"hip slide"

[ncsouthpaw]

In looking a the video of my 13 yr old he has about 2-3 frames of his front hip sliding foward after toe touch and before it begins rotating. How do I rid him of this? Any drills or words of wisdom?

I don't have the capability at the present to upload any clips for review but hope to get that done in the next week or so. If I start counting with front elbow movement he is getting to contact in 5-6 frames, I assume that is pretty good for his age?

[swingbuster]

Go back and see if his lead elbow is bent and behind the belly button at toe touch. If it is not he will keep sliding.

He is looking for something to launch and his shoulders are not back possibly/ probably .

[ncsouthpaw]

Go back and see if his lead elbow is bent and behind the belly button at toe touch. If it is not he will keep sliding.

He is looking for something to launch and his shoulders are not back possibly/ probably .

Thanks, that is an issue he has struggled with from time to time but currently he his doing a good job with staying in that position. It seems that he wants to move his hips foward for a few frames before rotation but he does stay coiled with his upper body until the hips begin rotation. We did some tee work today and I just had him to focus on staying back and firing his hips when the front foot planted.

[Mark H]

Let's see a clip.

[tom.guerry]

nc-

The terminology can be very confusing. I would say the best explanation of the swing that gives the best meaning to "hip slide" and why it is a flaw and how to fix it is from Yeager's cd's which have a lot of emphasis on the weight shift and lower body perpsective on the swing.

He describes 4 phases based on leg action:
back leg load (negative move/hip coil/hip cok)
back leg push (model wise, this means force production via the back leg and backfoot as a base to the whole body forward)positive move
front leg block
front leg push.

A common flaw in the high level pattern is that back leg push is still underway when the front leg blocks which is very inefficient. Hip slide is a good way to describe this problem. Fixing it requires finishing back leg push before front leg blocks. Good back arm slotting action is necessary but not sufficient for this becasue the whole body must be coiling well with the hands staying back as this happens.

This is also the essence of what LAu is describing when he says not to swing while you stride (striding then swinging is preferred to striding and swinging).LAu thinks of this as a linear weight shift then rotation which he thinks of as a hybrid swing superior to the purely rotational swing (this is his way of criticizing Williams by misrepresenting him - something we are all guilty of here at times including myself).

Checking out Yeager's CD's is the best way to see this.

[ncsouthpaw]

Thanks.

I widened his stance thereby shortening his stride to a couple of inches and that has helped a good bit.

[tom.guerry]

nc-

yeager's info also lets you sort out style from technique, making sense of all the different stride/no-stride styles you see.

[Mark H]

What does he say about arm action.

[tom.guerry]

Mark-

I hope as a student of the game you have all yeager's cd's and look at them a lot.

Notice he DOES relate how the back elbow slots to how well you finish push before front leg blocks.

In the bettter Padres hitter he shows, his analysis is that the PRIMARY flaw is poor back elbow slotting, followed by front leg block while back leg push is still underway.

If you look at the improved mechanics where the push finishes better before block, you will note that the hands stay back at the shoulder and the back elbow remains slotted and the flex does not come out of the elbow early (gem could improve this too - this is the typical flaw at the mlb level - what mankin calls "THT" separates the best mlb's from the rest (mechanically - not mentally - speaking).

[Mark H]

Never mind Tom. I just thought your post above mine was ironically funny.

[ssarge]

A common flaw in the high level pattern is that back leg push is still underway when the front leg blocks which is very inefficient.

In the bettter Padres hitter he shows. . .

this is the typical flaw at the mlb level - what mankin calls "THT" separates the best mlb's from the rest (mechanically - not mentally - speaking).

Interesting. So even the best 400 hitters in the world don't necessarily display the "high-level pattern" (as defined by Tom, and sometimes referred to by him as the "MLB pattern"). And apparently, don't need to in order to survive at that level.

When things are non-universal among a group )such as the group of MLB hitters), it is NOT a pattern among that group. Which points out again how important it is to understand what IS universal (or nearly so), and to build that into the youth developmental progression.

I think this also SCREAMS in irony as young hitters are routinely criticized for not adhering to a pattern to which the top 400 hitters in the world ALSO don't adhere. As evidenced by the above quotes, and as evidenced by the 20 MLB hitters (5% of the group in question, but hardly the full list) previously illustrated by Richard.

Regards,

Scott

[ssarge]

(this is his way of criticizing Williams by misrepresenting him - something we are all guilty of here at times including myself).

Tom,

I find this admission from you unusual. I am pleased to see it.

Regards,

Scott

[tom.guerry]

Thanks Scott.