Comment on this drill?

[wogdoggy]

http://www.sewellbaseball.com/free/back_knee_drill.html

I think this could be beneficial to the bug squishers?

[Jake Patterson]

http://www.sewellbaseball.com/free/back_knee_drill.html

I think this could be beneficial to the bug squishers?

I feel this is beneficial for the younger players especially. We use a similar drill to help with weight transfer. The knee makes sense as I find "Squish the bug" has become over used.

[Ohioteamz]

Wogdoggy are you a member of that site? Just curious if it is worth dropping the nickels. I guess 9.95 for a month wouldn't be an expensive way to find out.

[Mark H]

I'd be careful of creating hip slide with that drill.

[pgibbons]

I'd be careful of creating hip slide with that drill.

What exactly is hip slide? Are there any video examples of it?

[wogdoggy]

looking for clips i came across this website.Ironically the guy teaches out of an academy i frequent in this area.no i'm not a member.

[Pete H]

I have an 8YO "bug squisher." My thoughts are that "bug squishing" is related to (is a symptom of ) inefficient or improper hip rotation. The demonstrator comments that it is difficult to rotate the hips doing this drill. IMO, drills that facilitate/teach correct hip rotation would be better than pushing off the back leg and thrusting the back knee forward. No doubt it eliminates "bug squishing," but I think it is just promoting a different movement, not necessarily the correct one.

[CoachZee]

Personally, I don't think I'd ever use this drill. I may do it to have the girls visualize the hips turning but I would never use a drill that has them lift their knee off the ground and come up like that unless I was teaching them how to handle a boy that is out of line.

If you show them the proper way to turn the hips so the back toe barely touches the ground what would a drill like this accomplish?

[MrUniverse09]

What about the grip instruction on that site? People have told me here that you shouldn't line up the door knocking knuckles but this dude seems to think it's important.


WAY too much contradictory information about baseball out there :grouchy

[wogdoggy]

I always prefferd the fingers grip.Seemed to have the fastest feel.I would think the grip that made the bat feel the fastest would be the choice? I think its a pretty nice website with the clips and all.Shows me the guy is taking time comparing clips looking at swings.Sounds familiar? And we cant be all bad can we.?

[jsiggy]

hip slide

What exactly is hip slide? Are there any video examples of it?

Hip slide is generally used to indicate that the hips continue moving forward in a linear fashion after rotation begins. A bad thing which saps you of a lot of power.

This is an example of a young hitter with a bad case of hip slide IMO - once the rotation begins in the last few frames, the hips continue forward.

[Mark H]

Great example clip. The worst thing about hip slide is it robs you of quickness. Turns a five frame swing into a 7 or worse. Also keep in mind rotation is not powered by the back foot pushing the hip around. Seems to me this drill could lead to that. I can think of better drills to teach good rotation. Occurs to me this guy needs to read Dixon.

[pgibbons]

Thanks both, jsiggy and Mark H, that helps clear things up for me.

Sorry for the somewhat off-topic post in your thread, wog.

[Riverdog]

This looks another in the list of dangerous drills. Anytime you're practicing things that you wouldn't do in a game situation, you're taking unnecessary chances. I don't think the drill is any better than squishing the bug and that one is one of the worst ones we've ever came up with.

[swingbuster]

I have an 8YO "bug squish

As long as people throw loopy pitches all the 8 YO are bug squishers. If I throw you one coming down across your chest you will squish right along with them .

You will have to transform that swing and weight distribution as the young hitters get quick enough and timing gets good enough to throw harder / flatter. Be patient but do the extra work to get his axis and mechanics improving as you go throuh this stage.

When he gets in a game, the pitch characteristics will often force him to stay more on the back leg unfortunately.

For you..I would say...learn and practice the proper swing and work at home and in the game let him hit it anyway he can for now

As for the drill...squishers often pick the front foot up and drop it...dead front leg hitters. They also rarely shift weight. In all sports momentum is going in the direction of where the force is applied at some point. I use the walk up tee drill where you step rear foot behind lead ( cross over) then stride and hit off a tee . For FRONT TOSS this works best as he shows. It is just a drill to feel weight transfer it is OK in my book as part of a kids education. It also completely stops rear shoulder collapse and swinging an upper cut too.