inear you have a pm. Thanks
Be careful of a coach that teaches all kids one way. Especially if the one way is either rotational or weight-shift theories. There is a certain fingerprint about hitting. No two seem to look alike. The other bewares if you hear the following...
1. Stay inside the ball. Very few kids even know what this mean.
2. Swing level. The barrel starts above the strike zone and goes down. To swing level, you have to drop and sweep.
3. Drive everything to the opposite field. Most lessons should start with the middle pitch being driven up the middle. Then the outside and then the inside. My son loves to throw inside because of all the $60/hr lessons. He usually picks up the ball and throws it to first.
4. Stressing bottom hand and top hand. The hands work as a unit, both to initiate the bat at launch and to rip the barrel through at contact.
5. Swing hard. It's like boxing, think swing "quick" or "fast" and you may get hard. Swing hard and you get slow because of tension.
6. The lower body leads the swing. (It doesn't)however, backside rotation is important.
7. "I'm the best in the business, and everyone else is stupid." There is a hitting coach that I absolutely do not agree with. However, his son is about to hit in the majors.
8. Keep your back shoulder up. The back shoulder will absolutely be below the front shoulder at contact. It is the collapsing of the backside that should be avoided.
9. Keep the barrel above the hands. Huh? Keep the barrel above forearm level.
10. Don't move your head. The average major league player uses a leg-kick as a trigger mechanism. The average stride is 16 inches. If the average player in the major leagues starts two inches off center, then the head will move linear 1/2 the stride length + how many inches they start back because once rotation happens, the head wants to center between the feet.
11. Get a wide base. This is great for beasts, but most kids cannot hit from a wide base. It restricts the backside.
Hitting lessons are (1) diagnostic then (2) repetition. You don't need to pay a lot of money once you know what to work on.
1. Stay inside the ball. Very few kids even know what this mean.
2. Swing level. The barrel starts above the strike zone and goes down. To swing level, you have to drop and sweep.
3. Drive everything to the opposite field. Most lessons should start with the middle pitch being driven up the middle. Then the outside and then the inside. My son loves to throw inside because of all the $60/hr lessons. He usually picks up the ball and throws it to first.
4. Stressing bottom hand and top hand. The hands work as a unit, both to initiate the bat at launch and to rip the barrel through at contact.
5. Swing hard. It's like boxing, think swing "quick" or "fast" and you may get hard. Swing hard and you get slow because of tension.
6. The lower body leads the swing. (It doesn't)however, backside rotation is important.
7. "I'm the best in the business, and everyone else is stupid." There is a hitting coach that I absolutely do not agree with. However, his son is about to hit in the majors.
8. Keep your back shoulder up. The back shoulder will absolutely be below the front shoulder at contact. It is the collapsing of the backside that should be avoided.
9. Keep the barrel above the hands. Huh? Keep the barrel above forearm level.
10. Don't move your head. The average major league player uses a leg-kick as a trigger mechanism. The average stride is 16 inches. If the average player in the major leagues starts two inches off center, then the head will move linear 1/2 the stride length + how many inches they start back because once rotation happens, the head wants to center between the feet.
11. Get a wide base. This is great for beasts, but most kids cannot hit from a wide base. It restricts the backside.
Hitting lessons are (1) diagnostic then (2) repetition. You don't need to pay a lot of money once you know what to work on.
PAPA
Some good stuff there...good job
Some good stuff there...good job
Papa, where did you get your stats on stride lenght?
The Hitting Edge, by Robson p.37, "The average stride length in the major leagues is 15.17 inches" (I remembered wrong by 1 inch). The plate is 17 inches so the average stride is a little less than the plate length. Soooooo many instructors are teaching little to no head movement. Most mortals cannot hit with so little movement. My son can flat out hit, but the scouts watch him pitch then walk away before they see his home run or double. He has a lot of head movement and has 50% extra base hits to total hits in his high school career. The head wants to center (somewhat it depends some on tilt) between your feet when rotation occurs. The head will therefore move 1/2 stride length + how much a player if off-center at set-up. A-Rod has significant head movement as do MOST major league players. If a player is purely rotational, then there is minimum head movement. This seems to be the method of choice of most who post. I teach rotational to rotational hitters, weight-shift (this is not linear) to weight-shift hitters, and work with the combination hitters in their comfort area. Most hitting gurus who post on this website believe there is only one way to hit and everyone else is either lucky, or has the physicalness to do it or some other nonsense. Will this post get things going?
quote:Originally posted by baseballpapa:
A-Rod has significant head movement as do MOST major league players.
Recently saw a clip of A-Rod from Rightview Pro. Instructor put a drag line across his head at toe touch. Through contact his head is completely quiet, no movement at all. Same with Edgar Martinez. If you view the clips available (you can set a line on their head)..there is an amazing correlation,,the quieter the head after toe touch the better. There are exceptions of course, but if I'm teaching a youngster, I am striving for as little head movement after toe touch as possible.. How much moves before toe touch is not an issue as long as you can be at 50/50 weight dist.
Agreed. When rotation begins, the head should not move much foreward. Some stride to a relatively stiff front side that has a slight bend and others a stiff front side that is relatively straight. However, it is just a fact that before rotation and during stride there has to be head movement unless there is little to no stride. Some hitters start with the bat high, some low. It doesn't matter so much where, but where is the barrel at launch. At toe touch you will find a line drawn through the head and down through the back knee of good hitters. Some are going to say that it does matter that the head moves before toe touch. A fast ball can gain 3 mph and offspeed may become very difficult to get on with head movement. I agree with all that, however, there seem to be two ways to play Major League ball, (1) be a beast, spread out the base, keep the head still and still be able to hit for "par". (2) be able to hit a ball in 3-D space with head movement. Par in hitting is around BA=.265, OB=.330, Slugging=.430, OPS=.760, walks 8.5% of plate appearances and Ks 16.5% of plate appearances. If I were a scout I would look for (1). However, most need momentum into the strike zone. It is interesting that almost all steroid allegations are on the hitter described in (1) and most are rotational hitters.
Linear, Apparently you can't receive PMs as I get an error message when I try to send one.
I'd like to get Englishbey's contact info. Please e mail me at rb@azdiamondreport.com
Thanks
I'd like to get Englishbey's contact info. Please e mail me at rb@azdiamondreport.com
Thanks
Steve
setpro25@yahoo.com
setpro25@yahoo.com
STeve
setpro25@yahoo.com
setpro25@yahoo.com
Hitting Coaches--you need to find one you believe in and trust, otherwise it means nothing how much he knows or does not know.
He has to be good for you
He has to be good for you
I couldn't resist after reading this thread......
Anyone who understands rotation would never teach any other way to hit......
Very few understand rotation when they see it.....Much less know how to teach it......
Anyone who understands rotation would never teach any other way to hit......
Very few understand rotation when they see it.....Much less know how to teach it......
Rotation isn't just turning the body.....There's so much more to it......There's this little thing called connection.....And something called momentum......Throw in the correct use of posture......And, you must know where, and how, the power is produced to begin with......You must be taught this stuff by someone who is very knowledgeable on rotation in the swing.......The number of people who are capable of teaching this stuff is very small.....
Without a basic understanding of the physics and bio-mechanics involved in rotation in the swing, you can't begin to have a clue as to what rotation really is.....If you think you do, you are merely kidding yourself.....
Without a basic understanding of the physics and bio-mechanics involved in rotation in the swing, you can't begin to have a clue as to what rotation really is.....If you think you do, you are merely kidding yourself.....
Bluedog
Where ya been bro?
Miss your input here.
Shep formerly known as Hillbilly Shep or Rat Shapiro-LOL
PS (Everybody pray for Chet Lemon) Seriously
Where ya been bro?
Miss your input here.
Shep formerly known as Hillbilly Shep or Rat Shapiro-LOL
PS (Everybody pray for Chet Lemon) Seriously
Bluedog brings a lot to this site. He has gone out of his way to make a couple of suggestions (to me) and I don't think he is trying to change the world. He states his opinion and you can accept it or not. I value his opinion. Shep, you're right. Wish he'd post more.
Can tell you all right now after reading all these posts in this thread, there are a "LOT" of good hitting ideas here and can say very diversified as well.
One thing that baseballpapa said though really got Shep's attention about rotational hitters,
can anyone guess what that would be?
Hint: It takes a very strong body to carry out a sound rotational swing.
This is true...so true.
Shep
One thing that baseballpapa said though really got Shep's attention about rotational hitters,
can anyone guess what that would be?
Hint: It takes a very strong body to carry out a sound rotational swing.
This is true...so true.
Shep
OLDSLUGGER
Read the item on Ellis on that site at the bottom of the 13 points and then bring him up on the Baseball Cube and you tell me what you find.
I find it interesting
Read the item on Ellis on that site at the bottom of the 13 points and then bring him up on the Baseball Cube and you tell me what you find.
I find it interesting
Rob Ellis is a great guy and a great contributor to hitting. He has a tape "The Lost Secrets of Hitting." In it he proposes a flat swing plane finish and shows most every old good hitter hit with a very low finish. This included Aaron, Williams and many others. I talked to him about it. Old golfers and baseball hitters used to drift to their front-side during the swing. They hit from the back foot to the front foot. This facilitated a low finish. He agreed with me that the modern teaching that stressed locking down the head once the rotation began would lead to the bat returning to the plane it left. In other words, the barrel starts above the strike zone, at finish it will return to the same level it left unless the batter finishes off the front foot. When was his article written? We should start a thread on Rotational vs. Weight-shift vs. Linear hitting.
PM me if you wishquote:Originally posted by TRhit:
OLDSLUGGER
Read the item on Ellis on that site at the bottom of the 13 points and then bring him up on the Baseball Cube and you tell me what you find.
I find it interesting
