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Ok, I'm a huge believer in rotational hitting. Using your legs, tilt of bat, firm front leg, the whole entire deal. What I also noticed, is that ML hitters also do all of these things. Great so far. I do all of these things in my swing too. Heres my big "problem": No matter how much I swing off a tee, do soft toss, I tend to drop my hands during my load. They drop to about chest high, maybe slightly under, depends where you define chest.

The only way I see this as a problem is that maybe the load is longer than anticipated so I could be late on some pitches. (Being late leads to popus, right? Because bat is late, so ball doesn't get on top) I don't see why dropping my hands before launch has any other effect on a swing which would lead to popups. Could anyone explain a way?

I've thought about it a long time, asked some people, nobody really has an answer. But if it really doesn't matter, why do I say the huge majority of ML hitters swinging with their hands up by their ears. I have a small list of hitters who do launch from a lower position: Kinsler, Youkilis (he does drop), Lowell.

Thanks alot...
Baseball, it is said, is only a game. True. And the Grand Canyon is just a hole in Arizona. -George F. Will
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Dropping and disconnecting your hands from your shoulders during your load and swing, is one very good cause for pop ups. If my son sees a player dropping his hand he will throw high in the 1,2,3 strike zones areas. Its very hard for a hitter to catch up to the ball if they drop there hands and have to go back up to hit it. If they hit it, its usually is a pop up

drill

He got three out by throwing high change ups one time because it was the top of the batting order and he knew they would try to tee him up. Everything was pop ups, because they were swinging up on the ball. Nothing but change ups high. You should of heard the other coach squawk at his players.
Last edited by Drill
Dropping your hands towards your back hip is a great way to delay your shoulders. A lot of hitters use this as a timing mechanism (Ruth, Bonds, Sosa off the top of my head).

Whether their hands start high I(Youk) or low (Mickey Tettleton???) most all get back to the same hand position at front heel plant. I like to be even more precise than hand to armpit and tell my kids top hand trigger finger at the top of the back shoulder.

I would guess the popping up has more to do with being too loud with your front shoulder. Remember to think ground up and back to front.
hey catch43 if you have a problem dropping your hands here is somethings I do with my kids. First we stride out or spread your feet no stride, bat laying on the shoulder and I have them to trigger buy pushing the bat head up about 6 to 8 inches this puts the bat at about 45 degree. By doing this the hands are moving up to load and then the hitch is fixed. your hands need to start even with the top of your shoulder so when you force the bat head up you dont hitch and you start at the top of the strike zone. once you have the hitch fixed you can start working the stride back into the swing. here is what i tell my kids when they say (I seen a major league drop his hands and still hit the ball)
Q1. How strong is this player
Q2. Does he have a bat that he can handle
He is a grown man
kids dont way the factors of how strong the major league players are and some are able to makeup for there mistakes becaues of quick hands good hand eye.
and most players if the drop there hand recover back before the front foot hit. I hope this can help you

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