PGSTAFF - i def. agree with you on the yes we all have same body parts, but that doesn't mean we are all cut out for the same thing... i.e Michael Johnson is a sprinter not a marathoner.. and the list goes on and on...
and to the guys speaking of not teaching the swing in parts.. i kinda have to disagree there.... because there are different parts to a swing... one is starting off balanced -heels aligned... if you have a kid who starts out already in the bucket or stepping into the bucket, why wouldn't you work with him on that (while staying balanced) until it becomes muscle memory... and for anything to become muscle memory you need somewhere in the 1,000 to 1,500 reps... so wouldn't you have to work on that for a while, since that would be a good foundation for begining a proper swing....
also, if you have a player that never gets into a good
torque position (which is the root to all bat speed and power then why wouldn't you put the player in a good torque position to help them (and their body) feel it so they know where they should be getting... torque being the separation of the lower and upper body in the swing.. "hips leading the hands" if you will...
next, jumping to the approach phase of the swing, even if a kid is having an efficient, fluid swing (as BLUEDOG has stated) then he wouldn't mess with them or worry about where their hands are in the swing - well if they are "casting" their hands, why wouldn't you fix it??? I mean the further an object works away from the center of its axis of rotation, the slower it is moving (i.e. the figure skater keeping hands in close to rotate fast, moves hands out and away to slow down).. so basically if a players hands are moving out and away from body then the barrell of the bat is traveling at a slower speed, not to mention that they will be hitting around the baseball, get eaten up on inside piches, etc, etc... one thing that is taught on the major league level and only taught by about 5% of other instructors is that the hands are just along for the ride - they actually follow the rotatiing body around, until being cast through baseball as front leg locks at contact.. all the player really has to do is get flats palms as quick as possible....
and skipping contact and power V because my fingers hurt and i am a poor typer, if at the end of the swing a player is not balanced- yet was balanced at the begining then something went wrong some where in the swing... and it could not have been an effective, fluid swing... so why not work to fix the problem and make sure player is balanced at end as well...
Oh yeah, and BLUEDOG... if you think matching the plane of the swing to the plane of the pitch is absurd... then you must teach swing level or swing down.... now i am just going to assume that you would never teach swinging down to a pitch that is already going down (not to mention the pitching coach on your team and the other team is trying to get the pitcher to pitch at the knees to halp get the batters to hit the ball on the ground)... so i will assume you teach a level swing - level to the ground??? interesting... could anyone explain to me how to swing level and hit a pitch at the knees??? is that even possible?? that is like listeng to youth coaches and high school coaches yelling cues like "stay back and swing down".... how does that work? anyone on here ever try and stay back (weight) and swing down??? or hit the bottom half of the ball for more backspin?? if anyone is good enough to purposfully put backspin on a pitched ball, then i need your INFO so i can get you drafted asap...
sorry about the tangent
of and BLUEDOG, i noticed you had a blurb on how to match the planes of swings to the planes of pitches... you do it bu tucking your back elbow (you can't have both elbows up or both down and swing a bat... go try it) so one must be down and the other up - and your front elbow works up in the swing... you have about a 5-6 inch slot from where your elbow can be parallel to working up so you can hit pitches lower.. in other words, your elbow would tend to work flatter on pitch across the letters but pitches any lower, down to knees the elbow works higher... i saw some great pics of this at
www.backbackback.com quote:
The "level" swing has always been advocated. I used to believe it and I used to say the same thing. But the ideal swing is not level and it's not down...."
Ted Williams on "The Proper Swing"
The Science of Hitting, page 13
anyway, i guess Rod Dedeux was right...
"More players never reach their potential because of a lack of quality instruction,
rather than a lack of ability."
Rod Dedeaux
Legendary University of Southern California Baseball Coach
N.C.A.A Division I “Coach of the Century”
Anyways.. sorry to bore so many...
