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Any coach's interested in looking at these swing
clips and offer up there opinions.

This is 3 players on my 13/14 yr old summer team.

The first and last clips are 13 yr olds who need work and the 2nd clip is a 14 yr old who is looking for more power.



Feel free to be brutally honest.

http://www.seadogs14u.com/playerAnalysis.html?session=bp20040121&image=taylor_s-&type=sequence

http://www.seadogs14u.com/playerAnalysis.html?session=bp20040121&image=ryanM_s-&type=sequence

http://www.seadogs14u.com/playerAnalysis.html?session=bp20040121&image=brandon_s-&type=sequence


Thanks in advance,
Seadog

The choices we make dictate the lives we lead.
Original Post

Replies sorted oldest to newest

Just a few quick comments after a cursory look:

Ryan: Looks pretty good, but the front elbow seems to be a little high at launch. Hard to tell due to the lighting, but he might benefit from having the front elbow more relaxed and closer to the body. This would put the bat head at a better angle (not so horizontal).

Again, hard to tell some things due to the lighting. Is he torquing the hips back when he loads? Good hip action in the swing, with power?

Taylor:
With the above lighting caveat. Doesn't seem to be getting good front arm extension at contact.
Is the top hand a little too dominant in his swing?
Not sure he is getting his hips torqued back when he loads.
Probably not getting good hip rotation early enough.
Same comments on the front elbow appearing to not be close enough to the body.


Just a couple of quick glances. FWIW

"Show me a guy who can't pitch inside and I'll show you a loser." Sandy Koufax
Seadog,

You asked for brutal honesty. After a real quick glance, here I go sticking my foot in my mouth.

Hitter 1 – Could improve his balance. Nice swing, but too straight up and down in his approach. Also his hands seem to get away from him when he starts the swing.

Hitter 2 – Too much bat wrap, but gets his hands inside. Looks like he might collapse a little on the back side (side view). Looks better from behind though.

Hitter 3 – Also too upright. Looks like he can swing it, but could get in a more powerful hitting position.

I would spread all three out a little more and get more bend in their knees. Weight more over the balls of their feet. Better balance before, during and after they swing. The way it is (1 and 2) have a somewhat stiff straight up starting position. On the surface I think I like #2 the best.
Okay... I've built the animated GIF files. Each file is around 1 megabyte. I didn't adjust any of the images. I did however remove some duplicate frames. There were some frames missing as well.

Seadog, you can right-click on each image and choose "Save As" to save it to your computer. Let me know if you have any problems.
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Hitter1 - Looks like he may be a little open and/or stepping out. Other than that looks fine. Some coaches teach a shorter stride but I would not change it unless he is really stuggling.

Hitter2 - May be overextending/twisting his back foot and maybe wrapping his top wrist.

Hitter3 - Seems to be linear but needs more toe touch and less heel on front foot. If he has trouble with contact I would shorten the stride.


Knowledge is Power! Thank you Mavens and HSBBWEB!
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You can see all the clips at www.seadogs14u.com

Just click on video analysis at the top of the page and 10 of my players are listed.

My assistant coach put up this site and handles all video and uploading.

There are video clips as well.

I just used the ones I did because I don't know how to upload a video to this website and I didn't want to use anymore bandwidth on this website since Bob pays for all the bandwidth on this site.

Seadog

The choices we make dictate the lives we lead.
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Seadog,

I guess there's always the chance that I end up "sandbagged" (again!) and these these 3 players led some HS league last year, each batting over .600, etc.. NTL, I'll take my chances and offer some analysis. Big Grin I do realize that there's much more to hitting than swinging, but seeing we're not being asked to review these other areas, I'll focus only on what's in front of us. Wink

You asked for honesty, so here goes...


All 3 of these hitters appear to me to be overturning away from the pitcher during their loads. In the comparison below, imagine a line drawn between each hitter's elbows. See how much further the hands/bat must travel to contact? IMO, this much turn and bat wrap leads to a longer/slower swing (bat quickness, not necessarily true bat speed).



Yes, I took the liberty of flipping Gonzo around to make him a righty. Wink


Brandon and Taylor are stepping in the bucket. I assume you know that this can cause all sorts of issues - from having difficulty hitting the outside pitch, to pulling off the ball too soon, flying open the front shoulder, etc.. Also, the outward movement of Brandon's rear foot during his stride suggests to me that his weight is on his heels too much, as well as maybe slows him down a bit on turning on inside pitches (due to his toe line being re-established more towards the second-baseman). Tilting forward over the plate from the waist a bit more will probably help create a more powerful, stable base.




Taylor continues to lunge forward well after striding. Perhaps he should not hold so much of his weight back during his stride? This way, once his stride is complete, he can immediately begin turning behind the axis he's established. Also, IMO, his hands are far too high above his shoulder, especially given the amount he turns his back from the pitcher. This makes for a long way for the hands to move to bring the bat to the ball. If he keeps his hands nearer to shoulder height, I would think he could be quicker to the ball. A side benefit of this might also be that the bat will likely not be as flat as he swings, giving him a better chance of staying on top of higher pitches.




I think Taylor and Brandon are beginning their swings w/ their hands too far away from their rear shoulders, causing them to launch on an "outside-in" bat path (kind of like my over-the-top, cast pull/hook or block/slice swing in golf Big Grin). This may be a contributor to them having to stand up a bit and even lift/shrug their rear shoulders as they come into contact to avoid making contact nearer the handle. (I don't mean where their hands are during their stance; I really do mean when "starting their swings" - after stride/load.) I believe that if you viewed these swings from overhead, at their begining, you would see a wide push out towards the plate, followed by the arcing back in towards the body. Instead of their hands moving in a smooth, even arc around their bodies, their arcs are starting wide and then cutting across their bodies. I'm not looking to start a war w/ anyone over the virtues of any fence drills, but that might be an option. Or perhaps starting their hands nearer their shoulder/armpit area - and trying to keep them there longer - would help? Or, as Epstein might suggest, starting w/ the bat resting against the outside of the rear deltoid might even help.


Lastly, one thing that really intrigues me is how many MLB hitters seem to continue to turn their shoulders through contact, whereas the shoulders of many kids/amateurs (myself included) seem to stop turning at contact, and the arms just coast the bat across the torso the rest of the way. Though I've heard that "what happens after the ball leaves the bat is irrelevant" (and even that seems to be debateable), I can't help but think that there's some "slowing down" of the swing (and resultant loss of power) as it approaches this transition. This is one of the constant challenges in my learning of the swing - separating causes from effects. Do the shoulders stop rotating because the hitter disconnected the arms from the turning torso - sending the arms and bat on a plane which is not perpendicular to the axis of rotation - and this forces the wrists to roll over to reach the ball? Or is there something else that causes the shoulders to stop turning? (Note that I'm not talking about less shoulder turn because of an outside pitch hit oppo.)

Maybe tom guerry and others can help me understand this phenomenon? Then again, maybe it is irrelevant? noidea

Thanks for letting me continue to learn from your efforts to improve.

Hope this helps a little,
Sandman

P.S.
Just in case you haven't seen this, here's a site that hosts MLB Clips.

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Sandman-

None of these kids is able to coil/stretch with the right timing to power the swing with torso turn.The arms have to take over and swing the bat on there own path.

Within this,each has there own style of compensation.The first goes back to front,lots of hip slide and lunge.

The second is more of a backfoot hitter/never getting off the back side/reverse pivot type.

The third uses weight shift to boost hip turn,but just overturns the hips.The torso doesn't resist to accentute coil and the leverage is not directed to force momentum UP.

Epstein drills understanding what to accomplish will work.

1- bat on deltoid to control handpath/prevent early disconnection/taking momentum out of body prematurely.Once this control is in place,you can focus on lower body feel.Weight has to be slightly forward when you block for the drp and tilt/stretch to work.

2-torque drill-learn feel of stretch/coil

3- numbers drill-esp how to get to toe touch and how to "drop and tilt".The tilt stretches the torso in a way that resists opening and gives the last necessary bit of quick coil to power the swing.

Epstein can be less informative when you take the bat off the deltiod and go "hands free".You may learn to accentuate the coil(not necessarily increase/overdo separation,but optimize timing of coiling and reversal to "yank hands forward" and give effortless power,etc) with trial and error,but you may also have to be more specific about the details of upper body loading/scap loading/cocking and uncocking the bat so you are coiling without an excessive backswing.
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None of these boys is athletic in their posture and as a result are not athletic in their swings. They do not appear to know how to use their legs in swinging the bat. Almost all upper body, mostly arms. More knee bend needed. Less turn away from the ball. Epstein drills with better posture, more intent to hit the ball hard would be a start. Nick
Gentlemen,

This a 13/14 yr old Pony team.

Taylor and Brandon haven't turned 13 yet and Ryan will be 14 this spring. I did not pick these 3 because they are my best hitters nor my worst.

They represent a cross section of my team. We only meet once a week in the gym right now and only 3 times a week at most come spring.

My purpose in showing the clips was to see what you all see compared to what I see.

Thanks for all the input.

Seadog

The choices we make dictate the lives we lead.
Tom/Nick/others,

Any thoughts on this?
Lastly, one thing that really intrigues me is how many MLB hitters seem to continue to turn their shoulders through contact, whereas the shoulders of many kids/amateurs (myself included) seem to stop turning at contact, and the arms just coast the bat across the torso the rest of the way.

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