My son is in a slump hitting a lot of fly balls. I'm looking for advice for him. Please let me know what you see in these videos. Thank you
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=D9mI3i7iLRY
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Two major adjustments would help immediately and significantly.
The first is your son would benefit from staying quieter and smoother when he is setting up. Right now his arms are moving so much it would be rare that he ever start in the same position. Along with the arms, his head and therefore his eyes are moving and as he starts his swing, his head moves sharply and significantly down.
Secondly and even more importantly is that he needs to get his hands back and the slack out of the lead arm when he loads. He will also benefit from his hands being in a lower position when he starts his swing. Taking the slack out of his lead arm should accomplish doing that somewhat.
Starting from a high hand position without taking the slack out causes him to swing down on the ball and then he quickly changes the plane upward. That's why his follow through is high like a golfer. Right now the bat does not stay on the plane of the ball long enough. Even when the timing is good, he is cheating himself out of power because of the path of his bat.
Without getting rid of the slack, it is causing a disconnect with his rotation and his bat is dragging. Your son's back shoulder is dipping causing additional bat drag.
By getting his bat back and slack out of his lead arm, it will give him more room to slot his back elbow as he rotates, therefore the bat will be on the plane of the ball sooner and longer. It will also be in a position where he can hide his hands from the pitcher and therefore create a circular path to the ball like professional hitters do.
I congratulate you on taking the initiative to improve your son. It looks like he has some talent and ability.
You would be doing yoursef and son a favor by checking out batspeed.com. Everything you need to make necessary adjustments is in detail there. Good luck.
The first is your son would benefit from staying quieter and smoother when he is setting up. Right now his arms are moving so much it would be rare that he ever start in the same position. Along with the arms, his head and therefore his eyes are moving and as he starts his swing, his head moves sharply and significantly down.
Secondly and even more importantly is that he needs to get his hands back and the slack out of the lead arm when he loads. He will also benefit from his hands being in a lower position when he starts his swing. Taking the slack out of his lead arm should accomplish doing that somewhat.
Starting from a high hand position without taking the slack out causes him to swing down on the ball and then he quickly changes the plane upward. That's why his follow through is high like a golfer. Right now the bat does not stay on the plane of the ball long enough. Even when the timing is good, he is cheating himself out of power because of the path of his bat.
Without getting rid of the slack, it is causing a disconnect with his rotation and his bat is dragging. Your son's back shoulder is dipping causing additional bat drag.
By getting his bat back and slack out of his lead arm, it will give him more room to slot his back elbow as he rotates, therefore the bat will be on the plane of the ball sooner and longer. It will also be in a position where he can hide his hands from the pitcher and therefore create a circular path to the ball like professional hitters do.
I congratulate you on taking the initiative to improve your son. It looks like he has some talent and ability.
You would be doing yoursef and son a favor by checking out batspeed.com. Everything you need to make necessary adjustments is in detail there. Good luck.
watch the stride also i notice timing wise he goes back then out try to eliminate the back motion. You want momentum with the hip rotation and that will put that little extra on the ball for the next level
JDsdad, you have a PM
The lead elbow does not get back behind the belly button well before toe touch
He IS standing really upright and just loosey goosey pops the hips and hands. Nothing wrong with that but he doen't know what to do with the hands during the loading phase to create some whip action that comes THROUGH the body. THere is little hip/ shoulder separation and his hands don't get back and the front foot down widening the torque angle soon enough
He doesn't have the correct upper body baseball
" backswing".
You could try some two plane loading...that would push the hands back behind the rotary mechanism and get more torque and give him more time and need for weight shift
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4WAjIO0_JTI
Seems athletic. I would enjoy working with that.
HE needs to look for the ball down around the thigh to drive it. The pitching seems slow which can allow you to swing at anything,,,,,be more selective
He IS standing really upright and just loosey goosey pops the hips and hands. Nothing wrong with that but he doen't know what to do with the hands during the loading phase to create some whip action that comes THROUGH the body. THere is little hip/ shoulder separation and his hands don't get back and the front foot down widening the torque angle soon enough
He doesn't have the correct upper body baseball
" backswing".
You could try some two plane loading...that would push the hands back behind the rotary mechanism and get more torque and give him more time and need for weight shift
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4WAjIO0_JTI
Seems athletic. I would enjoy working with that.
HE needs to look for the ball down around the thigh to drive it. The pitching seems slow which can allow you to swing at anything,,,,,be more selective
Thanks everyone for your help. SBK we'll definitely try and quiet the bat waggle. From everyones input he needs to work on his load too. Thanks again.
the waggle is OK it is just that his bat is in NOWHERE LAND.
Either get it behind the helmet in the 45 slot, the splitting helmet slot or go on and get it outside the helmet and tipped forward
At any location the barrel need to be cocked .
download the PP in the other thread...164 pages and it shows all the " hand sets" ...his current set isn't in it BYW
Either get it behind the helmet in the 45 slot, the splitting helmet slot or go on and get it outside the helmet and tipped forward
At any location the barrel need to be cocked .
download the PP in the other thread...164 pages and it shows all the " hand sets" ...his current set isn't in it BYW
Remember, keeping your swing short to the ball will increase your bat speed. Also you never want to tense or try and muscle the ball. All you want is a short path to the ball with loose hands and learn to hit behind the ball. By keeping your hands loose helps you to duplicate your swing everytime and thats what you want. Also a lot of times when you miss hit a ball (pop fly) is due to not seeing the ball all the way to point of contact.
I agree with most of this post. His head movement (it should stay very still no up, down, forward or backward movement) and position (too far over front knee at contact) and swing path are the two biggest problems. But, I would add that his hips are turning too late. Dropping his hands and pushing his left hand back to load may change everything. USE TEE WORK TO FIX HIS PROBLEMS!
quote:Originally posted by SBK:
Two major adjustments would help immediately and significantly.
The first is your son would benefit from staying quieter and smoother when he is setting up. Right now his arms are moving so much it would be rare that he ever start in the same position. Along with the arms, his head and therefore his eyes are moving and as he starts his swing, his head moves sharply and significantly down.
Secondly and even more importantly is that he needs to get his hands back and the slack out of the lead arm when he loads. He will also benefit from his hands being in a lower position when he starts his swing. Taking the slack out of his lead arm should accomplish doing that somewhat.
Starting from a high hand position without taking the slack out causes him to swing down on the ball and then he quickly changes the plane upward. That's why his follow through is high like a golfer. Right now the bat does not stay on the plane of the ball long enough. Even when the timing is good, he is cheating himself out of power because of the path of his bat.
Without getting rid of the slack, it is causing a disconnect with his rotation and his bat is dragging. Your son's back shoulder is dipping causing additional bat drag.
By getting his bat back and slack out of his lead arm, it will give him more room to slot his back elbow as he rotates, therefore the bat will be on the plane of the ball sooner and longer. It will also be in a position where he can hide his hands from the pitcher and therefore create a circular path to the ball like professional hitters do.
I congratulate you on taking the initiative to improve your son. It looks like he has some talent and ability.
You would be doing yoursef and son a favor by checking out batspeed.com. Everything you need to make necessary adjustments is in detail there. Good luck.
My son is starting to have better results. I don't know if a lot has changed in his swing. I don't have a very good eye for that. Here are some links to video from his last couple games. Let me know if you see anything different thanks.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rzVKb1Q2iqg
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ijSQxgfJiEg
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=k7XwznpELfQ
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rzVKb1Q2iqg
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ijSQxgfJiEg
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=k7XwznpELfQ
I like that you said "starting" because he still has most of the same issues, but he has minimized most of them. His swing plane is much better and the bathead stays above his hands through most of the swing. He is still moving forward with his head too much and this will hurt him when he faces a pitcher with good change of speed. If you look at the clip with the kid standing in the dugout with his hands over his head, you can see how far his head moves back and then forward. It is staying level for the most part now though. I believe if he drops his hands another 6" or so, he will eliminate almost all of his problems. He is using his lower body much more now and he has very good batspeed.quote:Originally posted by JDsDad:
My son is starting to have better results. I don't know if a lot has changed in his swing. I don't have a very good eye for that. Here are some links to video from his last couple games. Let me know if you see anything different thanks.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rzVKb1Q2iqg
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ijSQxgfJiEg
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=k7XwznpELfQ
quote:Originally posted by JDsDad:
My son is starting to have better results. I don't know if a lot has changed in his swing. I don't have a very good eye for that. Here are some links to video from his last couple games. Let me know if you see anything different thanks.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rzVKb1Q2iqg
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ijSQxgfJiEg
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=k7XwznpELfQ
This is the first I've seen this clip, so here's a few comments...
1. He's much too erect at set-up. He needs to bend his knees more and spread his feet out.
2. As he nears launch, he drops into a better position, but I would suggest that he should start out in that position.
3. He seems to get out over his front leg rather than staying back.
4. I wish he was more still at set-up.
5. His hip rotation is good. He should be able to hit the ball well once he gets going.
Thanks guys. Micmeister, His head still does move a lot. It seems like a lot of hitters back in the day moved as they swung forgive me if these are bad examples (Ruth,Aaron,and Mays)? I try to tell him to keep his weight back and trust his hands. He's been facing a lot of slower pitchers and its tough for him to let the ball travel he wants to kill it sometimes like in the original videos.
Yes, they did move a lot back then, but the pitchers didn't throw as hard and didn't get the break on pitches that they do now. Like everything else in life, things advance and in sports they usually get better. Those guys also struck out a lot too, even then. I don't think anyone would argue that if you could time the pitch perfectly with that much weight shift from front to back, it would go farther and be hit harder. But, the timing part is the tough part.quote:Originally posted by JDsDad:
Thanks guys. Micmeister, His head still does move a lot. It seems like a lot of hitters back in the day moved as they swung forgive me if these are bad examples (Ruth,Aaron,and Mays)? I try to tell him to keep his weight back and trust his hands. He's been facing a lot of slower pitchers and its tough for him to let the ball travel he wants to kill it sometimes like in the original videos.
micmister
Your making this up...
quote:Yes, they did move a lot back then, but the pitchers didn't throw as hard and didn't get the break on pitches that they do now.
Your making this up...
Name me one Major League pitcher that threw 98+ or threw a split finger fasball when these guys played and I'll eat my words!quote:Originally posted by deemax:
micmisterquote:Yes, they did move a lot back then, but the pitchers didn't throw as hard and didn't get the break on pitches that they do now.
Your making this up...
