hips pulling through

Many will disagree with this, but. Here is where we cross the line of mechanics analysis to a realistic path to get there. Be careful trying to start your swing with your hips. Yes, in reality this is what happens on a swing, but when you consciously start your swing that way you can be VERY susceptible to the inside fastball, or pull off the change away. I encourage my hitters to start their swing with their hands; they understand that the hips will fire and will lead slightly. If the hips and hands fire together you will explode on the ball. Just remember my disclaimer, the hips will open usually before the hands move, as long as you think hands and then rotate the hips, you will be in a stong position regardless of the pitch location.

Good thoughts, hsballcoach.

I've been doing the same thing w/ my son. On video, I can see that his hips clear out WAY too soon, leaving his hands behind. Telling him the same thing - "Start the hands AT THE SAME TIME as the body" - and he stays connected better.

Good stuff, if a bit contrarian. But sometimes the cue gets the desired reality.

thancks for the info... yeah i dont do that at all in fact i hip most pitches up the middle/opposite field... i was just wondering

After the negative movement back with the lower half, the hips are the first thing that moves when you actually start your swing. It's a must to have any power what so ever. Most of the power in a swing comes from the lower half of the body, so starting with the hips is crucial.

DallasCF:

I don't usually get into these discussions because hitting is a topic where a lot of people claim very loudly to be expert and there is a lot of misinformation about hitting tossed around lightly and I am still learning things about hitting and I am almost 60 years old. But I feel the need to say a couple of things to you in particular.

First, when your hitting .490 with two home runs and 13 RBIs in 4 games you don't want to mess with your swing too much right now. You almost have to be doing the right things naturally or you would not be hitting as well as you are [unless, of course, you are constantly facing lousy pitching and defense].

Second, if you must worry about your hips, have someone take a video of you while you are swinging in the batting cage, soft toss, or even a game situation, focusing on your lower body. Use the video to see for yourself what your hips are doing, what your hands are doing, and what your head/eyes are doing. If your head/eyes is down on the ball at contact and the hips are rotating in concert with the hands, you are in good shape and should not think about it any more. If those three body movements are not in concert/together it is something you might want to work on but not in a game situation with the way you are hitting. There is always room for improvement and all the contributors to this topic have offered reasonably good technical advice but be careful what you change during a good hitting streak; you might regret it later.

TW344

TW344,

Really good points. Why change something that's really working well? I agree wholeheartedly with what you've said.

OP

i have no doubt with myself i was wondering b/c my friend on the team has not been hitting very well and i was wondering if this could be a problem... it seems liek his hips are just locked and have little movement

no no no... hips and the hands together, they must work as one to achieve the greatest strength, bat speed and quickness!

Don't start your swing with your hips or your hands....

The swing starts from the ground up. More like from the ball of the lead foot as well as the ball of the rear foot then upward into rotation of lower body eventually to shoulders arms and hands. In fact, I have used pinching inward the rear knee to develop a V in rear leg to activate lower body muscles in rotation. If swing is done correctly, the upper body components such as aforementioned will follow hips after the hips have rotated. Hitting against a firm/rigid front side brings arms, hands and shoulders forward in whiplike action. Shep's .02

WOW!!!!! SHEPSTER. GREAT JOB. Short, succint, understandable and to the point. AND, most importantly from my perspective, something any high school age student of hitting can understand.
As you often say. PEACE Brother.

TW344

Except it's not true.

The swing does not start from the ground up.

The good swing starts after a good preswing loading movement pattern sets it up.

As usual Shep you are right there and we all appreciate it except those that pimp off info. Not many of us could have said it better.

I believe Shepster is correct on this one. The swing should start from the ground up. The first action should be back, followed by the hips rotating, then the hands. If you think about this it makes sense. When pitching rotating the hips before the arm increases velocity. If you start to rotate the hips before the hands in batting you will also increase bat speed.

quote:

Originally posted by nd943:
...The first action should be back, followed by the hips rotating, then the hands. If you think about this it makes sense. When pitching rotating the hips before the arm increases velocity. If you start to rotate the hips before the hands in batting you will also increase bat speed.

None of which has anything to do with the ground.

And sometimes you just ****s all over yourself.

Sorry fellas, didn't mean to start WWIII.

Think about these questions> Where does lightning initiate energy in charge ? Does lightning strike the ground or does positive electron charge come from the ground up ? If you guessed ground up you are right and gravity on the face of this earth will always dictate this accepted norm in motion and movement. A HOF player asked me these questions once during a little chit-chat on hitting a while back. May God rest his soul. Really opened my eyes in what "I" had always thought was the norm. Sometimes I feel like popps is still with me. peace, Shep

Shep, in all due respect to you, and I mean that, a high level swing is not a ground up event......MLB hitters do not balance to the ground......The power in their swing is not generated by the legs or the arms......For that matter, not by the hips either.....

Based on my findings, a high level swing is balanced to the middle which is the power source.

quote:

The power in their swing is not generated by the legs or the arms......For that matter, not by the hips either

Not ground either or any of the above. Can you imagine a first time reader seeing this ?

Bluedog,

If power is not generated by above-mentioned then I will assume you mean the center which I do agree to a certain point and still believe the center is the key but also needs all the other muscle group components to reach maximum efficiency. Think of it as a hub or rim on a bicycle with all the spokes working together to hold up and support that object of mass and matter. If some of the spokes are missing the wheel starts to wobble in performing as a whole. The same can be applied to the sum of the parts of a whole body being trained to accomplish high performance athletic function. If you train "all" body parts/components of the swing, the body will work at peak performance. The right training and body strengthening is just the beginning though in the process of achieving the greatest amount of power that can possibly be generated by the body.

Thanks fellas for the compliments. peace, Shep

PS(POPPS = Willie Stargell-Former Braves Hitting Instructor and Pittsburgh Pirate Power Hitter and to him we need to give "all due respect" Who said there's no crying in baseball???)Good night

If the hips and hands don't work there will be no middle

Swingbuster said,

quote:

If the hips and hands don't work there will be no middle

.

Bottom line is the body must come forward by turning(not Spinning) and the pre-swing component getting body in position to hit against firm/rigid front side before bringing hands, arms and shoulders forward in "whiplike" fashion keeping the center in-line like a carousel. peace brothers and have a good day.RS

A firm, rigid front side inhibits the proper use of posture....This is information you need to know.....

quote:

turning(not Spinning)

These two words are too synonymus to be used to contrast anything for a reader. While you might be able to demo it, you could not explain it with that IMO

BlueDog,

Definitely agree on body posture component

Swingbuster,

If you spin, you sweep bat and/or swing around ball.(Thought you were aware of that?????)

If you come forward by turning, you bore the ball with maximum batspeed and handle middle-out pitches with authority.

Find me a spinner and I'll teach my pitching staff to get him out 90% of the time at professional level my friend. peace, Shep

Shepster, you are Mr Eloquence. Blue Dog, if I pick you up by your belt loops with 2 grappling hooks, you can then show me that core rotation and have a really good swing. Seriously, many of us understand the core and its strengths, but this game and most of our daily actions, begin on the ground and work up.

Coachric, all I can say is, simply, you are wrong....

Right, Blue Dog.

He couldn't be more wrong nor could he be more sure of himself. Combination of arrogance and ignorance which is dangerous.

To think the ground is involved is to bury your head in the sand and completely ignore the evidence.

A case of very strong religion.

Thanks Coachric and all I can say is I am currently doing research in the area of how gravity plays such a huge role in hitting and why the swing starts from the ground up but I am not going to put my findings here for somebody else to steal before I publish material if I decide to do so. All I can say to Blue and Info is do your research on the scientific side of Physics and Hitting. There is some information out there already published.
Peace Brothers, (All of Ya'll) Shep

It's already been done.

If you're intellectually honest, you'll end up on the other side of your hypothesis.

If you're super religious you'll ignore the evidence and come to your foregone conclusion.

Shepster, if your research is adequate, your findings will eliminate "from the ground up in the swing"......

I've already been there, done that.....

Let me just say this and I'll shush, if it weren't for gravity every hitter in every batter's box in the world would shoot through the sky like a heat seeking missle torpedo racing towards the constellation Orion Sheppy shushing

quote:

If you spin, you sweep bat and/or swing around ball.(Thought you were aware of that?????)

Shep,

I would say spinning is turning hard with no weight shift.

I like kids to keep the coil back as they stride forward.

Swing,

So do you teach your hitters to spin? peace, RS

Spinning has nothing to do with the ground.

Yea but gravity does peace, Shep