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grounding out

JB jvos baseball10+ posts
In my last few games i have gone into a slide. (I would not call it a slump because i am hitting the ball everytime) Well anyway my problem is that every at bat i either ground out to the first basemen or second basemen, i am a lefty. I think it has been 15 straight at bats that i have grounded out to one of them. I first throught my problem was hitting off the front foot, so i went to the cages and i was staying on the back foot but still hitting ground balls. Anybody have any idea what the problem could be.
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floridafanfloridafan5,000+ posts
You might be trying to pull an outside or middle out pitch. Try to take those the opposite way. Don't fall in love wth pulling every pitch. Some of those may jump off your bat and be very impressive, but their location was probably middle in to inside. Jump on those but recognize the middle out to outside pitch and take it opposite field.
T theEH1,000+ posts
I agree with floridafan, it sound's like your trying to pull every pitch.
Hit the middle to inside part of the ball, meaning don't hook the outside pitch. It result's in grounder's to the rightside for lefty's leftside weak grounder's for righthanded batter's.

Drive the ball by hitting the middle to inside part of ball on outside pitches.
If the pitcher make's a mistake and pitches you inside, Well then you turn on it and pull it.
EH
J JudgeMember
JVOS

First of all make sure that the advice you take from people is of a credible source. Not saying these guys arent credible but posting a question like that in such a general forum will result in every armchair quarterback chiming in and you wont know who's advice is of value and who to ignore.

The advice of pulling an outside pitch or "rolling over" is a valid one IF in fact you have hit 15 ground balls that were away which I doubt that they were ALL outside pitches. The posters here have assumed you are pulling outside pitches but you have not stated this so we dont know for sure. Staying inside the ball on middle-away pitches is good sound advice however its really about how you get there that matters. Even on middle-in pitches.

Let me explain, What is the path of your bat to the contact point? Is is a top down motion or is it a sweeping upward swing? Many say. "I dont have an upswing" but I move that many many amatuer players have an upward initiation of the swing. The main culprit is usually the "chicken wing" effect of raising your front elbow (which in turns drops the bathead trajectory). If you are in effect chicken winging it you will be hitting the ball on the top backside of the ball and because of the bat path initiated by the chicken wing you are swinging over ball path meaning either a ground out or a pop up if you get it a little lower. My guess is that you might miss a few altogether. My son hit 11 ground balls in a weekend once and was very upset but as we reviewed the tape it was obvious. Slight but obvious. If this is your problem fix it by getting on a tee and practice hitting 25 balls straight down into the dirt on front of homeplate. Then move to flips and practice the downward move to the ball. Tuck that front elbow down and use that top hand trying to in effect cut the ball in half. The result will be more line drives and many of them with the gap power and backspin you've been trying to make happen by lifting your front elbow. Remember you go up- the ball goes down. You go down-the ball goes up.

Best of luck
Last edited by Judge
G Gameth10+ posts
quote:
Originally posted by Judge:
JVOS

First of all make sure that the advice you take from people is of a credible source. Not saying these guys arent credible but posting a question like that in such a general forum will result in every armchair quarterback chiming in and you wont know who's advice is of value and who to ignore.

The advice of pulling an outside pitch or "rolling over" is a valid one IF in fact you have hit 15 ground balls that were away which I doubt that they were ALL outside pitches. The posters here have assumed you are pulling outside pitches but you have not stated this so we dont know for sure. Staying inside the ball on middle-away pitches is good sound advice however its really about how you get there that matters. Even on middle-in pitches.

Let me explain, What is the path of your bat to the contact point? Is is a top down motion or is it a sweeping upward swing? Many say. "I dont have an upswing" but I move that many many amatuer players have an upward initiation of the swing. The main culprit is usually the "chicken wing" effect of raising your front elbow (which in turns drops the bathead trajectory). If you are in effect chicken winging it you will be hitting the ball on the top backside of the ball and because of the bat path initiated by the chicken wing you are swinging over ball path meaning either a ground out or a pop up if you get it a little lower. My guess is that you might miss a few altogether. My son hit 11 ground balls in a weekend once and was very upset but as we reviewed the tape it was obvious. Slight but obvious. If this is your problem fix it by getting on a tee and practice hitting 25 balls straight down into the dirt on front of homeplate. Then move to flips and practice the downward move to the ball. Tuck that front elbow down and use that top hand trying to in effect cut the ball in half. The result will be more line drives and many of them with the gap power and backspin you've been trying to make happen by lifting your front elbow. Remember you go up- the ball goes down. You go down-the ball goes up.

Best of luck


Thats funny, make sure you are listening to a credible source then he tells you to beat the ball into the ground. Lets do some research and look at the elite swing mechanics. They are not made of downward swing paths beating the ball into the ground infront of home plate. Downward move is to be avoided normally.

This trainer is what you DONT want to do.

http://www.esportsonline.com/?sitemid=MSGRIFTE&websrc=NE_MSGRIFTE


I suggest you look into it. Maybe start with Epstein.
J JudgeMember
Thats funny, make sure you are listening to a credible source then he tells you to beat the ball into the ground. Lets do some research and look at the elite swing mechanics. They are not made of downward swing paths beating the ball into the ground infront of home plate. Downward move is to be avoided normally.

This trainer is what you DONT want to do.

http://www.esportsonline.com/?sitemid=MSGRIFTE&websrc=NE_MSGRIFTE

I suggest you look into it. Maybe start with Epstein.[/QUOTE

There is no need to cut each other down because we share different philosphies on hitting. I think you are wrong but I wont degrade you for it. The "exercise" of beating balls into the ground is merely that. An exercise to re-train or counteract his pulling up and dropping his back shoulder. Nobody expects him to hit like that in a game or even BP. The reality is that he DOES want to go down to it-level thru it. I have coached hitting for many years and have several kids that went on to play in college and pro ball. I do know what I am talking about but again we dont need to rip apart a guy because you didnt understand the pont he was trying to make on a message board. I wish you the best.
G Gameth10+ posts
quote:
Originally posted by Judge:
Thats funny, make sure you are listening to a credible source then he tells you to beat the ball into the ground. Lets do some research and look at the elite swing mechanics. They are not made of downward swing paths beating the ball into the ground infront of home plate. Downward move is to be avoided normally.

This trainer is what you DONT want to do.

http://www.esportsonline.com/?sitemid=MSGRIFTE&websrc=NE_MSGRIFTE

I suggest you look into it. Maybe start with Epstein.[/QUOTE

There is no need to cut each other down because we share different philosphies on hitting. I think you are wrong but I wont degrade you for it. The "exercise" of beating balls into the ground is merely that. An exercise to re-train or counteract his pulling up and dropping his back shoulder. Nobody expects him to hit like that in a game or even BP. The reality is that he DOES want to go down to it-level thru it. I have coached hitting for many years and have several kids that went on to play in college and pro ball. I do know what I am talking about but again we dont need to rip apart a guy because you didnt understand the pont he was trying to make on a message board. I wish you the best.


Hey I was trying to help you out. Tell me why you would do a drill of something and then tell us you dont expect him to do that in a game? Then say it's just an exercise to re-train his swing. Just when do you think he would use it if not in a hitting situation? Level swing to what?

The ball is coming into the hitting zone on a downward angle, if the bat head is coming from the opposite direction and also on a downward angle or even level to the ground the contact point where the planes meet is going to be so small its not even funny. Ideally you want the bat coming through the contact point on an upward plane that is in line with the downward plane of the ball. This in not ripping on you it's trying to explain my point btw.

Dont drop the back shoulder? Come on, how do you NOT dip the back shoulder and swing unless you are just swinging with your arms extended out infront of you? Please check out some clips and perhaps even stills of mlb players hitting a ball. Tell us if their back shoulder is not lower/closer to the ground then the front at contact. I will save the keep the front elbow low issue for later.

In the mean time here is Albert hitting a belt high pitch. I understand the plane of the shoulders changes according to pitch location so I used a belt high ball as an example. Dipping rear shoulder, front elbow higher then back.

The actual clip would show that he is not swinging downward onto the ball.

Last edited by Gameth
T tfox100+ posts
Judge

Not to get into an argument with someone that obviously has much more experience than me but I personally feel times have changed and so have hitting mechanics for the vast majority of pros.


Just look at a few clips or videos of the pros in action and most are doing just the opposite of what you preach.Even the line drive singles hitters.

Do you agree or disagree? AND,if you agree that the mechanics are changing,do you like or not like the results? Why?


Notice how the front elbow gets really high on a low ball,Creating a straight line from the elbow to the end of the bat at contact,exactly what my son has been taught.For the record,when he starts getting a lot of groundballs,it is due to the front elbow being too low causing him to roll over on the ball.




Last edited by tfox

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