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Buh East, The video is pretty bad and is the angle a side view or slightly from the rear? I think I see a little bat drag (rear elbow leading the knob). This is good for power with a slower pitcher, but will lengthen your swing and make hitting a faster pitcher tough. Also, you sway back a little which can cause your hips to fire late. Hips should fire as front heel starts to drop, not after.
As you load you turn your front shoulder in which traps the bat behind your shoulders and causes you to cast the bat out away from your body. This can cause disconnection to your rotation and a weak swing (groundballs).
Good luck!
Buh East - I am sure I will get 80,000 hitting "gurus" in here to disagree with me, but I like your swing - a lot. I see a lot of power in that swing and you look like you can play at the next level beyond high school imho....

Before doing any major overhaul in your mechanics, maybe consider that it may be just as simple as timing and confidence and that your mechanics may be fine. Pete Rose's advice to A-Rod a few years back was to try and take the pitcher's head off (not literally) but wait on the pitch and take it back up the middle or go the other way until you are consistently barrelling the ball. Manny Ramirez is famous for this technique i.e., staying on the ball as long as possible before committing.

Often times, ground balls are the result of being too quick though the zone. In other words, your bat is already through the swing plane, on its upward trajectory during follow-through which causes you to hit the top side of the baseball and hence a lot of ground balls to the shortstop. Learn to wait on the ball and I suspect you will start seeing balls leave the ball park. At the high school level, it can be very difficult to wait on the ball as the pitching is often not that good. Are you known for your hitting when the velocity of the pitcher goes up btw?

I make no claims to being a hitting expert so have no qualms if you or anyone else disagrees with me.
Swing looks great to me, especially if you can repeat it. Very nice mechanics, and at 5'10" and 145 lbs the power will come as you continue to mature. You should do very well. Congratulations.

I second CD, if you are hitting a lot to shortstop you may be trying to pull a pitch that is on the outside of the plate or slightly off the plate. Try to let these pitches travel a little further and hit them opposite field. Try to use the whole field, not just the left side.
Last edited by floridafan
I agree with a couple posters that you have a pretty good swing. I also agree with a few of the flaws pointed out in a couple posts, however IMO they are symptoms and not the cause.

One word-Timing.
When your front foot comes down and your heel drops, there is a pause where nothing happens. Then your hips and hands come thru at the same time instead of the hips coming first. The swing has to be one fluid motion, there can be no pause, unless you were fooled, in which case your normal swing mechanics will be altered. This pause caused the remaining swing mechanics (hips, hands, etc.) to get out of sync.

Again, you have a pretty good swing. If this was a pitch that fooled you then, as one poster pointed out, it's a decent adjustment mid-swing. If however this is your normal swing you just need to work on the timing and fluidity of your swing.

And one more thing, Pete Rose's advice to ARod 3 off seasons ago is excellent advice to work out of a slump - hit the ball right back where it came from.
Hey Harlingen, I just thought of something. I have a 2009 Demarini Voodoo, it's a 3 though. It is now a cage bat, Po-Po has beat on it a little too much. It's the one from the video I sent you yesterday. He has a 4 now, but the 3 still hits really well. If you will PM me an address, (check with your parents first) I'll send it to you. It's just sitting in his room now, not being used. That way you can demo one before you try to buy a new one. Even if you are using a 2, the Voodoo is really well balanced.

GED10DaD
Your swing is fine...pretty darn good actually. Work on a tee...do some drills where you put the ball out a little bit in front of the plate, but right down the middle...focus on taking that pitch the other way. This will help train you to hit through the ball, and keep your hands inside....that's the key to not rolling over. It will help keep you through the ball so that you can drive it up the middle still, despite your timing being off slightly (when you roll over, it's a combination of being early, and not hitting through the ball.) Also, work with a wood bat during BP...the smaller sweet spot is far less forgiving and will help train you to hit through the ball better. Your very close, so don't go changing everything, just drill yourself. You're gonna hit. I don't see any bat drag that would cause a problem...besides, if that was your problem (as someone else stated) rolling over and hitting to SS would not be the result, getting sawed off would.
Buh East,

You have a nice swing. You are not fully using your body in the swing. When you load, you aren't bringing your weight back enough so you can't deliever it back into the baseball. Think about a boxer or a golfer. They must come back before they go forward. The more energy they can build up by loading the backside, the more energy they can deliever into the baseball. You are having to power the swing with your upper body only.

See video below of Evan Longoria

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fcW74LwMm3w

He is just getting loose, and not taking his "game" swings yet. See how his body works as a pendulum. Back (load), and forth(swing), Back (Load), and forth (swing).

I'm no expert. I just think it may help.

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