How do you prevent Lunging?

[AL_DAD]

My son is lunging like crazy. He is having problems, because he wants to crush the ball instead of waiting a bit longer and driving it to the gaps. Any tips will be greatly appreciated.

Here is a quick video from a tournament this weekend, every other batted ball he rolled over on, or hit a long fly ball.

[dominik]

shoulder tilt. old school coaches say back shoulder stays up but correctly the first move of the back shoulder should be down not around. if you do that it is nearly impossible to lunge.

but if the shoulders start to rotate open (or worse even goes up) before the back shoulder starts to tilt down often the batter will lunge.

and tell him to stop that knee buckle when the takes pitches. a lot of umpires will call strikes if you do that.

[omg]

Sometimes if a hitter has all of that weight on his back leg and is crouched down on the back leg it is difficult to maintain any balance once the swing/no swing decision comes in to play. It takes talent, strength, and balance to use his hitting style. There are successful hitters who use his style but it is not for everyone. He could experiment being more upright with only a little weight on top of the back leg. In other words, a more basic, slight knee bend, relaxed, upright stance.

[songtitle]

hmmm.. he has a host of problems.

2 frames in. Instead of turning his front hip as his front heel drops, he flips his front knee. Maybe he's also bent over too far to start. (2 frames in, he should already be driving his back shoulder down)
austin41a.JPG

5 frames in. The swing should be over by now. His back hip should have turned at least half way (it is roughly 1/4 around). His hands should be closer to his armpit, instead they are too far away, causing armbar. (He should be driving his back shoulder down to the ball)
austin41b.JPG

In the next 2 frames he throws his hands to the ball, and leans toward the pitcher, instead of continuing to rotate his back hip.

I agree with dom, it doesn't seem like he utilizes shoulder tilt and torso rotation.

Maybe 3 things to work on for now:
1. Don't bend over the plate quite so far. Bending over so far is preventing your hips from rotating fully.
2. 'Flip' your front hip first (not your knee). Begin as soon as your front heel drops.
3. Keep your hands near your armpit until the bat pulls them away.

[NoonTime]

Austin.gif

Any current pros have a setup/stance like this? I can look for some clips as comparisons.

Granderson_flipped.gif

[CircleChange11]

His back foot is opened up toward the catcher instead of straight at the plate or slightly facing fair territory.

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I'd start with soft toss where you sit diagonally from the 1B corner of the plate, and feed him "line drives" (not rainbows), every few tosses you don;t let go of the ball and see if he "stays back".

Once he's able to do it in soft toss, do it with short throws (behind an l-screen), then full throws.

[The Uncoach]

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