What should I see when the player "loads their hands?"

[pthawaii]

At first, I was thinking loading the hands was a small movement of the hands towards the backstop. But now I'm not sure what a proper load of the hands looks like. Do the hands move straight back towards the backstop? Move back and slightly up? Move back, slightly up, and internally rotate the back shoulder causing the barrel of the bat point slightly towards the pitchers direction?

For a simple "load" of the hands, what should I see?

[The Uncoach]

Wrist cock.

[songtitle]

At toe touch, the hands should be at the armpit/shoulder.

They can be almost anywhere before that.

[dominik]

At toe touch, the hands should be at the armpit/shoulder.

They can be almost anywhere before that.

yeah, there are really a lot of different loading patters.

[UAME]

I agree with the answer that you want the actual swing to begin from a point where the hands are very near the back shoulder / armpit. By "actual swing" I am referring to the moment the decision is made to hit the ball, not from the moment the batter takes his stance. People "get loaded" in a variety of ways & directions. Like you mentioned, I always liked to start with the bat closer to my neck and then moved slightly rearward to load.

The easiest answer may be this: you can only know for certain that a player ISN'T getting loaded by seeing that he makes an inefficient move with the hands on pitches he decides to swing at. In other words, you don't want to see hands loading rearward as the initial movement to the ball.

It's much like swinging a pail of water by the handle. The natural movement if you want to swing it forward is to get your hands going rearward first, then change direction. Movements happen more quickly and naturally if they aren't starting from a completely static position.

[mudvnine]

You should not see a player "load the hands", but rather, see his hands are loaded by the movement of other body parts.

IOWs, the loading of the hands is an "effect", not a "cause". That is why you see so many different hand locations, as players load their bodies in so many different ways, that results in the different loaded handsets.....

[pthawaii]

Holy dooly, this is way more complicated than I thought it would be. So currently my son starts with his hands near his earhole in his helmet. But as he begins to stride, it appears he lowers and moves his hands back towards the backstop. This didn't seem right, especially since on occasion he will extend his front elbow all the way (arm-bar) prior to contacting the ball.

After reading this thread, I'm not really sure what the "teach" is here. It seems like the simpliest teach would be to not move his hands when he strides, and try to swing from where his hands are at set up (he'll still move his hands, but hopefully not back so far that he get's fully extended with the front elbow).

Does that make sense? Or should I just leave him alone for now?

[The Flush]

Holy dooly, this is way more complicated than I thought it would be. So currently my son starts with his hands near his earhole in his helmet. But as he begins to stride, it appears he lowers and moves his hands back towards the backstop. This didn't seem right, especially since on occasion he will extend his front elbow all the way (arm-bar) prior to contacting the ball.

After reading this thread, I'm not really sure what the "teach" is here. It seems like the simpliest teach would be to not move his hands when he strides, and try to swing from where his hands are at set up (he'll still move his hands, but hopefully not back so far that he get's fully extended with the front elbow).

Does that make sense? Or should I just leave him alone for now?

This sounds very similar to my son and I am working on getting him to keep his hands from going back so far. The cue that seems to be helping (not sure since I have not seen it on video yet) is to keep his front elbow in front of his head (ie no instant arm bar). He still moves his hands back some during his stride, but not as much as before. It appears that he is hitting the ball much better.

[dominik]

You should not see a player "load the hands", but rather, see his hands are loaded by the movement of other body parts.

IOWs, the loading of the hands is an "effect", not a "cause". That is why you see so many different hand locations, as players load their bodies in so many different ways, that results in the different loaded handsets.....

That is the most important thing. just like the hips are pulling the hands forward in the swing they must be moved back by the coiling. the hips move the hands is the universal sequence in baseball. that applies for the swing just like for the "backswing" (load).

If you load the hands indepenently by just cocking them back you gain a little bit of power because you stretch the upper body muscles but you will never be in the right sequence. I would even say it is almost impossible to get the hips leading in the swing if this is not established in the load already.

when it comes to the actual hand load I like a movement that is a little up, back and towards the dugout behind your back so that you load but also get tighter and not longer. I also like some internal rotation in the humerus as you lift the elbow (yeager thinks this is very important) to keep the hands in front of the elbow:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6k4QN265QlQ

but this is a style thing (although I think some internal rotation helps and AT LEAST you should not externally rotate the humerus before the down movement of the elbow begins) the most important thing is the correct sequence in the load which is like in the swing "the hips lead the hands". this is much more important than the actual movement of the hands.

[songtitle]

pt, he should move his hands to his armpit as he strides. That's it. Don't make it any more complicated than that.

This will fix his arm bar and everything else. His front elbow will be correctly bent if his hands are at the armpit/shoulder.

the simpliest teach would be to not move his hands when he strides

Please, don't.

Or should I just leave him alone for now?

No.

[dominik]

also make that movement small. 2-3 inches gives you just as much power as a huge move. just get the hands moving.

[cbb]

Dr. Yeager is simply the best...

That is the most important thing. just like the hips are pulling the hands forward in the swing they must be moved back by the coiling. the hips move the hands is the universal sequence in baseball. that applies for the swing just like for the "backswing" (load).

If you load the hands indepenently by just cocking them back you gain a little bit of power because you stretch the upper body muscles but you will never be in the right sequence. I would even say it is almost impossible to get the hips leading in the swing if this is not established in the load already.

when it comes to the actual hand load I like a movement that is a little up, back and towards the dugout behind your back so that you load but also get tighter and not longer. I also like some internal rotation in the humerus as you lift the elbow (yeager thinks this is very important) to keep the hands in front of the elbow:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6k4QN265QlQ

but this is a style thing (although I think some internal rotation helps and AT LEAST you should not externally rotate the humerus before the down movement of the elbow begins) the most important thing is the correct sequence in the load which is like in the swing "the hips lead the hands". this is much more important than the actual movement of the hands.