Opinion on Mechnics

You have a PM..... Also, here's the pic.

GED10DaD

His lead elbow may be high causing his bat head to drop and perhaps reducing the effeciveness of his top hand. His torso may be a bit too forward as well since he has yet to make contact and will probably end up too far forward on contact. Lower half looks very good. I like the closed front foot.

It looks like his hips are past open before contact, and almost facing 3B. He's not hitting against a firm, straight front leg. You cannot draw a straight "powerline" from lead foot through top of helmet.

Excellent point about the "Powerline".

Heres another from the week before. I can see the difference in the hips as well as front stride leg being stiff


another pic

Is that the same kid?

If so he looks a lot better in that photo.

Tough to tell without video...

Florida- so that kids elbow is too high causing his bat head to prob drop below hands (is that bad??), but that is exactly what Manny is doing - and to a more extreme... why? Because dropping your bat head, dipping your shoulders, and having an elevated lead elbow is not a bad thing... matter of fact, lead elbow will always be "above parallel" to ground unless ball is high across letters.... this kids pic (blue shirt) lead forearm is about parallel - why? - because ball is "up" across letters....

Bolts- hips past open before contact? aren't all hips open before contact... hips then hands - or better yet, hips, then shoulders...
We don't know if he isn't hitting againsa firm front leg, because he is not at point of impact yet...

the only thing i can see out of top pic is that he might of been late on that pitch, because appears that catcher is reaching "in" for pitch, and if it is a strike (assuming since he is swinging).. he would hit that pitch in front of plate - about 2-4 inches in front of lead knee... his barrel is too far back for that to happen (at point of pic taken)... so I am assuming he is late on pitch...

His (torso), Florida, spine angle is more vertical because the pitch is up, he doesn't need a body lean/hip tilt, because ball isn't as low of a pitch as Manny's pitch is... so having his torso in that position on that pitch is fine...

CFG- 99% 11 yr old pitchers throw meat CB and ChUps

Looking at 'another pic', I see him pushing his hands to the ball. His left arm should be closer to his chest, but his rear arm is causing him to disconnect from his rotation by pushing his arms to the ball. His contact point is too far out in front of his base causing a loss of power.

quote:

Originally posted by GunEmDown10:
You have a PM..... Also, here's the pic.

GED10DaD

The main thing that I see here and the major difference between Manny's swing and this young man's swing is really very simple. Take a look at the hands, the young mans hands are through the hitting zone well before the bat this causes you to be very late with the swing and if you do connect with a pitch it often goes to the opposite field. How do you correct this, develop strength in the wrists and the upper hand plays a vital part in bringing the bat through the hitting zone. Hope this helps.

I agree with Diablo on most of his comments here, but the one thing that really stood out to me and no one has mentioned yet, is his top hand. I can only see two knuckles and his index finger is almost touching his bottom hand. It almost looks as though this is a check swing and he lost his grip with most of his top hand, if not, he's got real issues.

powertoallfields is probably right about the check swing...if not, it's probably a swing just out of reaction/mistake and just his best effort to try to get the barrel to the ball.

Real issue isn't the swing but rather the pitch location.

Look at the catcher's mitt. Pitch is inside so the hitter is trying to pull his hands through early along with the hips. Just doesn't quite know how to handle an inside pitch quite yet. That and looking at his back front he may be up on the plate a bit, making a inside pitch up in the zone even harder to adjust to.

Basically, it's a swing where he is getting jammed inside is all. At age 11, Manny/Arod/Pujols all probably looked very much like this at times when they got jammed.

Additionally, biggest mistake here is a high inside fastball is a pitchers pitch, not a hitters pitch ...hopefully he was able to check the swing.

Just how many 11 yr olds can hit a curve or a change when they are looking fastball? For that matter, how many MLB hitters? Only curveballs they hit when looking fastball is a curve that hangs...otherwise they would be late on the expected fastball; and they aren't perfect at hitting the hanging curve either. I wouldn't worry too much about one game at age 11 or getting him to "let the ball get deep and go opposite field". Let him stay aggressive and jump on the fastball when he gets them.

Sometimes I think we get paralysis by analysis in our hitting discussions. In our search for the perfect swing we too often forget the mid-swing adjustments needed to hit a moving baseball. When a .300 BA is consideration for the HOF, obviously the perfect MLB swing fails alot more often than it succeeds. It's nice to have a perfect swing but I'd much rather be perfect in my adjustments to hit the ball versus getting wrapped up in micromechanics of the swing.JMHO

S. Abrams, very good point. Do you think the adjustments you are talking about can be taught? Or is that just learned through experience?

quote:

Originally posted by S. Abrams:
Additionally, biggest mistake here is a high inside fastball is a pitchers pitch, not a hitters pitch ...hopefully he was able to check the swing.

Just how many 11 yr olds can hit a curve or a change when they are looking fastball? For that matter, how many MLB hitters? Only curveballs they hit when looking fastball is a curve that hangs...otherwise they would be late on the expected fastball; and they aren't perfect at hitting the hanging curve either. I wouldn't worry too much about one game at age 11 or getting him to "let the ball get deep and go opposite field". Let him stay aggressive and jump on the fastball when he gets them.

Sometimes I think we get paralysis by analysis in our hitting discussions. In our search for the perfect swing we too often forget the mid-swing adjustments needed to hit a moving baseball. When a .300 BA is consideration for the HOF, obviously the perfect MLB swing fails alot more often than it succeeds. It's nice to have a perfect swing but I'd much rather be perfect in my adjustments to hit the ball versus getting wrapped up in micromechanics of the swing.JMHO

E X A C T L Y ! ! ! GED10DaD

Catch43,
Absolutely it can be taught and learned through experience.

Teework is a good place to start; placing the tee at various heights and locations of the strikezone helps a hitter learn what he has to do to get the barrel of the bat on the ball for different pitches. Teework will help you maintain good mechanics while you are developing the muscle memory
in making adjustments. But it is not enough....

In the batting cage, take BP at a slow speed and focus on hitting EVERY ball thrown. You don't have to swing hard but rather focus on solid contact off the barrel or sweet spot. This isn't about swinging at good pitches (Lord Knows I think that is all some coaches can say), but rather learning in a controlled enviroment what adjustments you have to make to get the bat barrel on a moving ball in various locations. Do this long enough to where you can maintaing a good swing and consistently hit the ball solid; then bump the speed up a bit but not to game speed. Eventually, you will have developed the abilty to determine pitch location as you see the pitch and the muscle memory/ability to make adjustments.

Playing Pepper has become a lost art in baseball. Honestly I don't know how many coaches ever played Pepper themselves but when I see teams try it now, well it looks a lot different than how we did it. Seems like more goofing off than anything and chasing balls. If you do it right, you do improve/develop bat control.

I strongly advocate swinging at a hitters pitch and knowledge of your own sweet spot/zone as a hitter. But with two strikes, the ability to foul off good pitches and expand your hitting zone is important. It will help a hitter prolong his at bat against quality pitching until perhaps he gets a pitch he can handle or the pitcher finally makes a mistake that the hitter can take advantage of.

Will you be able to make adjustments to every pitch or location....no, you will still make mistakes or miss good pitches but you will become a tougher out as a hitter. Often hitting isn't about anything but surviving the next pitch until you get something you can hit with authority. Ask anybody that hit against Gibson or Koufax.

Don't know if you know who Luke Appling was; check him out and read about his ability to foul off pitches. Not a power hitter but good enough of a hitter/player to be in the HOF. His bat control was legendary even during his playing days.