i am not spanish though i happen to live here. i am not telling you my nationality because most people(not you) seem to be prejudiced against certain nationalities.

we get players from america here and south america. most come from more competitive leagues. these pros, most of them, show the behaviour i described. they usually come here and chill out and dont try hard because they have little or no competition for the spots.

my swing is totally a lab swing carved out of persistance and ...wiffles and ...balls.

most young spanish players dont show this kind of swing and most are ill prepared for higher levels of competition. but what hurts the most is ill advice from bad coaches and players who have credibility but cant teach. most young spanish players ask themselves why the cant hit and wonder...forever. baseball is not big here so they fall through the cracks and think they are not good enough.

i have developed my swing with epstein´s video but most with advice gotten for free here and there on the web. before that i was linear and couldn´t hit for real. also my body was weaker than now.

i dont know if this answered any of your questions but i tried.

toti.

Thanks for clearing that up toti - and good luck.

hi

am i missing anything here?

toti

The catcher might disagree but most would say the player has a pretty good swing. One minor thing that would be easy to improve is the bat angle. While not terrible the player is holding the bat a little flat and never gets it in the slot before starting his swing. If you’re not familiar with what I am talking about visualize the bat head being directly above the helmet at the start of the swing and not pointing toward the third base dugout. This may sound minor but it is very important if you want the bat to get to the ball on the most efficient path. While you can find a something different about every major leaguer's stance I think you will find that when they trigger the bat is almost always in the slot and never flat.

I agree never flat . Gonzalez and Arod have different bat positions at toe touch. Arod over helmet , Gonzalez behind helmet and Rose fairly flat. I think the flatter the more line drives . THe steepper guys are going yard if they can

hi
when you say flat. are you refering to toe touch or heel touch?

do you mean more vertical at toe touch or heel touch?


thanks

toti.

When I say the bat is flat what I am referring to is just as the batter begins his swing the bat should start in a more horizontal position rather than vertical. With a right-handed batter the head of the bat will be pointed at the third base dugout if flat(bad). Another way to look at it would be if you were directly behind the batter the bat would be splitting the helmet into two symmetrical pieces if in the slot(good). In the clip posted here the hitter does not have far to go to get the bat in the slot but is just a little flat.