Dropping the hands

Drop the hands as you move forward. It can be a valuable timing mechanism.

To help prevent dropping the hands tell him to try and roll his wrists over. This really does help but takes time to get used to. It can make you hit solid liners. 

Hope that helps ! Goodluck !

Go on u-tube and look at Eric Davis and Albert Bell swing.

They started their hands low and rarely swung at a high pitch. The bat feels light when started low.

The "high tee" will help with quickness.

Bob

<www.goodwillseries.org>

your son needs to have a better "feel" of where his hands are as they enter the launching area.  to assist in that regard have him try this;  as he sets up, touch his chin or somewhere in the neck with his top hand thumb. That will give him immediate feedback and awareness that his hands are both at the top of the strike zone and positioned near his rear shoulder in a better pre-launch kind of inside "floating" area just prior to entering the launching slot. it will also assist with bat lag and to keep his hands "inside the ball" to release point.

To correct bad swing mechanics it takes many repetitions so that positive muscle memory can be created. A fantastic drill to correct this error is called the "Bat Path Drill" which can be accomplished by putting two tees next to each other (one behind the other) or using the ProXTee and using one tee top for the ball and the other as a guide so that when the hands are dropped the bat touches the first tee top. This provides instant feedback to the hitter so that he can recongize when he is dropping his hands.

Evan Longoria demonstrates this drill on a hitting tee called the ProXTee. The video explains it better than I can. 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LmwCPCbCyNY

Roll the wrists over? U serious

please take your son to good hitting instructor

st 17 he should know more about hitting and know why he's hitting the way he does 

needs to video so he can see what he's doing. 

good luck

hmmm.. to clarify...

- are you talking about before toe touch, or after?

- do the hands drop, then rise before toe touch?

- at toe touch, where are the hands? where is the back elbow?

Video is best.

After toe touch, MLB hitters drop their hands.  They also drop their back shoulder.

Hitters with flaws, drop their hands, but don't drop their back shoulder.

The 2 tee drill promotes the wrong bat path.  If you want to drive the ball into the ground, these are the drills to use.

Thank goodness Longoria doesn't use his practice swing in games.  He would be out of work.

Two tee drill (watch him drive it into the ground)

MLB bat path (notice the red dot before contact proves the 2 tee drill is bad)

I have seen the "swing down"/2 tee drill approach help fix a weak uppercut swing.  Drills are about over emphasizing what you are trying to accomplish.  Not necessarily trying to replicate the exact swing you'll use in a game in a certain situation.   

I saw BigFoot once.  But never the elusive 'uppercut' swing.  Please post a video of one of these.

Why not just teach the right swing plane?  Why use a drill that ruins 99% of swings?

I agree with you 100%, the proper swing plane is the plane that matches the incoming ball plane about a 3.5 degree uppercut for MLB hitters. 1-2 degrees for younger hitters. We really aren't talking about hand path, we are really talking about barrel path.  MLB hitters will make comments like. "I really lost the barrel on the that swing".  Usually meaning they let the barrel drop below the hands too far for max power and contact.  With the bat path drill the back tee top can be adjusted to the desired height so you can be reminded when the barrel is dropping too low.  Of course big league hitters figure this all out with subtle changes in ball trajectory, ball spin, etc. but for young players working out in a garage, this is a great feedback drill.

Because sometimes things get out of wack.  It's about having barrel control.  If the barrel is below the ball you'll either miss or hit a popup foul.  The drill helps correct the issue.  And that is all it is, a corrective action.  It's not something I would make a primary teaching tool. 

The barrel must come from below the ball. The pitched ball is heading down. Here's Ted Williams from 1971.

Do you realize that the hitters [Ted, Albert Belle, Eric Davis] who started their hands

low received the benefit from the umpires. If the pitch was above their hands, the umpire rarely called it a strike.

Of course, they received the MLB veteran's special consideration from the umpires.

Bob

You're misunderstanding.  Below, meaning under the ball (Ie missing the ball). Those diagrams show the barrel inline with the plane of the ball.  In the Williams stroke at no point does the barrel drop below the blue line. If you don't have good barrel control, you can get below the blue line.  

Been reading all these posts on different mechanics, physics, strategy, etc.

   What I dont know about baseball continues to amaze me...

Uppercut cant always be the best approach as ball path angle can also be relative to pitch location.  Think about it, If the pitched ball is in the lower half of the strike zone then the angle from pitcher release point to contact is a steeper angle than if the ball is pitched at the top of strike zone.  A pitch from Randy Johnson to the knees of Jose Altuve is going to have a drastically different angle than Daniel Herrera(5'6")pitching to Adam Dunn's upper strike zone.  I would like to see that though.  

I stopped listening when Longoria said "keep the barrel above your hands."

For it to make sense, you need to change your reference plane.  From the north/south (head to toe) plane, clearly the barrel is "below" the hands.  However, if you look at the plane created by the shoulder/hands, the barrel is "above" (or at least in line with) the "hands."  IMO, the point of the key is to create barrel control and have a "strong" barrel though the zone.  Seems to have helped Longoria.

That's the reference plane I'm using. The barrel is going to be above some, in-line most, and below some on good swings based on pitch location. Teaching "above the hands" is a waste of time to me.

Hey Guys:

This is good talk and really tough to interpret.  Golfman25 is on track with what I'm saying.  But what we are all saying is that a hitter has to maintain barrel control.  The language of hitting is usually where the problem is.  Bet you a "Longo" signed ball that if we were all in a cage swinging and talking, we would be agreeing.

bolded is the smartest thing i have read on this entire page!