Coaches Help on Hitting Technique....

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...he tells me to stand straight up to see the ball better and so I can get my hips open faster....

Who is he?

And I assume you play for Fort Zumwalt West?

I don't really see how standing up more or crouching more can help open the hips quicker,unless it's too the extreme. Hip rotation comes from driving the front knee and extending the front leg and/or driving the rear knee inward and pivoting around and/or up on the toes of the rear foot.

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Originally posted by Mr3000:
Hip rotation comes from driving the front knee and extending the front leg and/or driving the rear knee inward and pivoting around and/or up on the toes of the rear foot.

No it doesn't.

FzW
Some days you hit well. You are obviously doing it right at that time. I don't see why you would want to change things a day later. It sounds to me like you get a little to easily flustered and then cannot relax and put a good swing on the ball. You may indeed have a mechanical flaw in your swing, but you absolutely will have a problem if you are angry and out of focus at the plate. Step out regain your composure and stay calm. Hitting requires relaxation and concentration at the plate, when you are p*****-off, you have neither. Pay attention to what you are doing when things go well.

Standing straight up will allow for more horizontal movement of the front shoulder away from the plate/ball. You need to have good posture to allow you to be able to rotate into the baseball. From a more bent position, your shoulders will have more tilt and will rotate on an axis that doesn't allow the front shoulder to move as much in a horizontal component, allowing you to rotate into the ball and not away from it.

Also, standing up more will create more of a spinning action, and will decrease the efficiency of rotation.

Just my opinion!

Lets see if I can answer your question FZW. When working in the cage, it should be just that, working. Hitting the ball well is the result of putting together your mechanics in order to optimize your swing to hit the ball well. There is much more detail to the mechanics that have been wrtten about on this post and been beaten to death here. The cage should be a place where you work on consistency, rythym and approach. Think of the things you did the day before, then take a breath and think about your mechanics, work each area of your swing while hitting. Don't worry about how you hit until you have a consistent approach and you have saved your mechanics to muscle memory. Muscle memory will occur when you repeat certain functions over and over again. Now, if you aren't sure about your mechanics, get someone who teaches hitting or a coach to watch you, then work on adjusting your mechanics and building muscle memory as a hitter. Then you can worry about how you hit the ball. There are no quick fixes if you are not mechnically sound and most of us would not know how to help you without seeing you. Good luck and continue to work hard.

quote:

quote:
Originally posted by Mr3000:
Hip rotation comes from driving the front knee and extending the front leg and/or driving the rear knee inward and pivoting around and/or up on the toes of the rear foot.


No it doesn't.

Then how do they rotate?

The legs provide a stable base from which the hips rotate. It starts in your center....not in your legs.

Your lead leg will stiffen. But, it is being stiffened by rotation......not the other way around.

Linear that was a very good post.

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The legs provide a stable base from which the hips rotate. It starts in your center....not in your legs.

Your lead leg will stiffen. But, it is being stiffened by rotation......not the other way around.

I see. By centre, do you mean that you twist your entire upper body around, or do you just turn the hips, or the shoulders? In other words does one movement follow the other?

"Your lead leg will stiffen. But it is being stiffened by rotation......not the other way around"

Good Stuff>Keep it coming!

This validates the old saying, hitting against a firm rigid frontside before hands whip through swing-plane with bat.

Shep

The firm rigid frontside of course meaning the lead stiff leg

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Your lead leg will stiffen. But, it is being stiffened by rotation......not the other way around.

Maybe as a teaching cue that statement is not bad.... I feel the rotation into toe touch. I feel my lead thigh open slightly before heel plant. The core is primed and everything else is pretty fast from there. You land with a bent knee. To say the quads don't work to clear the hips with elongation of the lead leg is a stretch. Or at best a no teach if your rotation is good. I get your point of view that rotation trumps leg work ...i guess thats your point

I still believe that the legs drive the hip rotation, simply because by using the legs, you're using the big muscles such as the quads and hamstrings to drive the hips, which gives you a bit more power. The leg muscles are some of the biggest muscles in the body-if not THE biggest.

And you can call red, blue. But, it's still red.

Not if you are colorblind!!!!

Ummmm.......yes it is.

You Keep stiffening the front leg and opening the front foot and I'll get you out everytime low and away.

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You Keep stiffening the front leg and opening the front foot and I'll get you out everytime low and away.

Every hitter has there weakness after all! But good hitters can make adjustments depending on pitch location and velocity-say for an outside pitch a good hitter wouldn't rotate his hips around as much and wouldn't stiffen the front leg as much, enabling him to reach that outside pitch better.

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I'll get you out everytime low and away.

\
Throw strikes there and you will most out... HS Team av maybe what .125 there

I believe it was SwingB and Tr that commented on the toe touch and the bent knee and the front foot square and not open. When using this approach and learning to hit the ball late aplayer or team can be taught to increase its success on away pitches. Our 04 varsity had a .271 on away locations and a .265 on 2 strike counts. Team average was .375.

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Team average was .375.

Good job...that is excellent!


My main goal this year is plate coverage and knowing the count and FB zone expectations

I like to preach count, count, count on the mental side of hittng. It takes the hitters mind off of other things, and there are dfferent zones to look in for each pitch count. I also teach a 2-2-2 in a 2 strike count. This approach puts the hitter in battle mode and keeps the at bat alive. 2 small steps forward, 2 small steps closer to the dish and choke 2 inches for better bat control. Then I preach knees to letters, bat length across. A little wider stance and a little more crouch. Stay away from above the letters and in the dirt. Chip away at anything off the black. With lots of situational hitting practice, you can build a more complete offense.

I jus want to think all of you for putting your ideas and tips in.I take some of it in and work on it.....Thanks again.