Hands

You can take a volleyball and place in under their bottom hand's arm (meaning, if he/she is a righty, then tuck volleyball in left armpit). If they move their hands excessively or extend early, the ball will fall. Eventually it has to fall, so its probably more effective if you just have them swing to contact.

I've seen bungee cord tied around midsection with the top hand's arm tucked in. This is very awkward for the hitter, because it doesn't allow for any movement and its pretty uncomfortable. Hope this helps...Good luck.

quote:

Originally posted by socalhscoach:
I have got a lot of players who's hands are taking over their swing. They mostly fall into 1 or 2 categories.
1) Start their hands first.
2) Start their upper body but then their hands take over and they do not finish rotating their upper body.

What are some drills that you guys do to solve these problems?

When you say "start their hands first" do you mean forward to the ball?

As far as "not finishing the upper body rotation" goes, that is a reflection of the lower body not working properly. If the lower body works at the right time and there is the correct separation of upper and lower body (in the right sequence) then the upper body has no choice but to finish correctly.

Power
Yes I mean forward to the ball. In regards to the 2nd part of your post...with some of the players you are right but other, I would have to disagree with you and maybe I did not explain it correctly. Their hands take over their swing and so the rotate but rotate after their hands have made contact with the ball.

In the photo display below you will see the correct sequence of a great swing. In photo 4 the hitters toe would be down and in photo 5 his heel would be down. I would say the thing that is getting your hitters out of sync is that they are not loading properly. Separation is not taking place or the hands would be in sync. The bottom hand needs to be moving toward the Catcher as the stride takes place. If they use a no stride style, they need to have the hands moving back as the front hip opens. Drills can be as easy as starting the hitter in each of the positions pictured here from photo 3 on and having the hitter complete the swing. The "Happy Gilmore" drill is another good one to use. The hitters need to learn to FEEL where launch position is and then adjust their body movements to get to that point ON TIME.

One very important thing to note, in the photos in the above post, is the bat position. Note that in photo 4 where the toe is down, the bat is still tilted forward. This position insures that the hips get ahead of the hands in the swing to the ball.

Not seeing the photos.

We try to link the hands with the hip. If the hands need to start slightly quicker to link the two together that is okay. But you sure don't want to get them out in front.