Cues for the little guys

quote:

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Originally posted by Lamber:

And to all......Why did I never feel an impact between ball and bat on the hardest hits of my career? Balls that traveled 350'-375' and left the park in right or left center.

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The most probable answer IMO would be that it was because you hit a baseball over the fence - not a 300 pound bag of sand.

I don't know about bags of sand, but we used to have our hitters put their bat against a stationary object (like a post) and do isometrics for as long as possible.

They would get into power contact position and strain. We were trying to accomplish 3 things.

1. Get our hitters to find and get used to feeling the power contact position.

2. Develop strength in the exact power hitting muscles and hands.

3. Develop balance at contact.

Don't know that this technique was/is used by others, but it seemed to help our hitters a lot.

Any reasonable baseball person that saw the bag in use would understand and see the value in using for certain applications. Safety concerns would forgotten too.

Lamber has been right on through this post. The ax analogy is true and identical to what happens.

I hate that new "Lord of the Rings " sequel. It is so boring and fakey. OH, I forgot..I haven't seen it yet

Lamber,
Did your bat come to a complete stop when you hit the ball? The fact that the bat is impacting the heavy bag and stopping almost immediately is what causes the impact on the hands. (Edited - When you feel a stinger it is due to the vibration that comes as a result of hitting the ball away from the sweet spot, when you go deep you hit the ball on the sweet spot and didn't feel the vibration. You expect the impact from hitting the ball and are used to it so when you go deep you feel it far less than when you hit the ball poorly.)

The only ways for the hands to "release" the energy when you're swinging at a heavy bag is to decelerate the bat before impact or let go of the bat before impact.

Given that I've seen kids hands badly bruised from hitting a tire too often I'd say that feeling could result in injury.

PG,

That sounds like a clever and effective training technique - and a safe one too!

CaDad,

In addition to the hands and wrists - the elbows take a beating as well.

quote:

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I hate that new "Lord of the Rings " sequel. It is so boring and fakey. OH, I forgot..I haven't seen it yet

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Caution: I have absolutely NO credentials, so take everything I say w/ a grain o' salt!

Swingbuster,
Actually a sharp axe will stop far less abruptly than a bat hitting a heavy bag. Even so, I used to bruise my hands chopping wood. Try hacking at a tree with a dull axe and see how it feels. For the same reason hitting a bag filled with cloth such as Nikkio mentioned cushions the impact considerably since the bat stops far less abruptly.

Swing,

How many 13 year old lumberjacks do you know?

As for the "Lord of the Rings" - I didnt know those little creatures in the movie practiced on a heavy bag. LOL

Just a comment on the batting "bag" discussion. Here is a very simple and inexpensive hitting station to build that will also reduces the impact stress you are all concerned about......
Securely bolt a "CUT" tire vertically to a pole or heavy fencing at your player’s swing height. The tire is cut through at about the "10 o'clock position on the non-connected side of the tire. When the batter hits the tire, they get the resistance you want, but because the cut tire will "give" a little more it reduces the jarring impact that can be harmful.
(.......... but, I'm a pitcher's parent, so what do I know about batting! )

Hey game,

posted January 08, 2004 07:48 PM
Swing,

How many 13 year old lumberjacks do you know?



Not any....wish I had 9 for the JV team though. So much concern for safety. No football coaches in the bunch I guess.... COME ON, HIT SOMEBODY!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Sound familar?

Every hitter should have the opportunity to hit a heavy bag.......This is a very effective way to teach power release at, or just before, ball contact.....

I rate this drill number two only behind Epstein's torque drill.....It's that important as a teaching tool....

what is the torque drill?

Mike Epstein's proprietary drill which teaches the three core elements of rotational hitting technique......It takes work to master this drill.....

Lamber,

I'm more than a little surprised you are trying to relate the "feeling" of hitting the 5 ounce ball on the sweet spot of the bat (ie no bat vibrations etc) as a defense of your position that hitting the bag properly should have no impact on the hands. Nick

Bluedog,

Don't get me wrong, I like Mikes videos, but you don't really think the drills on Mike's videos are proprietary do you? Or original? The fence drill?

If you believe his drills are proprietary, then I guess you believe his recollections about talking to Harry Heilmann are true too?

Nick

Every hitter should practice the torque drill every day if possible......Best hitting drill ever devised.....

Heavy bag drill is a winner, too.....

Heavy bag

Not for young joints !!!!!

TRhit

TRHit

Don't make me go to the physics stuff

Nick

Are you saying there is no difference in feeling (in the hands) between hitting the ball on the sweet spot with good mlb mechanics v hitting the ball on the sweet spot with average mechanics?

Swingbuster

Quite a crowd heh? One thing is for sure. Not many of them take bp anymore.

quote:

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Originally posted by Lamber:
...Singbuster

They haven't seen the video but they can tell you that what's on it is wrong.

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Lamber,

I don't need you to speak for me. You know nothing about me so stick to what you know.

After reading the followups to this post, please show me where I have even addressed the heavy bag issue.

quote:

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Originally posted by BlueDog:
Mike Epstein's proprietary drill which teaches the three core elements of rotational hitting technique......It takes work to master this drill.....

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Epstein is filing patents now?!?

Lamber,

You asked: “Are you saying there is no difference in feeling (in the hands) between hitting the ball on the sweet spot with good mlb mechanics v hitting the ball on the sweet spot with average mechanics”

My answer is: Not if the average mechanics result in the same swing speed, point of contact , etc.

The bat doesn’t know who swung it, Mac, Sosa or some high school kid with terrible mechanics. If the high school kid hits the ball with a wood bat on the sweet spot with 85 MPH bat speed it will go the same distance it would if Sosa hit it at 85 MPH (assuming same pitch speed, trajectory, angle of bat to the ball, part of the ball hit, etc). The sweet spot does not react differently to different mechanics.

Now different mechanics can influence your ability to hit the sweet spot and the speed of the bat when it hits the sweet spot, but that is not the point you raised..

Nick

Nick

If I hit a pitch (down the middle) traveling 90 mph with a batspeed of 75mph perfectly on the sweet spot

and then

hit the same pitch, same location, same speed, same bat with a batspeed of 95mph perfectly on the sweet spot

how will it feel differently in my hands?

Lamber,

You have changed the assumptions. Your original comment did not indicate different bat speeds, just different techniques. I said if the different techniques produce the same batspeed the hands will feel the same thing. If we can agree on this then I'll be glad to give you my thoughts on your new question.

Nick

"Quite a crowd heh? One thing is for sure. Not many of them take bp anymore."

Lamber, you made my day.......

Lamber,
Virtually no difference. More momentum will be transferred to the ball, therefore there will be a slightly larger force on the bat. You can't be absolutely certain, without testing, how it will work out as the coefficient of restitution tends to vary slightly depending on the impact speed.

In any case, the ball doesn't weigh that much compared to the bat so it doesn't amount to that much. You probably wouldn't be able to tell the difference as long as you hit it on the sweetspot.

Now if you ask me what happens when you hit a heavy bag, which weighs orders of magnitude more than a bat, at a batspeed of 75 mph vs a batspeed of 95 mph that is a whole different story.