Old Guy's swing

[jbooth]

OK, I thought I'd let everybody have a crack at helping me make that over 50 all-star team.

Remember, I'm almost 56 years old, so be nice, the muscles don't work like they did at 30.

Here's my latest swing; There are 3 or 4 flaws I'm aware of, let's see if you see the same ones and/or more.

http://firstpickclub.com/video/jbmar06.mpg

[fungo22]

Jim, in my opinion, your rotation is some better than the last time I saw your swing back at H-M.org, but I see the following issues:

1. You stand up and lose your "pelvic load," partly connected to your landing with an open front side.

2. I still don't think you are rotating "from the middle." It looks to me like what turn you get is being initiated by forward momentum from your stride and from your back elbow.

I do not see a "Dixon-like" loading/carrying of the middle and unloading it into rotation.

[Ohfor]

Ditto. Ditto.

Your setup looks pretty good.

From there take a no stride swing by anchoring the front leg and exploding out of that stance from the middle.

Currently, you give up the load, then swing.

[LClifton]

one thing

Jim,
I echo the standing up comments.
One thing I see,
Take your hands with you when you stride, keep them nearer your back shoulder.
My opinion is that if you maintain the original angle (box) you swing more efficiently. The "elongation" of the box(stretching of the lead arm) may cost you some quickness.
I know some hitters do this. Just a suggestion.
One last thing, you may experiment with over doing your tilt and as you begin to "explode" up into the ball you may be better able to feel the benefit of maintaining your posture. It's hard, I know, I do the same thing.

For what it's worth I think you swing pretty darn good for 56 yrs. old.

If I said I like everything about your swing,,,,,could I come hit at your facility?

Sincerely,
LClifton

[tom.guerry]

Jim-

I agree with fungo that the stand up loses the necessary pinch at waist.You have to sit all the way into toe touch and drop and tilt.

You turn the hip back with the inward turn, but don;t really cok the hip or keep it cocked.

There can be no "carry" without good hip cock/retention.The retention of hip cok means once you have gotten the hip coked and eliminated the stand-up,you thenyou have to fix the "premature external rotation" of the lead leg which requires not only keeping the front foot closed longer/leading with the heel, but learning the right arm action sequence (arm action is king) and synching the lower body to it.

In spite of this poor start to the swing, you do shift weight forward well and have a good firming of front side and lead arm connection and use of front leg, but without the good beginning of the swing (inward turn/hip cock/retention) you can not get "early" batspeed quickness- max batspeed is way out front.

Without good "rubberbandwinding" you are unable to make late adjustments.

I woud recommend you get a copy of Hodge's biomechanic baseball and see his demonstratin of good synchronized back arm and lead leg external rotation (rubberbandwinding) and good lead arm internal rotation as it apples to throwing,then translate this info to hitting.

[rob]

I don't think I have ever offered an analysis on anyone but I figure my analysis won't ruin your potential major league career so here goes.

I think you need to lock in your hands (your box) or do some sort of scap load to help your hands feel like they are part of your body before you start your turn. I also think you stand up a little during your stride and you need to remain tilted over and as a result, after you complete your swing the fact that you had remained tilted over would leave your upper body sort of leaning over the plate more.

[Jake Patterson]

Jim,
If it's any consolation you look a hell of a lot better at 56 than I do at 50. Keep swinging!

I'll leave the eval to others....

[jsiggy]

Agree with fungo and ohfor - good load of your middle at setup is lost as you stride and start to swing.

I don't know if you're rotating from the middle or not... but you don't have Dixon's "carrying" of the middle in your stride.

Another item I noticed is you seem to lose the forearm-bat angle early.

Overall pretty nice swing though.

[LClifton]

jbooth swing

Another item I noticed is you seem to lose the forearm-bat angle early.

These words depict a clearer explanation.

Take your hands with you when you stride, keep them nearer your back shoulder.
My opinion is that if you maintain the original angle (box) you swing more efficiently. The "elongation" of the box(stretching of the lead arm) may cost you some quickness.

My attempt...

I like your choice of words jsiggy.....

LClifton

[ElCaminoSS]

Is that at the Ball Yard batting cage? It sure looks like it

[jbooth]

OK, I thought I'd let everybody have a crack at helping me make that over 50 all-star team.

Remember, I'm almost 56 years old, so be nice, the muscles don't work like they did at 30.

Here's my latest swing; There are 3 or 4 flaws I'm aware of, let's see if you see the same ones and/or more.

http://firstpickclub.com/video/jbmar06.mpg

We all agree on some stuff and I disagree on some others.

My self-evaluation;

No doubt, popping up during the front foot lift. It's driving me crazy. I had it pretty well fixed, and it's come back. It reduces some of the power of the hip rotation.

My hands are staying at the shoulder during rotation, but I'm supinating (turning the palm up) my right hand for some reason before I even get to front foot contact. I'm not doing it as bad as I was a few months ago, but I can't seem to stop it. I think it is a mental thing. I'm trying to make sure I get the bathead down onto the plane of the pitch, and I'm lowering the bathead with my hand instead of trusting that it will get down and around with the shoulder turn. Not really sure why it's happening.

I disagree that the front arm is off. I extend back to load and set the box angles before the shoulders turn, and the elbow angles remain intact during the shoulder turn. And the hands stay at the shoulder. The wrist/bat angle improperly changes, not the elbow angles or the hand position. That causes a loss of bathead acceleration because the angular momentum effect is reduced. The hands move in an arc, but the angle at the hands is not sufficient enough to let the angular momentum accelerate the bathead.

I think I'm going to go back to a no-stride. I don't pop-up when I do that and I think I rotate better. The hand thing, I'm just going to have to keep working on. Does anybody have a drill to keep the bat/hand angle at 90 degrees?

[hiddengem]

OK, I thought I'd let everybody have a crack at helping me make that over 50 all-star team.

Remember, I'm almost 56 years old, so be nice, the muscles don't work like they did at 30.

Here's my latest swing; There are 3 or 4 flaws I'm aware of, let's see if you see the same ones and/or more.

Jim, why do you consider the front foot opening early not as big a deal as others do?

[jbooth]

Jim, why do you consider the front foot opening early not as big a deal as others do?

Because I don't believe it has any effect on the hip movement. My leg rotates within the hip socket, the hip doesn't move any different than it would if I landed closed. It's just more comfortable and allows me to turn fully. I can't turn the hips with my foot closed.

If somebody can explain how the physics are improved by landing closed, I'm open to change.

Golfers have their foot slightly open to get a full hip turn. Why does a baseball swing need the foot closed? I'm truly asking for an answer. If I'm wrong then I'll learn something. But, I need some proof through physics or a valid reason that it effects the ability to get the bat on the ball before I'm going to be convinced.

[hiddengem]

Because I don't believe it has any effect on the hip movement. My leg rotates within the hip socket, the hip doesn't move any different than it would if I landed closed. It's just more comfortable and allows me to turn fully. I can't turn the hips with my foot closed.

If somebody can explain how the physics are improved by landing closed, I'm open to change.

Golfers have their foot slightly open to get a full hip turn. Why does a baseball swing need the foot closed? I'm truly asking for an answer. If I'm wrong then I'll learn something. But, I need some proof through physics or a valid reason that it effects the ability to get the bat on the ball before I'm going to be convinced.

Well it doesn't appear that Pujols is all that concerned about it on this swing.

[jsiggy]

No doubt, popping up during the front foot lift. It's driving me crazy. I had it pretty well fixed, and it's come back. It reduces some of the power of the hip rotation.

I hate to sound like a broken record but understanding Dixon's idea of "carrying" will clear this up IMO. (Unless you're saying that you know what it is but just unable to do it yet?) Watch some pitchers clips as they seem to defy gravity... the middle driving forward while the rear leg remains firm. Same idea.

The wrist/bat angle improperly changes, not the elbow angles or the hand position.

This is what I was saying... so obviously I agree.

I think I'm going to go back to a no-stride. I don't pop-up when I do that and I think I rotate better. The hand thing, I'm just going to have to keep working on. Does anybody have a drill to keep the bat/hand angle at 90 degrees?

Steve E of course.