Hitting foam pad vs ball off tee, contact position is very different

[pthawaii]

Short video of my son hitting foam pad and then his version of happy gilmore (had never done, so might not even be right). His regular swing looks similar if not the same at contact as the happy gilmore swing.

When he hits the foam pad, he keeps his hands in tight, cause he feels like he had more power/stability in that position. He can replicate this position if he freezes at contact from a tossed ball, but if he takes a full swing, his positioning at contact is very different.

I was gonna ask, how can I help him get his contact for live pitching to be similar to when he hits the foam pad. But first, I'll ask, do I even want to try to do that?

It just seems to me his swing on the foam pad is better. In that swing, there is less bat drag too. Anyways, just looking for some thoughts. At any rate, he loves to hit the pad lol.

[tradosaurus]

Missing video. Looking forward to seeing it.

[pthawaii]

Missing video. Looking forward to seeing it.

I'm a dork. Here it is. Excuse the double take on the tee swing.

[dominik]

nice hip action in the HG drill. a lot of torque created there. against the foam pad of course he is not using his hips at all.

[skipper5]

Both look very good to me--well on his way to having a short powerful bent-arm swing.

IMO, freeze-frame the live swing to show your son how he leads with his elbow, as compared to the foam pad swing.

[trademark]

Both look very good to me--well on his way to having a short powerful bent-arm swing.

IMO, freeze-frame the live swing to show your son how he leads with his elbow, as compared to the foam pad swing.

Nice catch Skipper. He's definitely got some bat drag going on there.
I'd tell him to tilt over a bit more and turn those toes inward a bit more. That'll probably help his hips get thru the swing even better.

[mellowthunder]

Not a bad swing to be honest, especially for his age. The main thing I see is he flattens the bat too early in the swing. It's not a problem here because he knows where the ball is sitting. But he might have problems hitting low balls if he commits too soon. This is common for most kids his age.

[tradosaurus]

Love it! Especially the happy feet drill. :cap:

[Swing Coach]

Bat drag is so minimal compared to most kids his age it is a non-issue. Getting the bat flat early is the only way to hit e low pitch. Your knowledge and keeping it fun will surely make him play a long time.

[bbrages]

Getting the bat flat early is the only way to hit e low pitch.

? This seems backwards to me... maybe we have different ideas of what "flat" is referring to. I think, in a typical batting stance, the bat starts "in plane" to hit a low pitch, but needs to be shifted to a flatter (more parallel to the ground) plane to hit a high one.

[mellowthunder]

Bat drag is so minimal compared to most kids his age it is a non-issue. Getting the bat flat early is the only way to hit e low pitch. Your knowledge and keeping it fun will surely make him play a long time.

If I'm understaing you correctly I have to disagree. I see kids all the time with flat bats try to hit low balls and their bodies colapse because they've committed to a level swing too early. What do I mean by colapse? They end up bending their knees or squatting at the last second to try to make contact with the ball. It's a powerless swing at that point. If you look at the pro's, their bats are more vertical as they take their stride. It's easier and faster to start vertical and go flat than the other way around. Gravity is your friend. Again, you might be describing something else that I'm not understanding.

[mellowthunder]

Bat drag is so minimal compared to most kids his age it is a non-issue. Getting the bat flat early is the only way to hit e low pitch. Your knowledge and keeping it fun will surely make him play a long time.

Think of a golfer's swing. All he hits is low balls and the club is never flat.

[dominik]

Think of a golfer's swing. All he hits is low balls and the club is never flat.

absolutely. the opposite of what he said is true. against a low ball the plane will be steeper and against a high ball the plane will be flatter. every time when a lefty golfs a low inside pitch out of the ballpark the commentar shouts "the lefty just has to drop the bathead to hit this pitch don't throw it to him".

[pthawaii]

If I'm understaing you correctly I have to disagree. I see kids all the time with flat bats try to hit low balls and their bodies colapse because they've committed to a level swing too early. What do I mean by colapse? They end up bending their knees or squatting at the last second to try to make contact with the ball. It's a powerless swing at that point. If you look at the pro's, their bats are more vertical as they take their stride. It's easier and faster to start vertical and go flat than the other way around. Gravity is your friend. Again, you might be describing something else that I'm not understanding.

From my experience here on the forum, SC is a pretty smart guy, so I'm guessing you guys are talking about two different things. After reading these posts, I think I understand what mellow is talking about. Last year, I started talking about tilt so his bat wasn't always parallel to the ground, but he ended up popping the ball up a lot. So I just stopped that and he went back to his old swing, bat more parallel to the ground. Here is a vid of him hitting a low pitch.

He doesn't crouch down but he does extend his arms and drop his hand quite a bit. Even if the pitch isn't low, he tends to drop his hand and then let the bat be parallel to the ground (vs keep the hands high and allow the barrel of the bat to drop below the height of his hands). In fact, often after contact the barrel can be seen above his hands (esp if he gets on top of the ball). It's funny because I've only really been tinkering with bat path and no swinging down on the ball, but everything is so connected, you end up thinking about all these other things that can lead to bad bat path.

I've come to the conclusion that maybe a lot of the things we want to "fix" aren't really meant to be fixed until the kids get older and stronger. At least that's what I tell myself

[pthawaii]

If I'm understaing you correctly I have to disagree. I see kids all the time with flat bats try to hit low balls and their bodies colapse because they've committed to a level swing too early. What do I mean by colapse? They end up bending their knees or squatting at the last second to try to make contact with the ball. It's a powerless swing at that point. If you look at the pro's, their bats are more vertical as they take their stride. It's easier and faster to start vertical and go flat than the other way around. Gravity is your friend. Again, you might be describing something else that I'm not understanding.

From my experience here on the forum, SC is a pretty smart guy, so I'm guessing you guys are talking about two different things. After reading these posts, I think I understand what mellow is talking about. Last year, I started talking about tilt so his bat wasn't always parallel to the ground, but he ended up popping the ball up a lot. So I just stopped that and he went back to his old swing, bat more parallel to the ground. Here is a vid of him hitting a low pitch.

He doesn't crouch down but he does extend his arms and drop his hand quite a bit. Even if the pitch isn't low, he tends to drop his hand and then let the bat be parallel to the ground (vs keep the hands high and allow the barrel of the bat to drop below the height of his hands). In fact, often after contact the barrel can be seen above his hands (esp if he gets on top of the ball). It's funny because I've only really been tinkering with bat path and no swinging down on the ball, but everything is so connected, you end up thinking about all these other things that can lead to bad bat path.

I've come to the conclusion that maybe a lot of the things we want to "fix" aren't really meant to be fixed until the kids get older and stronger. At least that's what I tell myself