Hitting Question

quote:

Originally posted by No E2:
I have been reading posts here off and on for a couple of months and decided this would be a good place to ask for help. My son has gone from a consistant .400+ hitter with a .500+ OBP to .300 in hitting and .375 OBP. He is hitting high popups or hard grounders not the line drives he usually hits. I have looked at his swing and video'd him to slow it down but I am at a loss as to what he has changed as is he. I would like to post a video clip of his swing for critiquing. Where is a good place to post it?

I think most people go to youtube.com and then post the link here.

Without ever seeing the video though, I'd say your son has changed his swing path.

Sometimes this problem is between the ears.

I take it back, USUALLY this problem is between the ears.

Sometimes what's between the ears causes the mechanical changes if there are any.

A few lucky hits usually solves the problem.

Here are the latest clips I have.

Clip 1

Clip 2

He has never been a power hitter but is usually good at hitting the gaps.

I would also appreciate any tips on videoing his swing. He plays catcher and pitcher so I need to video those positions and post them in the appropriate areas.

Where's the batspeed? I don't think that he's hitting fast enough pitching here, look at all the wasted motion.

quote:

Originally posted by No E2:
Here are the latest clips I have.

Clip 1

Clip 2

He has never been a power hitter but is usually good at hitting the gaps.

His bottom half is not too bad. He is swinging around the ball and if you don't fix it soon his playing days are numbered. I would recommend getting John Cohen's hitting DVD off of The University of Kentucky's website. It has some of the best hitting drills I have ever seen. He emphasises shaft to shoulder position which appears to me to be his biggest problem.

No E2, quite honestly, there is some work to be done.

His lower half doesn't really load. He just kind of opens up, and then straightens up and spins out. He would benefit from a slightly wider base, more athletic stance (with flex and balance), and c'ocking of the knee and hip. His rotation should be more of a "throw the belly button" and less of a spin out.

His upper body spins out along with the lower body. It would benefit from a slight delay (let the core rotate, and the shoulders slightly resist the rotation). His front arm currently "bars" as the shoulders spin out and the hands attempt to stay back. Allowing the shoulders to resist turning at the same time as the hips will mininmize that barring, which creates a longish/slow swing.

His upper body remains upright and shoulders remain level in clip 1, which is a lower pitch. So, his hands drop lower and then rotate to the ball. His "flex" as mentioned in the first paragraph would allow him to tilt the body to properly rotate to the ball. After the lower body has loaded, and begun it's forward movement, the upper body should be in it's loading phase. That means, the front shoulder should dip inward, the front elbow will rotate down and in, and the rear elbow will move back and up. The end result of that will be, when the front foot lands, his upper body will still be closed, and the barrel will be tilted toward the pitcher. Now, he is ready to uncoil (hips first, followed by the the hands rotating the barrel to the ball....there will be adjustments based on pitch location).

The hands should be near the top of the shoulder area at launch, not down below the chest. On an inside pitch, there will be more of a "pull the knob" across the rotating chest, so as to not rotate the barrel too early and to rotate the barrel into the ball in front of the zone (I use the cue "save the barrel"). On an outside pitch, there is less pull the knob, as the hands are rotating to the ball deeper in the zone.

There will be more to work on, but not to overwhelm you, I figure one adjustment each for the lower body, upper body and hands would be a start for now. Good luck.

Very good explanation, Noreast...You are well-versed....Alot to be learned from you, IMO!!

noreast,

Have to agree with BlueDog! Very good post!

Thanks for the information.
I coached him from 4-12 and then he got beyond my limited knowledge so we went to private coaches. He used to have a much more compact and quicker swing. This past year he has concentrated on his catching and not hitting. That has worked out great. The HS coach has asked him to catch for summer ball with the JV team. He will be a freshman in the Fall. There is a couple facilities near by which have some great coaches so that is where we are headed to work on his hitting.
Thanks again I get some great information from these forums.