Young hitter for review (#3)!

He is setting the swing plane with his hands and arms....Needs to understand connection and the use of posture to set swing plane...

I don't like the lean back with the body before the stride....I believe most call it the negative move....

Jason:

His grip looks great (evidenced by the cupped wrists), but the video starts to soon for me to see his pre-swing stance with movement.

Unlike Blue Dog, I DO like to see the negative move back “every time the pitcher separates his hands” but prefer to see hitters also turn their hips and shoulders backward during it and/or during the stride itself.
This boy leaves power on the table in my opinion.

Lastly, he looks at the pitcher “over” his front shoulder very well, so he should not have any trouble incorporating this.

THop

I am betting he doesn't hit many balls to the opposite field.

His swing is powered by the hands and arms....No connection and improper posture....

Doesn't do it internally. Notice how he turns the front leg out. A pure spinner! I don't like the hinge angle either. Some bat drag? and also uses arms as the dog mentions.

THOP said

quote:

Unlike Blue Dog, I DO like to see the negative move back “every time the pitcher separates his hands” but prefer to see hitters also turn their hips and shoulders backward during it and/or during the stride itself.

oh no, counter rotation believer. Not good. I would much rather see a coil with the shoulder as to counter rotation with the hip and shoulder rotating back at the same time. Affects vison in my opinion amoung other things.

Negative move? where? I don't see it.

THere is much to say but I will point out one place I think is an absolute...

your hands must come cocked 90 degrees to forearm to form a wrist angle to release on the ball. Not coming fully cocked cost you power.

Not the worst swing I have seen for sure

He appears to tuck the rear elbow and throw hands to the ball. Also, his front side doesn't appear to be hinging properly as he drifts forward after foot plant and launch. The kid has some thickness to him and would guess he can muscle them at that level.

quote:

Negative move? where? I don't see it.

The stance is not good....He leans back....

poor posture and balance. With the way he's spinning off his front leg I'd bet he rolls over often, hitting grounders to the SS.

quote:

poor posture and balance.

In what way?

Concur with BlueDog. The boy seems to use a weight shift forward as timing mechanism. Does offspeed and outside fastballs give him more trouble than most? Hands look pretty quick and hip turn is acceptable. Leg usage is minimal, notice the upright posture and lack of bracing of front foot for very long. Alot more power could be put to use if he could find a more athletic neutral position with bent knees,inward turn of waist and front shoulder as his trigger.

G'day Jason

A very good swing from a 14 y.o.

Has he had this swing for long? Is he still learning this swing? Is he ready to step up?

Another important question is this his best swing,or how he always swings.Are we commenting what he achieves 80% of the time or 20% of the time.
I prefer to see clips of not so good swings which amplify mechanical flaws.

I think he uses his middle well but doesn' get full use from his pelvic load. I'm not clever enough to view the clip frame by frame but I see a slight disconnection, maybe hitting a touch too far out in front. I can't count the frames so I don't know how quick the swing is.I agree with others about initiatig the swing with the arms and not the body.

Are you his coach/dad? Do you know what he is working on?

I would be interested to see or hear how he got to this stage.


Alan

PS Vance

Spinner is a new term to me. What does it mean?

Spinner is a connected turn where all the body part move at the same time.

Segmentation is the same turn but with the hips leading the shoulders creating stretch in the torso and acceleration of the shoulders utilizing some kinetic energy.

The later is created by the upper body turning or staynig back as the lower body moves forward creating x -factor. You can search " golf x -factor " and read more about this core power mechanism

Creating resistance to the shoulders by a pattern of arm action that has the barrel rotating around the hands at swing initiation is a mechanism to accomplish this resistance and a spatially early shoulder linkage

We can also point out what he does good.

1. His weight starts back, moves forward, and shifts back through release. The COG is close to moving right

2. His lead leg goes into extension indicating a full hip turn. lead leg block ; not slide

3. His rear elbow lifts, hands go back, lead elbow about equal to belly button AS he shifts and rotates.

4. he seems to stay " on the ball" into contact on swing one...more on that later

5. He opens his front foot as he rotates into foot plant. Here is a good place to show how a weak shoulder load requires a more open foot to connect or tighten the linkage. A closed front foot strongly requires a more internally rotated rear elbow. The lead toe/ rear elbow spatial relationships determine torque potential. Either combination can work if you avoid extremes

How can he get better?

I agree posture can be a lot better...that will help. That is something I learned here on- line..tested and was amazed what it does for batters

He can do what he is doing with a little more effort / accentuation. IOWS. a little more dynamic tension in his upper body load. Turn those shoulders back a little more as he strides and stretch the linkage.

If the stride is done right i.e. carry/ shift to rotate then I am sorry, it is somewhat a timing device or a mechanism to be timed. Tightening the upper lower body linkage and arriving at foot plant near the optimal time to launch is a requirement of a good swing.

I think he is a classic example of a kid with a pretty good lower body working against a suboptimally loading upper body and poor posture.

I base that on the difference in the two swings. Look at the top swing and the lead shoulder arriving under the chin at launch. Compare the lead shoulder / chin location in the weaker second swing. Understand that the rear elbow action ( up and over) effects front shoulder location at foot plant like in pitching

IMO opinion it does no good to tell a kid to keep your front side in. It is better to show the dynamic mechanism to keep the hands back. BY default the later will keep the front shoulder IN

Also notice his rear foot through impact. The better connected shoulder turn/ acceleration gets him off his back side better through contact. The rear toe clears better in swing one indicating better momentum transfer

It shows how small differences in shoulder load and timing of the shift/ cusp effect connection. The second swing never connected properly.

I have come to believe that timing is " how you work/ stretch your top half against you bottom half in relationship to anticipated time of arrival of the ball.

The more dynamic action/ stretch you employ the more difficult the move to time in theory. The better the move; the greater the reward if you can pull it off.

Novices can hit faster pitches spinning. The best players time their dynamic move and the speed makes little difference. Around 88 in HS and 95 in MLB everybody can be ******* wind

quote:

The best players time their dynamic move and the speed makes little difference.

Swing, I agree.....I think most coaches don't understand this.......

quote:

I have come to believe that timing is " how you work/ stretch your top half against you bottom half in relationship to anticipated time of arrival of the ball.

Bingo......I agree......And, the front foot is key in this scenario....

Some additional information about this hitter...

He's an arm swinger. For two years this player has struggled with bat drag (aka back/top hand elbow leading the top hand). He would hit bombs in batting practice but really struggled in games. He struck out a LOT last season, especially against good pitching. He struggled this past season against good pitching but he was a little more consistent making contact.

He spent last winter working with a private instructor at a local facility. The instructor teaches you to get your front foot down early and "throw your hands at the ball". Even with the training this hitter still struggled against higher velocity pitchers and off-speed pitches. He hits a lot of balls to right field, and when he pulls the ball he typically hits it on the ground.

Jason

I am a novice and learning with my son.

Can you boil this down for me. I think what I am reading indicates that you should not spin out the front foot and you slightly tuck the should in as you go with the negative move.

At what point does the front shoulder begin to open up? Before, After, on ideally with contact and extension.

I am guilty of tell me son to keep is front side in when what I think I am being told is to stop spinning out his front foot. I did notice he "chops wood" when his foot spins out.

My son is quite a bit younger (10) but I would love to fully understand this so I can help him between lessons. He has been video taped by a former big leaguer. My son is in great shape up to toe touch then he can go awry. This might help him understand.

Bill

Regarding the "negative move." I'm still struggling with this with my child. She wants to lean way back and then explode. It is a natural move and was never taught by me. She still seems to get to lauch in time and on heel touch, she can stay connected through the ball. With Bonds etc. some of that load looks to diminish their ability to get the bat on the ball and yet, when they hit exact portions of the swing, they are so very similar to other great hitters. Therefore, even though I agree with Bluedog, you have to see what real role that action has on this young man's swing. Naturally, if it affects posture, load (sitting down on the ball) ... then you have to address it. From what you've typed in response, sounds like it does.

Bill

You will eternally battle the swing until you let it happen like it should.

Do this drill

Put the bat out from rear armpit. Assume an athletic posture. Tip the barrel away from the body and toward the 2 baseman position AS YOU COIL YOU HIPS. Stride carrying the weight and HIT.

The swing starts with loading and the hand movement should trigger the hips to coil behind it. THE HANDS AND HIPS INITIATE THE LOAD. The hands rotate the barrel at swing initiation..they do not push forward. Most players top hand is PUSHING forward. Nearing 95%.That is why they cannot hit well. Been there done that

Many good things will happen that take a long post. A bad start never has a good ending.

Set up a tee and place a ball on it laces facing backwards. Hit the inside seam from this drill movement pattern that mimics pitching

Bat tips to 2 B as hips coil. Barrel stays loaded more vertical as the weight is carried in the back hip. The rest is reative and BOOM . About twenty swings if your doing it right will change your approach.

Flipp wrote

The instructor teaches you to get your front foot down early and "throw your hands at the ball".


Close ...start turing the barrel around as you rotate to foot plant . THis player never gets in poistion to throw the top hand. It can be done and felt but not with that launch