Advice on Improving Bat Speed?

Looked at it quick, I'd like to try and slow it down.

He appears unbalanced at the plate and is reaching for outside pitches instead of letting the ball get a little deeper.  He did this at 2:46 and 3:03 for sure.  I believe I saw others.  It's hard to tell from this angle, but I'm getting the sense he's also drifting forward slightly, and possibly up, at the end of his swing.

Thanks for the observation.  I can tell you he was a likely overanxious and overswinging at times.   Seems in a lot of circles bat speed is the big measurable these days.  Just looking for ways to improve.  I guess eliminating extra movements and a straight path to the ball are starters.  All points observed i will apprise him of.

Thanks!

I would expect him to be overanxious.  I know I would have been also.  As you know, overswinging often tends to slow the hands down more.  

For what it's worth, my son swings a 33" +2 for parts of the winter.  I believe that has helped speed his hands up some.

I'm sure you'll get a lot more input.  

good looking kid... love to see the strength and athleticism.  I know he's pretty far down the road in the process and doing pretty well.  That's why I'm sort of surprised you'd open up to the peanut gallery at this stage   What is it that makes you ask about bat speed?  Has it been measured as slow?  It doesn't look like it on the video clip.

I have some observations otherwise but am hesitant to post because he is being taught slightly differently than what I teach and there are more than one right ways to get there.  I know there are many successful players at the highest level using much of the mechanics approach he is using. 

I will ask a few questions though...

What type of dialog does he have with his current coach/hitting instructor regarding the front foot as it plants?  With his approach of starting slightly open and landing slightly closed, does he occasionally find himself falling in toward the plate a bit?  How does he feel about the balance of his swing overall?

Has been radared in mid 80's.  Hit 92 at one time purley abandoning any technique just to get a high bat speed :-) Only bring up the measurable, while i know he has other refinements required, because i have heard it mentioned as important.

He decided on an opened stance because at one time he was opening up\pulling out.  The thought was that if he started open he would close during swing and avoid the pulling out...probably faulty logic but its the decision he went with. He is strong but overswings. Typically alot of boys will hit one a mile and mention "wow, i didnt even swing that hard"...he has done this on occasion...they dont understand its mechanics and not manhandling and overswinging.

Cant provide details on any conversations with hitting coach.  I think rolling the front foot is probably not good from what i have heard but i am not an expert. I know with the overswinging it does affect his balance on occasion.  My goal is for consistency.  Being a masher he rarely sees a fast ball...when he does see one i want him to take advantage thus my interest in the bat speed.  Typically he sees one fastball and the rest are offspeed low and away.

Very happy overall with his approach..smart hitter, very good hitter...just want consistency and better bat speed to ensure no fastballs get past him.

monkeyboy,

What I see is good balance, good bat speed, good body.  Looks like a good hitter.

If I were to be critical, I think he could improve the rhythm in his swing with a bit better load.  His bat seems to start out a bit too slow but reaches good bat speed in a hurry.  The problem with this is it makes it harder to wait or sit on a pitch. That in turn can lead to being too early some of the time.  

He looks like a very good hitter with a nice swing, but like most everyone that is a good hitter he could still improve.  I would guess any problem he ever has would involve being too early with the trigger. Might try moving the bat a bit more before committing to the swing.  Then in practice try to wait almost too long and allow his natural ability to do the rest. That will soon turn into an even bigger explosion on the ball And maybe with even less effort. It will also allow him to wait on the off speed stuff And improve his strike zone awareness.

At the same time keep this in mind.  There have been some very good ML hitters who do not have good bat speed.  It's definitely a plus, but great bat speed is not mandatory.

Sometimes a slow trigger causes people to think a hitter lacks bat speed. I don't think bat speed is a problem for your son.

Thank for everyone's insite.  I implicitly trust my sons instructor...and making any adjustments that are applied will ultimately be up to junior via repetition. I just wasn't sure how important the bat speed approach was thus my desire to provide video for eval.

You guys do great work in helping us overzelous parents!

Are you talking about bat speed or exit speed?  They are associated, but not the same thing.  92 peak exit velocity is very good, but not great!  I personally think the equipment that measures actual bat speed can be very misleading. We learned that.... Sometimes the swing that registers the best bat speed is not the best swing for hitting a baseball.  On the other hand... The Trackman equipment that measures exit velocity is extremely accurate and meaningful.

Was just a simple radar in a cage on a swing at a juco tryout awhile back. I just considered it bat speed.

For what it is worth, it looks like he might have been making contact a little out in front which caused some of the inconsistent contact (difficult to tell from the camera angle).  It also looks like his hands may be coming away from his body a little bit.  He might pick up some speed by keeping his hands in a little more.  Good luck. 

His hands are leaving the shoulder before his back elbow slots.  aka pushing.

When he loads he really angles the bat head back towards his own head, this increases the distance he has to go to the hitting zone. As mentioned he has quik hands at contact and through the zone. Just pause the video at the height of his back swing and you can see how far he has to drive the bat to point of contact.