The difference a year makes.

I would also agree that the foot comes down very quickly and he is balanced and ready to run very quickly.

It is a little behind where it started but he is balanced.

micmeister,sent pm

You posted the stills and got a few opinions....They didn't seem to be worth much to you.....A few people got a chance to talk some hitting and argue some.....

If you're satisfied with the path your son's swing develpment is taking, then, you should continue with what you're doing.....You see what you believe to be improvement so it must be all good....

I never said they didn't mean anything to me.I have learned from this thread but some of the arguments made were made invalid with the stills from the videos.


From what I gather here,if your foot doesn't come completely off the ground and land in a different spot,then you are not doing it right.

I have asked questions and they are ignored.They are valid questions imo.

Here is one more pic,same as one before but it was a link.i love this strike.

quote:

Originally posted by BlueDog:
Do you not see the relevance of the back foot being planted as Chameleon has tried to tell you?

Just asking....

Balance as it pertains to swinging a bat, is a very misused term.....

Does this great hitter gather his balance??

http://imageevent.com/siggy/hitting/pro;jsessionid=jei6...&c=4&l=0&w=4&s=0&z=9

Did I ever mention the back foot should be planted?

I think I have gotten caught up in the middle of past arguments or something to that effect.


I have stated to look at the video clips at certain points and they would be similar to the original stills I posted.

http://www.eventsimagingandawards.com/mp_client/picture...865141&eventid=27491



http://www.eventsimagingandawards.com/mp_client/picture...865378&eventid=27492


Is this better? I am kidding ..Some of you seem to forget about having a little fun.

I think I have proven that overall,he is not "spinning" He does have some flaws,never denied that.But he was getting broken down like he was in the majors.


He does have some upper body issues,I have admitted that and that is the point of emphasis right now.

Is this him?

http://youtube.com/watch?v=Q7aE2HpzIF4

Yes,I posted the link earlier.

IMO, he is WAAAY too wide with his feet. Watching the video, he is almost as wide as he is tall.

One of my players fell into this trap and it slowed his bat speed considerably.

Not a bat stroke for a lil guy.

The video was taken in kind of a transition period.He starts stepping way wide in the beggining because he had been starting narrow and going wider.We were working on going back to starting wide without striding and he was doing both at the start of the video.Later in the video he gets back to just raising his foot and lowering back down.


Yes,in the beggining of the video he was way wide.

TFox,

Good to hear. In the pic above, it looks as if he is pulling his chest back to the catcher to get his hands to the ball. (Yeah...I know it is only a still picture) This pulls his head behind his center...and it might be why he missed the pitch.

quote:

Originally posted by redbird5:
TFox,

Good to hear. In the pic above, it looks as if he is pulling his chest back to the catcher to get his hands to the ball. (Yeah...I know it is only a still picture) This pulls his head behind his center...and it might be why he missed the pitch.

The pitch was outside and he was trying to get out there to hit it,would that explain what you are seeing.

He is also using rotational mechanics and he is being taught to work his weight back.

quote:

Originally posted by tfox:
The pitch was outside and he was trying to get out there to hit it,would that explain what you are seeing.

He is also using rotational mechanics and he is being taught to work his weight back.

If he is hitting the outside pitch, the ball should travel further and contact is made deeper in his stance. You shouldn't have to "go out and get" any ball. Again, I know he is a young guy and that decision making process takes a while to learn.

All swings are rotational - there is no MLB hitter who is not. He shouldn't have to lean back with his torso to have a rotational swing.

I have shown him the pic and explained that he has to let the ball get in further,especially on the outside pitch.

He does it well in the cage but he hasn't gotten to the point where he can controll the game nerves to do it everytime in the game.


I did pitch him in the cage with a live arm and he did a nice job of adjusting to everything I threw.A good sign imo.


I am not getting back into the weight back argument,there is enough of that on this thread already.Plenty of video too.

To get him to stay back more, you can throw offset BP...move the L screen about 3-4' to the 1B side of the mound. Throw to the outer half. It gives you a better angle to hit your spots and makes him "let the ball travel" and get deeper in the hitting zone.

Having one's weight back has nothing to do with pulling his chest back towards the catcher. They are 2 separate movements.

quote:

Originally posted by tfox:
I have shown him the pic and explained that he has to let the ball get in further,especially on the outside pitch.

He does it well in the cage but he hasn't gotten to the point where he can controll the game nerves to do it everytime in the game.


I did pitch him in the cage with a live arm and he did a nice job of adjusting to everything I threw.A good sign imo.


I am not getting back into the weight back argument,there is enough of that on this thread already.Plenty of video too.

Tee work is the best way to learn body position on different locations. Muscle memory.

Again,not trying to argue but don't these hitters have their chest back.If I understand it correctly,it helps you drive off your front foot.

Are you trying to point out something else that I am missing,or do you just have a different philosophy for hitting than this?

The diagram is the way it is being taught.

http://www.backbackback.com/ this is where I found the photos

quote:

Originally posted by tfox:
Again,not trying to argue but don't these hitters have their chest back.If I understand it correctly,it helps you drive off your front foot.

Are you trying to point out something else that I am missing,or do you just have a different philosophy for hitting than this?

The diagram is the way it is being taught.

http://www.backbackback.com/ this is where I found the photos

It's hard to argue when one of the best hitters in MLB is doing it, huh? I'd say this shot is being hit to the left side or middle since his right arm is out so far. Think about this for a moment, if you have a slight upswing, wouldn't your best leverage position be leaning slightly back???

That's the way I understand it but what do I know.


I would also say that he is definately inside the ball.

I recently joined the board. This is my first venture into this section. I read page one and page seven. I'm guessing the same pee'ing match went on from pages two through six.

At eight years old be happy a kid loves playing the game, makes contact and doesn't have seriously flaws (relative to being 8yo) in his swing. Statistics for eight year olds? Come on!

Warning: I can be very direct at times. Is this your oldest? Parents often get goofy on stats with the first kid. Then when they realize how irrelevant they are, they're sane with the second kid.

I wouldn't be able to tell you what my son hit in 14U travel if I hadn't been shown a stat sheet near the end of the season. Regardless of his stats he's swinging the bat well and hitting the ball hard, which is all that really matters in his development heading into high school ball.

Baseball is a journey. At eight, relax, get caught up with having fun. Learn fundamentals. Don't see 8yo's as mini pros.

This is my second child and as far as the stats go,I was the first base coach so the stats were kinda part of the job.I don't know EXACTLY what he hit but I know how many times he got out because I can count them on 1 hand.


I bet you know how many homeruns your child hit in a season as well.

quote:

Originally posted by tfox:
... know how many times he got out because I can count them on 1 hand.

I bet you know how many homeruns your child hit in a season as well.

I remember both of my kids hardly making any outs when they were eight. It really doesn't matter. It's about building passion for the game at age eight. Some kids are way ahead of other kids at the early ages. I've also seen preteen studs turn to duds.

And yes, I can count to eight. The significance is how far he's driving the ball when he gets into one, heading into high school.

quote:

Originally posted by TG:

quote:

Originally posted by tfox:
... know how many times he got out because I can count them on 1 hand.

I bet you know how many homeruns your child hit in a season as well.

I remember both of my kids hardly making any outs when they were eight. It really doesn't matter. It's about building passion for the game at age eight. Some kids are way ahead of other kids at the early ages. I've also seen preteen studs turn to duds.

And yes, I can count to eight. The significance is how far he's driving the ball when he gets into one, heading into high school.

I think you as well as many others missed the whole point of this thread,I was mainly commenting on how much bigger/thicker my son was in the 2 pics.

It then turned into a peeing match.

Like I said,I don't know EXACTLY what the stats are and I didn't KEEP them but it isn't hard to say the batting average was the same and he had more homeruns.


He is having a blast,he gave up all other sports this fall so he can play live pitch this fall.He didn't have to but he told me nothing was going to make him miss live pitch.

tfox,

1) That softball swing is ugly. Please don't post it.

2) Joe Mauer leaning back and your son leaning back are 2 different things. Mauer is leaning back to get leverage. It appears your son pulls his chest back to get his bat through the zone. Just sayin'...

3) I am not arguing at all