The stride foot goes forward at the same time the batter loads/transfers weight back. Any thoughts on this? Have you saw this?
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Commonly known as "walking away from your hands".
If you look at video of high level batters you will see most of them do this to one degree or another.
If you look at video of high level batters you will see most of them do this to one degree or another.
quote:Originally posted by Nicholas25:
The stride foot goes forward at the same time the batter loads/transfers weight back.
Isn't the weight transferring forward as the stride foot goes forward?
Of course, the hands stay where they were, and the shoulder/hip turn in as you move forward.
The first 3-4 seconds of this clip show the action...
I'm not enough of an expert to comment on the value of teaching it, but I know it is something that some instructors do teach.
swing clip
I'm not enough of an expert to comment on the value of teaching it, but I know it is something that some instructors do teach.
swing clip
Nicholas: i think it's a good cue. Jerry Kindall from Univ of Arizona back in the old days (80's) was really good at teaching this.
I agree with it... but I think it's more active than "walk away from the hands". The rear arm has to be put in charge of loading the hands.
This "walk away from the hands" may be something I work with this year. May just use it with some young guys and wee how it works, how they feel about it. I can see it helping with guys who struggle with balance, struggle to stay back, and get their foot down late with their stride... We will see..
My son went to Dick Birmingham's baseball camp for three years back in Springfield, MO and Dick was a big proponent of this. I also went to a couple of his coaching seminars and I adopted his "rubber band approach" to use with all my youth teams over the years.
His basic instruction was that the kids should pretend that there was a giant rubberband with one end attached to their front foot and the other attached to the knob of the bat. As you got into position to hit (stride is seperate from the swing) you would "stretch the rubberband" as your front foot went forward and your hands/weight/bat went back. Maybe it wasn't perefct, but it was a great learning cue for the younger crowd.
His basic instruction was that the kids should pretend that there was a giant rubberband with one end attached to their front foot and the other attached to the knob of the bat. As you got into position to hit (stride is seperate from the swing) you would "stretch the rubberband" as your front foot went forward and your hands/weight/bat went back. Maybe it wasn't perefct, but it was a great learning cue for the younger crowd.
