Your Keys to Hitting

quote:

Originally posted by Metropop:
2. Don't circle the ball. Some people call it barring the lead arm but its impossible to have a short, somewhat compact swing by circling.

While I'm no fan of barring the front arm, because it can create a hole over the inner half of the plate, what is the alternative to circling the ball? I'm not sure how circling and arm barring are necessarily related.

quote:

Originally posted by Metropop:
3. Get the front foot down to trigger everything else.

I think this is so critical that I don't even mention it as a key. It's just like gravity, to me. When the front heel drops, the swing starts. End of story.

Everything else has to take this fact into account.

quote:

Just curious to see if you guys had a top three list of hitting keys for a group this age, what would it consist of? No one here is going to offend me either, so see what you think.

1. Completed stride length (foot width) the same length as bat length.

2. Bat starts in upright position.

3. Front elbow needs to get behind center of body during loading process.

Those would be my top 3, but if I was starting from scratch on 10 year olds, I would work to teach Mankin's 10 absolutes of hitting.

Don't forget "Keep your eyes on the ball"

What are his 10 absolute's

quote:

Originally posted by socalhscoach:
What are his 10 absolute's

Here is a list I found to be "Absolutes" to a good swing and higher
batting performance. All good hitters will: (1) Hide their hands at the
back-shoulder as rotation starts; (2) Shoulder rotation initiates the
acceleration of the hands into a circular path; (3) The bat will be in
the
plane of the lead-arm as the shoulders start to rotate; (4) The
lead-elbow
will remain at a fixed angle. If the lead-arm straightens, it occurs
early
in the swing; (5) The bat-head will first accelerate in an arc back
toward
the catcher; (6) The back-elbow will lower and rotate at the batter's
side
(in the "slot"); (7) The swing plane will remain smooth (no dips or
rising
above the plane of the lead-arm; (8) Other than on outside pitches, the
lead-shoulder will be pulling back toward the catcher (105 degree
position
with lead-leg extended) at contact; (9) In the contact zone, the plane
of
the swing will be on a 10 to 15 degree up-slope to closely match the
descending path of the incoming ball.
>
> And last, and probably the most important, if the batter's swing
mechanics
are efficient: (10) The bat will come to contact as the shoulders finish
rotation. ---NOTE : The farther away from contact that bat is as the
shoulders stop rotating, the weaker the swing.
>
> A hitter may exhibit a flaw in the Absolutes and still hit the ball
hard.
But usually not consistently enough to stay high in the charts. When a
good
hitter goes into in a prolonged slump, I seriously doubt it occurred due
to
a change in his athletic abilities; rather I almost invariably find he
has
developed flaws in one or more of the ten Absolutes. Most often in 3, 7
and
10.
>
> Many of the Absolute principles are better viewed from a frontal shot
of
the batter while others show up better from across the plate."
>
>"End of Quote by Jack Mankin"

powertoallfields, I don't understand Mankin's point when he says, "The
lead-elbow
will remain at a fixed angle. If the lead-arm straightens, it occurs
early in the swing."

I agree to keep a fixed angle in the lead elbow, but if it straightens does that mean he means it is completely straight, like locked out??? I would think this would be a good idea early in the swing?? Maybe it just means it starts straightening out early and then by contact it is locked?? Help me understand that.

I also don't quite understand #8.

Coach W

quote:

Originally posted by PatrickW:
powertoallfields, I don't understand Mankin's point when he says, "The
lead-elbow
will remain at a fixed angle. If the lead-arm straightens, it occurs
early in the swing."

I agree to keep a fixed angle in the lead elbow, but if it straightens does that mean he means it is completely straight, like locked out??? I would think this would be a good idea early in the swing?? Maybe it just means it starts straightening out early and then by contact it is locked?? Help me understand that.

I also don't quite understand #8.

Coach W

Patrick,

The more muscle a hitter has or the less flexable they are, the less that lead arm will straighten in the loading process, but that arm needs to get past the center of the body. It is much easier to adjust to breaking pitches if that lead elbow stays flexed and not locked, but if a hitter has a natural ability to adjust the sweetspot by rotating the body (Ken Griffey Jr.), you may not want to change it. If a hitter bars the front arm and is getting jammed a lot or hitting the ball off the end of the bat, it's time to make a change.

As far as #8, at the point the top hand starts to fire/wrists uncocking, the front shoulder and front hip should be pulling back as the back hip fires forward and back shoulder comes through. If you don't teach this, they will, many times, not complete the rotation of the core and when that happens, they will lose power and batspeed. It is the same action as in pitching if the pitcher does not pull backward with the glove side. They will lose velo and many times have a tendancy to leave the ball up in the zone.

quote:

Originally posted by The Beast:
Don't forget "Keep your eyes on the ball"

Good point! I have one hitter, probably one of the better hitters on my team that will not quit closing his eyes at contact. The kid does most everything else right but just as the bat meets the ball, eyes are closed.

I told him "you cant hit what you can't see" and he responds with "if I can't see it, how come I keep hitting it?" Its a little quirky, but it works for him so I just let it go. Its hard to argue with results, however unorthodox it might be.

It does not matter if his eyes are closed or not. No hitter can see the ball and the bat meet. Not even Ted Williams and he could see through walls. Go and look at some pics of guys hitting, if you notice their eyes are looking out in front of them, so you actually lose sight of the ball about the last 2 or so feet (guestimating on that) And thats why you can close your eyes and still be able to hit, because it does not matter

I'm not sure if I ever saw contact on a good fastball, but I know I did on breaking pitches and offspeed.