The best cue to help eliminate bat drag

[Stampede]

Okay, so let's here your best cues to stop bat drag and the muscle memory of pulling the bat to swing plane as a first move. This is such a hard habit to break with a lot of the kids I see 9-10 y.o.. They have a tough time with the concept of torqueing the handle to turn the barrel instead of slotting the elbow and pulling. What do you think about keeping the bat behind the rear shoulder (touching or nearly touching) and the hands at the armpit until you reach the corner? It seems to me that all you can do then is deliver the barrel.

[Stampede]

Nobody has anything?

[Jake Patterson]

Nobody has anything?

We've talked about this in previous threads - you may want to do a search.... For younger players I used Jim Booth's sticks to get the player used to the first move and have everything connected... Seemed to work with the younger players.

[songtitle]

Nobody has anything?

Usually bat drag is a result of a host of other problems. Put up a video and we can spot those issues.

What do you think about keeping the bat behind the rear shoulder (touching or nearly touching) and the hands at the armpit until you reach the corner?

This is not a bad start. This will usually fix many issues. Try that and see what happens.

[skipper5]

What do you think about keeping the bat behind the rear shoulder (touching or nearly touching) and the hands at the armpit until you reach the corner? It seems to me that all you can do then is deliver the barrel.

I have had some success with this approach.

[Swing Coach]

I have had some success with this approach.

When the hands are kept very cole to the body,the drag disappears, so I have had the best luck with the fence drill. Also, the challenge is not either torquing the handle or slotting the elbow...it is both at initiation.....which is why an elite start is so difficult.

SC

[Stampede]

What do you think about keeping the bat behind the rear shoulder (touching or nearly touching) and the hands at the armpit until you reach the corner? It seems to me that all you can do then is deliver the barrel.

What are some of the problems with using this approach? Isn't this basically the George Brett approach to hitting,although George seemed to close up his stance in some of the video that I have seen. and yes I know that Brett actually used rotational mechanics? This seems to be an easier way to change muscle memory.

[Chris O'Leary]

When the hands are kept very cole to the body,the drag disappears, so I have had the best luck with the fence drill.

Are you basing this off of looking at video?

[steddie]

When the hands are kept very cole to the body,the drag disappears, so I have had the best luck with the fence drill. Also, the challenge is not either torquing the handle or slotting the elbow...it is both at initiation.....which is why an elite start is so difficult.

SC

Boardmember mentioned something recently in another thread that seems to work pretty well as a drill - to understand the feel. It was something like this: keep hands close to shoulder at start of shoulder rotation (do all the other actions you would normally do as far as stride, hips, legs are concerned before this). THINK reverse position of hands as quickly as you can accomplish it. Centrifugal force of shoulder rotation pulling the hands (which will move a little away from shoulder), as the hands perform the top hand/bottom hand position reversal -- which accomplishes the elbow/hip connection automatically. Continue turning/twisting the barrel slightly -- NOT TOO MUCH -- which prevents rollover -- and allows full extension to result.

That seems to give a similar look to ted williams swing?

[luckysully]

J.Booth mentioned something recently in another thread that seems to work pretty well as a drill - to understand the feel. It was something like this: keep hands close to shoulder at start of shoulder rotation (do all the other actions you would normally do as far as stride, hips, legs are concerned before this). THINK reverse position of hands as quickly as you can accomplish it. Centrifugal force of shoulder rotation pulling the hands (which will move a little away from shoulder), as the hands perform the top hand/bottom hand position reversal -- which accomplishes the elbow/hip connection automatically. Continue turning/twisting the barrel slightly -- NOT TOO MUCH -- which prevents rollover -- and allows full extension to result.

That seems to give a similar look to ted williams swing?

Do you have a link to his (Jim) description of the drill? Not grasping what is written above.

[dominik]

Usually bat drag is a result of a host of other problems. Put up a video and we can spot those issues.



This is not a bad start. This will usually fix many issues. Try that and see what happens.

you mean the deltoid drill?

[steddie]

Do you have a link to his (Jim) description of the drill? Not grasping what is written above.

Luckysully, I was going from memory, which was faulty -- actually, the post I tried to paraphrase was by "boardmember" in the thread about over rotating back shoulder. Here is part of it where it mentions a drill: As far as drills....A fairly simple way of thinking about/feeling the top hand goal is to say that the top hand has to turn from behind the handle to infront of the handle at the rear shoulder.......Or turn the top hand punching knuckles from back to front ASAP.......It won't happen instantly of course.....

The simple act of trying to turn the top hand from the back of the handle to front is WHAT SLOTS the rear elbow.......And stacks the forearm under the handle.....Tight to the bicep.......WITHOUT PUSHING the hands forward from the rear shoulder.......

You've found out you cannot PUSH the handle through contact and reach full extension........The barrel will PULL the hands/arms from the rear shoulder.....Because it's turning behind the corner.......
End quote

Not sure if I got it just right in my paraphrasing but it seemed to apply at the time.