Any advice on my son's swing?

[olddog]

Hi guys. Long time lurker and just posting this as a last ditch effort. My son is 16 and will be a junior. This past year the wheels fell off on his hitting. He used to mash the ball all over the diamond at 14 and 15u for a team that plays in one of the most competitive leagues and tournaments in our area. NOT rec ball or lower level travel, top notch travel competition.

I moved him up to an 18u team this summer to challenge him. Although the pitching has been much better, it is probably on par for what he has seen in high school the last two years. His high school is a D3 school that plays in a league of predominantly D1 schools with two D2's. So he faced good pitching in a league that was heavy in senior pitching that was headed to D1, and D2 colleges. In short, the summer season has had consistently better pitching than high school, but not a huge difference except for the occasional stud that threw high 80's low 90's as confirmed by a gun.

So, the guy that had worked with him on his hitting for 2 years moved out of state and he has been on his own for the last year. I am considering taking him to a guy that teaches the rotational swing as an instructor for Epstein. I don't mind to spend the money as long as it will help. The other guy was so good with my son, and he had such a dramatic improvement, I am hesitant to take him to just anyone.

Here's a youtube link to me throwing him bp yesterday. What do you think?
I hope I have posted that link correctly.

www.youtube.com/watch?v=C9eN8v9MBJs

[Baseball gLove]

He is swinging down and he is spinning his back foot (aka squishing the bug). These are very bad habits. There is no drive off his backside and no shoulder- hip separation. You want him to lead with the hips. Read Ted William's Science of Hitting to get your self started. A lot of coaches, even college coaches, teach hands first to the ball...stay away from them.

[songtitle]

At toe touch, his hands are 6-8 inches from his armpit/shoulder. They should be much closer. This is effecting his power and swing path. Fix this first, since it's the easiest to fix.

He coils backwards over his back leg. Usually, you should coil back as you move/stride forward. It looks like someone told him to stop striding - this usually kills a natural swing.

[Jake Patterson]

The first thing I thought was that this may just be an example of a player running out of talent, but after watching the clip I do not feel this is the case...

Two things that stick out is his lack of forward weight transfer. I agree with the above, that he's spinning on his back leg. This restricts rotation and limits power. His back toe should be coming off the ground.
Like this:

Former Player.jpg

Brandon.JPG

If it were me... I would correct this first and move from there.

[omg]

I don't see anything wrong with his swing.

[Bolts-Baseball]

Overall, I like this swing...

The one thing that I see that is absolutely killing him is the lateral hip sway on his load... VERY, VERY difficult to be consistent with this negative move...

I would like to see on his setup to have more weight on the inside part of his back foot and the back knee. During his load, the feeling he should feel is coiling around on the inside of the back knee and instep, and not swaying onto the back leg like he's doing now.

I think once he accomplishes that move he will have it down...

-Good luck.

[giantheart]

He is swinging down and he is spinning his back foot (aka squishing the bug). These are very bad habits. There is no drive off his backside and no shoulder- hip separation. You want him to lead with the hips

this^

and

the lateral hip sway on his load

this^.

They are both related...

I don't believe the fact that he is not striding is the issue, as you can have proper weight transfer, proper hip shoulder seperation, and proper arm path without a stride. but people will disagree with that

He really needs to be taught to start with hips and then let everything else follow...Its amazing he got as far as he did without learning that. This is going to be a hard teach because he has been playing a long time with that swing... You almost have to start over. Hips, Hips, Hips!!!! then worry about swinging down.

[johnlanza]

I'm no expert, but I would say don't try to change everything at once.
I would start with a trip to the eye doctor. If everything is good there, try the different mechanical things that have been mentioned here.

[shake-n-bake]

He looks like a hitter.

I see what others also are seeing in his feet. Almost looks like he's not wearing spikes.

I'd start with some work off the tee. Focus on getting the front foot down early, deliberately, but gently. Then staying firm and rolling the front foot to the outer part of the foot rather than rotating the foot in the dirt. This make it very easy to get on the back toe.

I wouldn't do anything more than that for now. He's got a pretty nice swing already that he looks comfortable with.

[Bolts-Baseball]

Upon further review...

Take a look a this picture...
27y1f6r.jpg

Both pictures are at heel drop... Lots of info here...

[olddog]

Bolts, et al. I greatly appreciate the time you have taken to review the video and offer suggestions. I took him down to the field today to see if he could make some changes. Part of the problem is that I really don't know how to communicate the information to him so that he understands it. I barely grasp it. I try to physically do it and at my age just bending over can pull muscles.

I mentioned about the hips, and he said "I need to lead with my hips. My hips should trigger my hands." This is something that he understands, I think.
That sounds right to me, but if he actually does it well, I don't know. We talked about getting up on his toe instead of squishing the bug. He has not been taught squishing the bug. I think it is a result of what is happening with his lower half.

So, I said somehow you need to get up on your toe or back foot off the ground. Well, I think that is more a result of something that happens earlier that he doesn't do. So his frustration at trying to get his back foot up was incredible. I know that part of the swing is a result of something earlier, I just thought if he could figure that out by feel it would be something he would understand. But he never did get the sense of how he was to get to that end result.

Today he hit several balls at BP speed over the fence, ranging in distance from 325' to 365'. This is not necessarily unusual, although sometimes he has a tough go of it and doesn't hit any out. I mention this because in BP the results are usually good, but the game is different. Although I think some of it may be mental, part of me thinks that this break down in his mechanics hinders his effectiveness on pitches that are plus 80 mph. In general, if a team throws a guy that throws 80 mph or lower then he usually does better.

This has been part of the frustration, jacking balls all over in BP, but then in the games balls seem to be getting too deep on him. He has struggled with the pitch on the inner half as well. A pitch that he used to just hammer. This summer season he has broken 5 wood bats, and I would guess they were all inside pitches. This leads me to believe that he is casting his hands, but he seldom rolls over and pulls balls on the outer half of the plate.

Based on what I've heard you guys say, I think that I will have to bite the bullet and take him to an Epstein guy so that he understands how to use his lower half better.


I am working on posting two more videos of him to youtube from today. I wonder if you notice a difference from yesterday to today?

Thanks again for all the feedback.

Upon further review...

Take a look a this picture...
[ATTACH=CONFIG]111301[/ATTACH]

Both pictures are at heel drop... Lots of info here...

[olddog]

This first link is to the front view from today.

http://youtu.be/VVciiOnUbIs

This is the second link from the side where he was more focused on leading with his hips.

http://youtu.be/w-zrC_5pslg


I realize it may not be that different, but wanted to post it since all of you have taken the time to respond.

Again, he would probably be better served by someone that can physically walk him through the process. As I mentioned in my original post the guy that had worked with him moved out of state and he has been on his own.

[Mur5]

The second Youtube clip is broken.

[Baseball gLove]

Here are my kids. The top set is my 12 year old. The bottom set is my older boy when he was a 15 year old sophomore. Notice their hands stay back longer and they have a more direct path to the ball instead of swinging down. They both get off their back sides. It allows them the receive the ball deeper and they have still have room for extension if they are fooled. They have no problem turning on an inside pitch.

[mr. potato head]

Here are my kids. The top set is my 12 year old. The bottom set is my older boy when he was a 15 year old sophomore. Notice their hands stay back longer and they have a more direct path to the ball instead of swinging down. They both get off their back sides. It allows them the receive the ball deeper and they have still have room for extension if they are fooled. They have no problem turning on an inside pitch.

FWIW, the one that serves the most purpose is the GIF of your older son. Not throwing stones but he appears to push the bat out front. This might not be indicative of all of his swings, but it is what I see in this particular GIF.

Best of luck to you and your boys.