advise on game swing clips of 15 my year old

Dad,

His lower body is working very well. The only thing I would work on at the moment is, I believe he is hitting the ball a little too far forward. I would say his bottom hand is a little too active. If he keeps his front arm a little closer to his body he will gain more power.

At speed, I thought the lower body worked well, too. But, after watching a few times, I think he is robbing himself a little with the lower body. Specifically, I think he could load it better (a little inward pinch/rotation) during the forward movement.

Secondly, I'd like to see a little more hand/arm load. I think when he starts to rotate the barrel forward, his rear elbow is already at a low angle (with no momentum getting there).

Lastly, I think his launch point could be better.

A better load/unload may buy time to allow the ball to travel a little deeper. Once that front foot lands, everything else is set in motion. A little better separation (between upper and lower bodies) would also allow the ball to travel. But, that pinch will allow him to create a little more momentum/stretch into the unload, and maintain movement while letting the eyes determine pitch velocity/location/trajectory.

I think the hands are too high forcing the rear elbow to be at the downward angle. Fixing the launch point, and maybe the rear arm angle/movement gets fixed.

Again, by getting a better load with the lower body, that allows time to synch the hands w/lower body and allow them the time to move to the proper launch point. At the same time, it allows the front arm to stretch across the upper body and the rear arm to slightly elevate. The better separation between upper/lower bodies creates stretch and allows the hands/arms more time to bring the barrel into swing plane before the upper body releases and hands rotate barrel to ball.

Blue is right on here. Kid has a nice swing, but there is little load and no stretch, and his maximum potential won't be realized until he makes those adjustments.

quote:

Originally posted by wayback:
At speed, I thought the lower body worked well, too. But, after watching a few times, I think he is robbing himself a little with the lower body. Specifically, I think he could load it better (a little inward pinch/rotation) during the forward movement.

Secondly, I'd like to see a little more hand/arm load. I think when he starts to rotate the barrel forward, his rear elbow is already at a low angle (with no momentum getting there).

Lastly, I think his launch point could be better.

A better load/unload may buy time to allow the ball to travel a little deeper. Once that front foot lands, everything else is set in motion. A little better separation (between upper and lower bodies) would also allow the ball to travel. But, that pinch will allow him to create a little more momentum/stretch into the unload, and maintain movement while letting the eyes determine pitch velocity/location/trajectory.

I think the hands are too high forcing the rear elbow to be at the downward angle. Fixing the launch point, and maybe the rear arm angle/movement gets fixed.

Again, by getting a better load with the lower body, that allows time to synch the hands w/lower body and allow them the time to move to the proper launch point. At the same time, it allows the front arm to stretch across the upper body and the rear arm to slightly elevate. The better separation between upper/lower bodies creates stretch and allows the hands/arms more time to bring the barrel into swing plane before the upper body releases and hands rotate barrel to ball.

Wayback,

I agree he needs stretch, but if he doesn't change his contact point it won't make much difference. He will have lost much of it if he is still trying to hit the ball oppo with his hands that far in front. I was just trying to fix that problem first. If he learns to hit the outside pitch deeper, I think he will realize he will need to start his hands farther back.

It appears he is using too much arms to get to contact point and then is just using his hands to hit the ball, so his good lower half is wasted.

When you say he needs to coil his hips/"inward pinch, rotation" to get the delay to help sync, I'm not sure you can know that, since he gets no stretch right now. Don't get me wrong, I believe in hip coil, but I'm not sure it's needed in all swings as referenced by CoachB25 in the swings of Rolen and Rowand in the "movement in the swing" thread.

Blue, I have always felt that you contribute many things here both positive and negative. If we can criticize you, we can also compliment you.

quote:

When you say he needs to coil his hips/"inward pinch, rotation" to get the delay to help sync, I'm not sure you can know that, since he gets no stretch right now.

That's exactly my point. He gets minimal stretch. That was all over my post. He goes from static stance to forward into footplant and swing. By an inward pinch of the foot/knee (which will require the leg/hip joint to pause) he will buy time for the hands to get some movement into the launch position. Stretch is created during the movement with the lower body moving forward and the arms/hands moving to the launch point.

Think of a Ted Williams swing. Look at the front foot and knee. He pinches inward while the hands are moving up/back to the launch point. It is during this movement he sets himself up to create stretch.

Pujols also does a similar inward rotation (different style, but with same goal) of the foot/knee while his rear arm elevates as his hands move to the launch point.

Soriano's movement is an extreme example to include the hip...but is not what I am advocating (I did not say coil hips...). Same with Sheffield big bat waggle and high leg raise.

Generally speaking, the bigger the lower body movement in loading...the bigger the upper body movement (Sheffield/Soriano). The smaller the lower body movement....the smaller the upper body movment. That is what I am referring to when I am saying synching the lower/upper bodies (in descending order of movement.....Bonds, Hamilton and Pujols).

I believe during that stretch phase, there is an allowable adjustment for timing mechanism. Again, using Williams as an example....at the pinch of the knee and forward movment into footplant, the hands have that little down/rear/up movement to launch point...(or Pujols with the inward leg pinch and rear arm elevation)...that is the moment to process fastball or offspeed...and make timing adjustment from there.

This was historically my son's problem. His natural contact point is out front. The more I tried to get him to "stay back"...the worse it became. Not until we learned to synch the hands/lower body (creating stretch), understand separation, and getting barrel into swing plane before the shoulders released did it all really come together. He's done OK. lol

Wayback,

I apologize for not making myself more clear with my earlier post. What I was alluding to in my reference to the "pinch/rotation" not creating the required stretch, was that he is not pushing/pulling his hands back now at all. Whether he gets more movement/momentum with his hips at this point is of no matter because there is nothing to stretch against.

Without a doubt, if a hitter gets the required amount of stretch, they will create more batspeed and would still be able to hit the ball hard even if that far in front. I don't believe as hard or as consistent than if they made contact closer to the body in relation to the Pitcher, but that's my opinion.

My main point in the earlier post was that he needed to get his hands further back in the load. Yeah, I know, why didn't I just say that? Brain ****, I guess.

Hey SSdad,
noticed that the final clip was at Owasso,OK. Where you there for the Nike Pro tourney last spring?

it was 15 u mickey mantle world sereis in july of this year.

oh ok.Yeah they have great facilities there