Lil HELP hitting flaws

[wogdoggy]

Seems my boy is rotating his front foot to a point where hes pretty off balance because of front foot roll.He seems to be losing power by opening his hips too fast??? and losing his power in his front left hip.he also seem to be oevrotating to the point where hes pulling back.This is what an instuctor told me when he saw him.he said hes long to the ball and would have a tuffer time surving as pitchers improved.In the same breath he showed me linear movements by taking the knob straight to the pitcher{which i dont care for]..

I can see him overotating wheras his body is almost pulling back and i do think it robs him of some power.

any cures or tips john gem anybody? Ive seen pros roll over there front foot as well.especially on inside pitches..?? thanks h

[Ohfor]

Post a clip.

[Jake Patterson]

When he steps forward (seperates) where does his front toes point? trying to visualize....

[jsiggy]

If you have video, please post a clip... any other advice is going to be a guess and very likely to be wrong.

[ElCaminoSS]

Ya a clip would really help

[wogdoggy]

ok guys give me one day please.just bought a lil 4 mg kodak with a neat lil movie thingy for about 150 bucks.looks well worth it already.thanks guys.

[yankees444]

i had the same problem. what i did was eliminate any unnessary motion before my swing(ex excess bat swinging or any other crap like that) and leaned over the plate a little more than usual. and i know what your thinking when i say lean over the plate-someones goin to hit you son. this wont happen because his natural tendency to fall back will be countered and he will end his swing in a balanced power position.

as for the front foot, just tell him to keep it closed when he strides. for this i reccoment putting a 2 by 4 infront of him at a slight angle toward the 1st base dugout. tell him to stride and keep his foot from going onto the board. do this maybe 10 times a day and see if that brings any results

[wogdoggy]

here it is i hope

[Jake Patterson]

here it is i hope

Nope... didn' get anything..

[wogdoggy]

me thinks i got it click here.please would love both positive and negative feeback.He is born 7/6/91.147lbs 5 foot 11 .swinging a 32 inch minus 3.He has been playing about four years and has been listening to me for only one.lol..this is his first time out this year so hes a lil rusty.thanks for the help getting these up here ursa. hope it works

http://esnips.com/web/wogdoggysPhotos

[Jake Patterson]

me thinks i got it click here.please would love both positive and negative feeback.He is born 7/6/91.147lbs 5 foot 11 .swinging a 32 inch minus 3.He has been playing about four years and has been listening to me for only one.lol..this is his first time out this year so hes a lil rusty.thanks for the help getting these up here ursa. hope it works

http://esnips.com/web/wogdoggysPhotos

I would defer to the hitting experts but several things I noticed are:
1. He seems to have a lot of un-necessary movement in his upper body, arms, wrists, bat, etc. before the swing. There's a difference between staying lose and moving too much.
2. The back foot also has a great deal of movement in the second clip. He actually moves it back about 6-8 inches when he swings. Using the chipper clip below you can see that his foot does not move much. There has been a lot of squish the bug discussion. While I am careful about advocating this, the clip shows too much back foot movement.
CHIPPER.jpg
3. Swing plane in the long clip is flatter than what is needed.
4. Too much head movement. If you grab the little Icon on the bottom and move it frame by frame you can see his head movement when compared against the fence.

I'll let HG and Jim comment on the stride

[wogdoggy]

i put up another one.he seems to be pulling back alot.sometimes to an extreme.this shot shows him pulling back about as far as i want him to.His head is also quieter and his rear leg sits put a lil more.I've got two weeks b4 freshman tryouts.what should i work on with him.? :noidea thanks Jake.

[tom.guerry]

Wog-
great clip job. Quicktime is best format.

Also here is barry describing swing keys to FP'er Jennie Finch-

get foot down,shoulder to ball,top hand- good stuff as long as you make the translation.goto TWIB at link,scroll down to May 29,click on pitch hit and run with Jennie Finch.

http://mlb.mlb.com/NASApp/mlb/mlb/video/twib/index.jsp?content=04

Concerning first clip:

This is the nonhigh level stand up flop front foot open,etc.

Notice as front foot comes down, lead arm is stretching/lengthening,still preparing to set swing radius rather than rotating elbow up into swing plane (knob pull) or connecting.head is coming UP rather than "sit" continuing. Flex is coming out of waist with stand up instead of sit.

In next frame where front foot bears weight.the upper body is not resisting/causing any additional coil.front shoulder coming up is just pulling bat as hands come forward.Weight is stuck back on back foot.Hips can not be initiated from front. BAck hip comes forward with weight shift and with hands with no good coil/hands can't stay back.
Spin extend/reverse pivot/weight falls back.

Got to back up and get early phases in better synch here. Find a high level mlb and compare.

[Jake Patterson]

i put up another one.he seems to be pulling back alot.sometimes to an extreme.this shot shows him pulling back about as far as i want him to.His head is also quieter and his rear leg sits put a lil more.I've got two weeks b4 freshman tryouts.what should i work on with him.? :noidea thanks Jake.

You can start at the bottom and work up or start at the top and work down. I don't feel there is a whole lot you could do until you get his head movement under control. Again, grap the little triangle that moves as the clip rolls. You will be able to move the clip one frame at a time. Look at his head relative to the fence. If you stop this it may quiet the excessive movement. IMO....

Check out some of the other pro clips posted on 101 you will see that the relative head movement is pretty still when compared against your clip.

Hey Wog I just noticed Chippers head above... Check out where his head is against the guy in the white shirt just behind his head in the stands.

This is where I would start...

[tom.guerry]

Wog- here is the Dixon approach which steve E is familiar with.

As I mentioned, Dixon talks about 3 phases-

1-shift and travel
2-shift to explode
3-explode

The typical difference between the "good player" and the "Exceptional"(high level) player is that the good player omits phase #2.

So one way to think of improving is to add this phase #2, or look at chipper and note he has this middle phase and the hitter here does not.

Dixon,EXCEPTIONAL PLAYER,Ch 9 Whippin power,p.41:

"The Exceptional player's mechanics and rhythm are different than evn the good player.While the good player has 2 phases to his swing, the Gifted player has 3 phases. the good player lifts his front foot and then catches himelf as he falls forward. his rhythm is 1-lift front foot, 2 touchdown with front leg,then throw or swing (standupflopopen,etc).

The rhythm of the exceptional player is, 1 Lift front foot forward, 2 travel forward wihout falling or touching down(carry), 3 touchdown with front foot, then throw or swing. 1-2 vs 1-2-3. The E xceptional player delays touchdown while he travels forward without falling or touching down, with a specific set of mechanics. This additional phase takes about 50% longer to get to Touchdown than t takes for good players. However, the Exceptional player has a dominating explosion upon touchdown that good players don't have. Arn speed or batspeed is superior.....and the hands on bat are quick to contact or release upon touchdown."

I find the details of Dixon incmplete as mentioned in a real long post in another thread.

Dixon phase 1- mixes up the very early sequence by not separating out inward turn then hip cock.

Phase 2 involves the coking of the hands- Dixon says this is the same as the old walk away from hands cue. It is also the same as the "scap load/scap pinch/load for punch/lift back elbow,spread legs/knees further apart whil;e hips remain cocked and back scap continues pinching."front leg is in air but rigid and lifting at the crtch to assistr front side of torso in lifting".

ThenDixon gets very messy in describng phase 3"explode"- omits the wind rubber band phase entirely, does not appreciate upper/lower body synch of "drop and tilt" ( Nyman bow-arch/vertical load helps comunicate these phases) does not understand how swing proceeds to make adjustment on fly.

Still a good faukt recognition/distinction of nonhigh level/spin vs high level whip.

Have to get things right and in sequence from beginning to have a chance to unfold right.