Donaldson on on his swing. You probably heard about it already.
Original Post
Replies sorted oldest to newest
Just watched this with my ten-year-old. It is terrific. In particular I loved Donaldson's advice at the 5:25 mark: "If you're ten years old and your coach says 'get on top of the ball' . . . tell him 'no.'" LOL
My 2018 had me watch it...Said it was really good and that it basically proved his HS hitting coach wrong in a number of areas...lol
I sorta cringed when I first saw this video.... Josh is obviously a phenomenal player and a colorful guy and the interview is interesting and insightful but...
1. Most young players, including the average HS player, do not have MLB level timing and athleticism to be able to hit effectively with a leg kick this high. It is not a good teach for most.
2. Josh Donaldson, in live game situations, does not land with the front foot open anywhere near what he demonstrates in the interview... in fact, it is pretty darned closed most often. I have a HS hitter who has been fighting a problem of opening up prematurely. We were making good progress until he saw this video and sent it to me, questioning what we were teaching him. Check these videos of actual game swings... front foot lands closed and occasionally rolls open later.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=m16nSex9eLM
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=guQZo8WiHrU
3. While he says it somewhat tongue-in-cheek, it really isn't a great idea for a MLB star to tell young kids to tell their coaches "no" when receiving instruction. Kids take things very literally. Kids listen to and emulate their heroes. There is a respectful way to question what is being taught.
Sometimes you have to be careful about what you take away from some of these MLB player interviews.
cabbagedad posted:I sorta cringed when I first saw this video.... Josh is obviously a phenomenal player and a colorful guy and the interview is interesting and insightful but...
1. Most young players, including the average HS player, do not have MLB level timing and athleticism to be able to hit effectively with a leg kick this high. It is not a good teach for most.
2. Josh Donaldson, in live game situations, does not land with the front foot open anywhere near what he demonstrates in the interview... in fact, it is pretty darned closed most often. I have a HS hitter who has been fighting a problem of opening up prematurely. We were making good progress until he saw this video and sent it to me, questioning what we were teaching him. Check these videos of actual game swings... front foot lands closed and occasionally rolls open later.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=m16nSex9eLM
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=guQZo8WiHrU
3. While he says it somewhat tongue-in-cheek, it really isn't a great idea for a MLB star to tell young kids to tell their coaches "no" when receiving instruction. Kids take things very literally. Kids listen to and emulate their heroes. There is a respectful way to question what is being taught.
Sometimes you have to be careful about what you take away from some of these MLB player interviews.
For #3, it was clearly tongue-in-cheek. And the reason it is funny is because Donaldson and DeRosa both know there are hitting coaches all over the place saying exactly that.
For #2, I think your HS hitter is perhaps misinterpreting what Donaldson said. I agree with you that Donaldson exaggerated it with his foot, but here's what he said (at about the 4:45 mark): "And what's important, too . . . what a lot of hitting coaches out there say this, that, and another . . . Jose Bautista hit over 50 homers . . . Edwin Encarcion, lot of homers . . . their front foot is open. Your front foot's gotta be open. If my front foot never opens, my hips can't ever separate from my upper half." (Obviously I added the emphasis there, but Donaldson's point seems to be that the front foot has to open at some point.)
I watched the first video and then the first home run in the second video and it looks to me that at contact with the ball (if not at foot strike) Donaldson's front foot is pointing straight at first base. Heck, in the video of the interview, they have a video of him hitting on the big screen in the background, and you can get a pretty good view of his front foot.
For #1, I think you nailed it.
The thing about Josh's swing (Bobby Tewksbary) is that a) you have more time to see the ball and adjust and b) you don't have to have perfect timing like you do with a down to the ball approach. The key to the foot and hips opening is to make sure the shoulders are not opening with them at foot plant. Ive found that when you teach the "kick" is really more like a shock absorber motion (head stays level, leg comes into body and then stride) as opposed to to a big kick and tilt backwards, that helps hitters understand the movement.
If a coach tells a kid to hit down on the ball, I wouldn't tell him to say no, I'd tell him to find another coach.
https://youtu.be/cUa3cbMY_CM Sport science
My college coach would teach us to drive the knob down at the start of the swing which basically would keep the barrel from dropping. I think there is a lot of different terminology that basically gets to the same point.
hshuler posted:My college coach would teach us to drive the knob down at the start of the swing which basically would keep the barrel from dropping. I think there is a lot of different terminology that basically gets to the same point.
Which is really the opposite of his approach. That's a down to the ball approach. While the knob does obviously come down some while swinging, the lead arm is driving forward as opposed to down, which allows the barrel to drop (turn) into the zone deeper (earlier).
coyotecoach8 posted:hshuler posted:My college coach would teach us to drive the knob down at the start of the swing which basically would keep the barrel from dropping. I think there is a lot of different terminology that basically gets to the same point.
Which is really the opposite of his approach. That's a down to the ball approach. While the knob does obviously come down some while swinging, the lead arm is driving forward as opposed to down, which allows the barrel to drop (turn) into the zone deeper (earlier).
Agreed but his terminology was don't shine the flash light (knob) too early. If you pause at the beginning of the 2:57 mark you will see the bat/knob at a 45 degree angle at the start of the swing as opposed to later at 2:57 when the barrel drops. I think he was trying to eliminate the barrel getting away from the back shoulder (flattening almost immediately) around going around the ball.
hshuler posted:coyotecoach8 posted:hshuler posted:My college coach would teach us to drive the knob down at the start of the swing which basically would keep the barrel from dropping. I think there is a lot of different terminology that basically gets to the same point.
Which is really the opposite of his approach. That's a down to the ball approach. While the knob does obviously come down some while swinging, the lead arm is driving forward as opposed to down, which allows the barrel to drop (turn) into the zone deeper (earlier).
Agreed but his terminology was don't shine the flash light (knob) too early. If you pause at the beginning of the 2:57 mark you will see the bat/knob at a 45 degree angle at the start of the swing as opposed to later at 2:57 when the barrel drops. I think he was trying to eliminate the barrel getting away from the back shoulder (flattening almost immediately) around going around the ball.
Yeah. There is always a lot that can get lost in translation and cues mean different things to different people.
Very true! Donaldson is a good case study though.
Here's Miggy...
Nice video but trout was self commenting his swing. Do you have a video were miggy states his swing thoughts?
Dominik85 posted:
And here's his actual swing...
PUjols says the same dumb stuff about his swing which is a disservice as he does nothing like that in a game either.
Dominik85 posted:Nice video but trout was self commenting his swing. Do you have a video were miggy states his swing thoughts?
I couldn't find anything with Miggy talking hitting but this is an interesting article.