JV Hitters - it's gonna be a long 2 varsity years w/ this group!

Clip doesn't work.

Sorry about that. All set.

Ouch.......really - ouch.

Ton of problems but the three things that really stand out to me are

1) Too much weight shift forward - watch how the front leg ends up bending as the body flows forward. They really need to learn to "stay back" and allow the ball to get deeper. I'm betting that they don't hit a lot of balls the other way and curve balls give them fits.

2) Not a real big fan of where their hands start at. Got some of them starting too low and the others are starting way too high. Especially if they are seeing guys with some heat. You better have some quick hands if you are going to start that high facing guys with heat.

3) Looks like they are casting the bat based on how they all of a sudden pull their hands in to try and hit the inside pitch. Not real sure on this one but that's what I'm seeing but others may see something else.

If these are some good kids who listen well I think they can be fixed. They got some good looking body frames on them. They fill out and learn some better mechanics they could turn it around.

They are trying too hard to hit the ball, rather than 'meet' the ball.

You can get an old tennis racquet and balls. Have the batters use the racquet as if it were a bat (two hand grip). Pitch to them mixing fast balls and breaking stuff.

The short arm will cause better hand eye concentration.

Wow! These are JV hitters? You nailed it! You got problems! Not sure there's a lot you could do with these kids in season. They get nothing out of their lower body and are virtually all arms and hands hitters. I really hate to say this, but unless these kids have some really good defensive ability, I wouldn't spend the time to fix them. I think you're looking at a solid year to get them turned around.

I agree, can't fix during season. That's why I thought, at the high school level, maybe the coaches would film and work on this in PRE-season? Nope. The rampant early elbow slotting to get the bat on plane, accompanied by the usual fanning of the lead knee... all setting up a big PUSH of the bat is a big problem.

I may be seeing things through slightly-rose-colored glasses, but I'd like to think that my son doesn't have as far to go as most of these kids do. But he still fans his knee open too and gets his hands/bat a bit stuck behind him, causing a flat "around" swing. These are things we plan to put some time into over the next few weeks, seeing the JV season ends Sat. and Jr. Legion and Connie Mac don't start for a few weeks.

Looks like the coaches have been telling them "hands to the ball"

If I'm not mistaken the video only showed about 4 or 5 hitters taking 2 or 3 cuts. Do all the hitters on the team swing like these guys or are they the only ones?

These kids need to get on a tee. I know a lot of people don't like the tee but I think it will be the quickest way to fix a lot of these problems they have.

The original clip I posted got cut off to only a few hitters. It has all 9 in it now, most for 2-3 swings each.

quote:

Originally posted by SultanofSwat:
Looks like the coaches have been telling them "hands to the ball"

Not sure what they tell them. Most of these kids came up w/ my son through LL; they've swung like this for years.

I cut the video down to 1 swing per player.

And here's my son. I suspect that if he were just a little earlier on this swing, he might've hit it well.



These videos were from last night's JV game. He finally got an inning on varsity tonight! The SS had to leave early for honors night and we were ahead 8-3. So he got his first AB in the top of the 7th. Quickly went down 0-2, fouling the first back and missing the next. Then he stayed back on a curve and drove a GB single through the right side. He ended up scoring, then later made the last defensive play of the game at SS. Pretty exciting stuff to get his first whiff of varsity.

Yeah your son looks much better than the others. Two things I see with your son that he can improve upon is that from the waist up he's too upright. Get him leaning back a little more but not too far. This position will create more power in his swing because he is getting his body "behind" the swing. I hope that makes sense because it's tough to describe without actually working with the player.

The other thing is making him be late on the better fastballs. The stride / trigger is a compeletly seperate motion concept that the actual swing. There is a saying that in order to hit the better pitchers "you need to get that foot down". What that means is the stride / trigger (your son strides) has to be over before the swing starts and not have the swing merge into one motion with the stride / trigger.

If you slow down the video your son is starting to open his front side before his foot has even hit the ground. The stride he's taking is WAAAAYYY too long to hit off a upper velocity pitcher. He needs to get that foot down through BOTH a shorter stride and better timing. That foot needs to hit and he is still in the load position ready to uncoil to hit.

When the stride / trigger and swing are the same motion you will shift the weight forward too much. Your son is late because he's go so much movement in his swing that's not needed. He's late with his stride / trigger which slows down his timing.

Overall though your son has a good foundation he can build on. He needs some work based on this single swing but these are things that can be fixed.

I still stick by my original statement that if these players are willing to listen and work they can be fixed. It won't happen during the season and will have to take place in the off season but it can happen if they listen and work with someone who knows what they are talking about. Also, I seriously doubt it would take a year to fix the swings. These are athletic looking kids and these types of kids have a tendency to pick things up quickly.

All hope is not lost.

Good post Coach. I totally agree that his swing is blended w/ his stride. We've known for a long time that he drops his elbow and fans his lead knee while striding. It's not an easy fix though, as he feels like he gets his power this way.

He'll have a few weeks off after HS til summer ball and we will definitely be working on these things.

Thanks a bunch,
Mike

quote:

It's not an easy fix though, as he feels like he gets his power this way.

Next time you are working with him trying to separate the stride / swing and he comes back with it helps him with power come back at him with this.

"Ok so you think that gets you more power - tell me then why you do not see MLB hitters taking this approach? Why do you not see college players taking this approach? Why do you not see other high school players your age who are successful taking this approach? What you are saying is that you are the exception here to this. You are making this swing work when thousands of others cannot. I seriously doubt this is the case. What the problem is we are trying to make a change in your swing and you are not used to it. It feels different and therefore you do not want to do it. It's going to take time and work to make this change. Now that's the truth and let's get to work on doing things the right way."

I guess that sounds a little harsh but he will not advance in the game with this move. He will plateau out and not get any better due to this flaw in his swing.

Does anyone else see the arm bar and think this might be an issue slowing the swing down and making it longer than it needs to be? looks to me if that lead elbow wasn't locked out,his bat would be in the zone quicker giving him a better chance to hit that heat.

To me it looks like he is listening to the old cue of hit the ball at FULL extension.He reaches full extension right before his his front foot,which imo,is just a little early.IMO,full extension should be pointed at the pitcher.

Thoughts?

A few tips from the Babe

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tYYXnsGgfpM

My two cents.

Full extension should take place just before contact at approximately 90 degrees to the shoulders. (Directly in front of the body)

The natural acceleration at this point would cause contact to take place at about the front foot.

Examples of natural accelleration after full extension :
1) park swing
2) baseball bat head
3) pendulum

quote:

Originally posted by tfox:
Does anyone else see the arm bar and think this might be an issue slowing the swing down and making it longer than it needs to be? looks to me if that lead elbow wasn't locked out,his bat would be in the zone quicker giving him a better chance to hit that heat.

To me it looks like he is listening to the old cue of hit the ball at FULL extension.He reaches full extension right before his his front foot,which imo,is just a little early.IMO,full extension should be pointed at the pitcher.

Thoughts?

I saw that last night after I made my last post but was too tired to type it out. I agree with your assessment as well.

I see some arm bar tfox. But it's certainly not from any "full extension" cue. Rather, I think it's just a byproduct of his long, forceful stride, in which the momentum takes his body away from his hands, thereby straightening his arm.

The whole theme here is "less is more", which I haven't been able to get across to him in years. Less stride = less likely to have to start the swing (lead knee fanning + rear elbow slotting) = less momentum = less arm barring. The goal is to get him to turn more in a barrel, tighter radius, less slop.

Good stuff guys. Thanks.

quote:

Originally posted by Sandman:
I see some arm bar tfox. But it's certainly not from any "full extension" cue. Rather, I think it's just a byproduct of his long, forceful stride, in which the momentum takes his body away from his hands, thereby straightening his arm.

The whole theme here is "less is more", which I haven't been able to get across to him in years. Less stride = less likely to have to start the swing (lead knee fanning + rear elbow slotting) = less momentum = less arm barring. The goal is to get him to turn more in a barrel, tighter radius, less slop.

Good stuff guys. Thanks.

I was pretty tired when I responded as well and thought later that it might just be a defensive swing in an attempt to just foul off a pitch he couldn't catch up to.

quote:

Originally posted by Quincy:
My two cents.

Full extension should take place just before contact at approximately 90 degrees to the shoulders. (Directly in front of the body)

The natural acceleration at this point would cause contact to take place at about the front foot.

Examples of natural accelleration after full extension :
1) park swing
2) baseball bat head
3) pendulum

IMO,the goal of a hitter should be to reach full extension just after contact,meaning you are going to full extension through contact.If you are a little late or early,no problem,you still crushed the ball.

To say that full extension should take place after contact would miss out on the accelleration of the bat as in the examples offerred.

As a reference, think back to the pictures of batters and the 'bat blur'. IMO, The goal should be to make contact after extension while in that 'bat blur' period of greatest bat head speed.

quote:

Originally posted by Quincy:
To say that full extension should take place after contact would miss out on the accelleration of the bat as in the examples offerred.

As a reference, think back to the pictures of batters and the 'bat blur'. IMO, The goal should be to make contact after extension while in that 'bat blur' period of greatest bat head speed.

IMO,the bat has more speed when the arms are going to full extension than they do after they have already reached extension.Plus,the swing can be kept shorter and more compact if not trying to extend out over the plate.

IMO,contact should be made right at the front foot to the front knee and contact should be just after the bat crosses the front foot.

This is just about perfect.Notice how the rear elbow has connection,crucial for hitting for a high average imo,








I love this softball swing




Remember,it isn't just about the long ball.



Little late but that is my point

I had this discussion with a dad whom happens to have a son that plays with/against my son as well as a daughter that plays with my daughter.My son was playing against his team the next day so he thought he would get my son with an outside pitch because in his mind no way he could hit outside if your goal was to hit like these pictures represent.Well my son hit a low outside pitch to the fence in right field.

A few more pics

Just about perfect imo






Even on the outside pitch



Most think of this guy hitting at full extension but sometimes,you need to be able to adjust

Sorry for the hijack sandman

quote:

Originally posted by tfox:
Does anyone else see the arm bar and think this might be an issue slowing the swing down and making it longer than it needs to be?...

I agree. His arm bars very early.