rolling over on purpose

If you want to be a slap hitter and your 60 times are well under 7, then great. Otherwise, start shopping.

I have actually seen a hitting coach teach that as a philosophy. I agree with Sultan, find someone else.

Years ago there were a few hitting coaches who believed a slight turn of the bat barrel was needed at contact in order to impart backspin to the baseball. This belief has gone by the wayside as it is now commonly accepted that backspin is a function of both swing plane and point-of-contact on the baseball. The increased use of super slo-mo video has proven this. Rolling of the wrists creates a wobble in the swing plane which increases the liklihood of over-cutting or under-cutting of the baseball. Wrist rolling also tends to slow the rate at which the bat barrel can be accelerated, leading to weak hits.

I agree...go elsewhere.

Find someone else. Or ask the guy to put video of your son next to an MLB player.

Finishing with two hands is more of a style thing, rather than technique. As long as he holds on until after extension, don't worry about it.

A little background. My son is 12 and this is an all star team. My son played highschool freshman ball as a 7th grader this year and did struggle a little due to him being so young. He developed a slight hitch which we took care of early in the rec season but the high school coach loves his swing and said not to let anyone touch it. His rec coach did try to make him a swing down hit at extension person but I quickly put a stop to it and now this. He hit great this season after the fix and has 5 homeruns and a pretty decent average after the initial problems but it seems that I am having to fight everyone except the high school coach. I feel terrible about the whole ordeal. Seems I am becoming "that dad"



I am telling my son to just hit the ball and I am backing out of it until we can find a good travel team next season.

I am going to try a smooth things over with the coaches as well.

Your question was a trap for anyone who answered.....You needed a chance to brag about your son, again, I see.....

quote:

Originally posted by BlueDog:
Your question was a trap for anyone who answered.....You needed a chance to brag about your son, again, I see.....

still insane I see

Your son doesn't sequence properly!

quote:

Originally posted by tfox:
Has anyone ever heard of anyone teaching rolling over in purpose. My son has someone right now trying to get him to hit with a weak front knee and rolling over at extension.

He is also trying to get him to finish with both hands.


Naturally I expressed my displeasure and got the normal response. If I don't like it I can take my son and go home. Ironic thing is my son received several intentional walks when this coach was coaching against him and he hit 2homeruns in the same game against him.



So how would you handle this.

Wrist rolling sounds like a bad idea in any batting situation especially with a young player. As far as the front knee goes; bent or stiff for me would depend on what I am swinging at and where it is in the zone or where I want to put it. Finishing with 2 hands on the bat after the swing is something some people can do and some cannot. I finished with 2 hands but my son finishes with one. I had pretty good sucess with my swing in HS was a perenial 3 or 4 hitter and my son has held the clean up slot since he came to HS ball last season. That has nothing to do with a swing being good or bad, but a matter of how fast a player can rotate his wrists effectively in a full on swing. Just a quick point, Albert Pujols will have a stiff or bent front knee depending on the situation as well.

UPDATE* Pujols both stiff and bent front knee.

quote:

Originally posted by BlueDog:
Your son doesn't sequence properly!

Yes, I can agree with that but it is much better than you remember.

gslack,
Pujols' front leg is different in those two photos because he is at different places in his swing.

The front leg straightening is a result, not an objective.

NDD, would you please stop with the common sense approach?.....You're gonna upset some people if you keep telling the truth!

Sorry coach, it's all I know. See the ball, hit the ball. One pitch at a time.

quote:

Originally posted by NDD:
gslack,
Pujols' front leg is different in those two photos because he is at different places in his swing.

The front leg straightening is a result, not an objective.

BINGO!

The difference is a couple milliseconds. But fair enough, it is at different points in his swing.

Pujols stiff or bent front knee was just an example, I was unaware it was going to ruffle any feathers. Either way, I stand by what I said earlier. Especially if it is a result and not an objective. Due to the fact a swing plane or AOA on a ball in different areas of the zone will usually lead to subtle differences in weight and hip position at the point of contact. Which was my point to begin with.

Right, his entire swing is in milliseconds. He's one of those "gets around the corner quick" guys. I'm not a frame counter, but I'm pretty sure he's a 4 frame guy.

He doesn't stiffen or bend his front knee, it is something that happens because of what he does before that.

It didn't ruffle feathers. In the first pic he is still at lag, in the 2nd is at POC. Two entirely different parts of the swing.

I don't know what AOA is.

Of course hitting different pitches will cause changes. Not so much in the hips though. Get catcher's views and look at the tilt different between inside and outside. The really great ones like Pujols have learned to minimize those differences and it isn't about the front leg. The front leg is a post around which to rotate.

BTW, a lot of youth players learning to hit straighten it out to early, probably because they are told to, and that causes problems.

AOA = Angle of Attack.

The ruffling feathers was directed to the comments that followed.

I think we are saying the same thing here now regarding the front leg. As I said stiff or bent front leg does not necessarily make a swing good or bad.

Wrist roll is never good.

Wrists should be free to turn with the swing.

Yes the coach to death, but hit normally.

The big test is beginning with play on the 90 foot base paths after this All Star season ends.

Good luck

quote:

Originally posted by Quincy:
Wrist roll is never good.

Wrists should be free to turn with the swing.

Yes the coach to death, but hit normally.

The big test is beginning with play on the 90 foot base paths after this All Star season ends.

Good luck

He did 90 this spring with the high school and then had to drop back to 60. That was interesting for a while.