High School Hitter

[hiddengem]

JB,Mark, ohfor Siggy ect.

Could you guys give this kid some feeback on his swing. He is kinda coming over from the the "Dark Side" so to speak. I think he was taught to "throw your hands to the ball" and to have a "swing down" mentality. He has always been a very good cage hitter, but finds himself hitting alot of ground balls, and hasn't been able to drive the ball consistently. I have been giving him some feedback, but I think it would be great if he could hear it from some other folks as well. Thanks for your time.

[jbooth]

JB,Mark, ohfor Siggy ect.

Could you guys give this kid some feeback on his swing. He is kinda coming over from the the "Dark Side" so to speak. I think he was taught to "throw your hands to the ball" and to have a "swing down" mentality. He has always been a very good cage hitter, but finds himself hitting alot of ground balls, and hasn't been able to drive the ball consistently. I have been giving him some feedback, but I think it would be great if he could hear it from some other folks as well. Thanks for your time.

Yep, you can't get more down than that. That's a linear swing if I ever saw one. Sways back too much, slides the hips, takes the hands from shoulder to waist, doesn't rotate the hips before moving the hands. Basically a ground ball, pop up swing, with zero power. Sorry to be so negative, but there isn't much good about that swing.

[LClifton]

Hg

I know you didn't ask for my input, but I want to encourage this hitter.

I have seen several just like this and he will be able to improve.
Having him learn to rotate while staying connected will be a major chore, but can definitely be accomplished, at the very least improved.
He immediately disconnects.

First help him establish his posture.
Get him to bend over as if someone has just punched him in the stomach.
Then just a little knee bend.

I would start his hands at around his armpit, just a bit lower than they are now.

From that point I would have him hit several balls off of the tee, and I'm saying several, as in several hundred, due to the fact he needs to unlearn and begin to relearn.

Of course mixing in the live arm and front toss while he is learning to rotate keeps the practice from getting too boring.

How motivated is he to improve? HG, how old is this hitter?
He will find that rotating in a connected fashion will take much more time and especially more energy than merely throwing his hands and arms at the ball.

I will let the others give you some input on teaching him to rotate.
Here is a picture showing a good starting posture. Only one color on the lines, sorry. lol
Sincerely,
LClifton

dunn_adam1_0001.jpg

[swingbuster]

He must kick the back knee inward and learn to coil not slide. You weight your back side with a turn not a slide as Coach Booth said. Your dead at the first move

[Sultan_1895-1948]

The biggest thing I see from watching that, is the initial rocking movement.
As a hitter, you have to ask yourself why are you doing something; does it serve a purpose? Is it just a comfort thing? In this case, the rock needs to go. It does nothing. In fact, his rock is actually the only thing that brings his hands back.

First thing I would do with him, is widen his stance up a little. From there, lower his hands, and get him to focus on loading the hands the right way. This guy looks strong enough that he doens't need any rocking, or even a long stride. Just a short stride, or even a Pujols, "pick up and set down" type of timing stride should do. It will allow hiim more time to study the pitch before he commits.

After properly loading his hands, they should be brought forward by the torque created by his hip and shoulder action. In this picture, his hands are the pilot, and the hips and shoulder aren't able to create torque. That cow has left the barn by then.

That's all I can offer on this one. The only other thing, would be to get him to focus on bringing the knob toward the pitcher, not to a spot on the ground. To focus on hitting the bottom half of the baseball by coming through it.

[hiddengem]

Guys, these are ALL great contributions and I thank you. This kid is an active "lurker" on this sight, and I'm going to try and get him to contribute to this thread, but if nothing else watch it progress.

This kid is a high school varsity player, and is willing and eager to get better.

[Mark H]

Good stuff so far. Reading this linked thread would be good as well.

http://www.baseball-fever.com/showthread.php?t=39941

[Sultan_1895-1948]

There's some good drills out there, that will help you to realize and focus on hip action. The one where you hold a bat or long stick just above your ass is a good one.

It looks like you keep a closed stance throughout your entire swing. Have you tried adjusting that at all. You must hit a ton of grounders to the second baseman huh.

Anyway, just an idea. The red is where I'd try starting your hands. Nice and loose, real comfortable. And the blue is where I'd bring your elbow down to. There's really no need for it to be so high; it's just wasted movement being up there. After you bring your hands back, they actually stay back there for a split second, even after you've made your initial hip movement. It creates a whipping action, and as many on here will tell you, your hands are pretty much just along for the ride from there.

You came to the right place if you want any help with hitting. As hard as it is to do online, through typed words, there are several knowledgable posters here would could help you out.

[hiddengem]

Good stuff so far. Reading this linked thread would be good as well.

http://www.baseball-fever.com/showthread.php?t=39941

Hey Mark, Steve officially put his stamp on Round Rock tonight. Deffinetly got some kids attention and their parents for that matter.

[Mark H]

And this thread.

http://www.baseball-fever.com/showthread.php?p=484438&posted=1#post484438

Let the bat do what it wants to do and quit screwing things up by "helping" the bat come around. Posture, rotation, connection, and of course, the hook, demonstrated by Jim's contraption. Sorry to speak in setpro language but credit where credit is due and sorry to sound like I must be getting a piece of the action but you can't get any better help on learning to rotate than Steve's dvd's.

[hiddengem]

Chap,
Watch what your hands do, compared to what Soriano's hands do.

[Mark H]

Keeping in mind Soriano's hands do that by just being there and keeping pace with the shoulder rotation.

[Mark H]

Hey Mark, Steve officially put his stamp on Round Rock tonight. Deffinetly got some kids attention and their parents for that matter.

Nothing like him is there?

[jsiggy]

I think others have given good advice/ideas. Mark's posture-connection-rotation suggestion is the core piece. LClifton has experienced the same thing I have seen... a motivated hitter with this kind of swing can make big changes/improvements.

Need to make sure you understand where you're going. Some examples:

1. Elite hitter's a) bat path is circular and b) hands/arms remain "connected" to the body, turning as a single unit if you will, until unloading into the ball. Lower level hitter's path of the bat is A-to-B linear and hands "disconnect" away from the body's rotation early.




2. Elite hitter's swing plane is typically set by tilting over the plate and keeping the bat perpendicular to the spine. Lower level hitter's swing plane is downward not aligned with their momentum plane are level, shoulders often are level. As shown by these excellent Setpro visuals.


A couple of MLB examples... Vernon Wells and Ortiz


3. Elite hitter's "load the middle" in various fashions by sticking the butt out, coiling it opposite the direction of rotation, etc. - but they do load the middle.



Lower level players frequently load very little (and thus have little to unload to provide power). They sometimes try to overcome poor rotation with momentum shift.

There's more of course, but get a good understanding of these and you'll be way ahead of most.

[Ursa Major]

For those who want a clearer picture of the swing, the original .wmv file is downloadable here.

I'm in agreement with the others' comments. Note the dipping of the head during the swing -- which good posture may help alleviate. Also, the front knee pops left in the middle of the downswing, pulling him off the ball and bleeding off power. With the combination of the two amidst the other flaws mentioned, I can see why he doesn't make solid contact as often as he'd like.

The next question is where the emphasis should be on improving the swing? How much time does he have? Is he going to be playing high school ball this spring? My inclination would be to work on his lower body first to stop the excessive weight shift and get him rotating his back hip around his front hip. Connection can perhaps be encouraged by telling him NOT to swing during these first drills, but to hold a bat and keep it in the launch position at all times, so that he feels the power that good lower body rotation provides, if only because he'll feel the forces literally ripping the bat from his shoulder. Quickly work in proper posture and some loading. Then finally let him swing, albeit with many of the swings using only the bottom hand. Then, re-post video of the swing.