Update on my son's swing

[azmatsfan]

If anyone is interested, I've posted before and after videos of my son's swings. In July I posted his game swing with the understanding that he needed to work on several things. My son has worked hard on the problems I discussed with him. When he was younger I would work closely with him in the cage on his mechanics, but now that he's older I'll discuss what I see and he'll work on the swing on his own in the cage or at his HS practices. The three primary things he worked on were hitting against a stronger front side (he was leaking power due to hip slide), loading his scap more efficiently (without counter-rotating his shoulders), and getting his hands closer to his armpits (in his "before" swing he pushed his hands away from his body as he loaded). He filled in for a team today, and I asked my wife to video tape him. Unfortunately in the at bat he was out in front of an outside pitch and popped it up so it's not his best overall swing, but I think you can still see the improvements.

Before:

After:

Hopefully I can get a better after video in the next week or two.

[pstein]

He's still shifting to the front leg far too early.

[mudvnine]

Good for you Azmats, props to you for sticking your neck out......check your PMs.

[Encinitas]

Fixing hip slide will go a long way. The feel of this is having the weight stay over top of the ball of the femur. And anytime that weight shifts forward away from that, you lose the good coil. I mean the coil that would contribute to his COG lowering.

Still some good things going here, and he looks remarkably similar to my younger son. He's now 15, and at least 6'-3" 147. Skin and bone. And I think he too feels more powerful getting to that front side, he's thinking momentum will help him but he takes a lot of swings that look like this swing here of Azmats Jr.

The reason they look like that sometimes is that because they are using momentum as a primary power source they end up mistiming some balls. Well actually all hitters end up mis-timing balls, but the stretch-n-fire type mechanic with the focus on resistance with the back (scap clamp, or pinch) as the leg drives, those swings have a greater timing window. For instance if I watch my kid I would guess once or twice per game he has a swing that looks just like this. Honestly you'd think they were brothers taught by the same coach. By this I mean weight shifted more to the front and a very downward plane, as their bodies never really get in the position where the barrel is turning up sooner.

I think posting is good for those of us who talk about hitting at a somewhat higher level. Number 1 it humbles us to know our kids do not always get it right away, but #2, it allows the swing to be viewed through a different prism. Nice job... Some good stuff to work with here. Would love to see him use the rear leg stuff we talk about.

[jbooth]

He's still shifting to the front leg far too early.

So, you don't believe all the MLB hitters who often say, "I need to get that front foot down early." Or, "In time."

[Ursa Major]

My initial thought is that - except for the hip slide and resulting effects (he lifts up on his toes) - I prefer the 'before' swing because the upper body is quieter. In the lower swing, he arm bars and drops his hands, and ends up 'scooping' the ball a little; a pop-up is a predictable result. But, yes, the hip slide is pretty much non-existent in the second swing. All in all, though, he's in a very good place for an incoming HS freshman.

I generally agree with Encinitas' insights here and, since he's dealing with much of the same with his own son, he may well be a good resource to bounce things off of. He may be projecting a bit too much with his comment about "never really get in the position where the barrel is turning up sooner", as the first swing clip has just the right amount of upper cut and the flat swing of the second clip may be accounted for by the fact that the pitch was low and the hitter was ahead of it, so he had to swing down to avoid swing over it entirely. That's one reason why one can be misled by trying to read too much from just one or two swings. But, anyway, the proper swing plance will come as the pieces come together, so it's not worth torturing ourselves (or arguing) about it.

[azmatsfan]

My initial thought is that - except for the hip slide and resulting effects (he lifts up on his toes) - I prefer the 'before' swing because the upper body is quieter. In the lower swing, he arm bars and drops his hands, and ends up 'scooping' the ball a little; a pop-up is a predictable result. But, yes, the hip slide is pretty much non-existent in the second swing. All in all, though, he's in a very good place for an incoming HS freshman.

I generally agree with Encinitas' insights here and, since he's dealing with much of the same with his own son, he may well be a good resource to bounce things off of. He may be projecting a bit too much with his comment about "never really get in the position where the barrel is turning up sooner", as the first swing clip has just the right amount of upper cut and the flat swing of the second clip may be accounted for by the fact that the pitch was low and the hitter was ahead of it, so he had to swing down to avoid swing over it entirely. That's one reason why one can be misled by trying to read too much from just one or two swings. But, anyway, the proper swing plance will come as the pieces come together, so it's not worth torturing ourselves (or arguing) about it.

I'm glad you said the bolded, because that is what he's working on right now at his HS batting practice. Generally he's a line drive hitter, so I'm not too worried about one pop up. This swing just happened to be mis-timed. The results have been good this Fall. He's probably been the second best hitter on the freshman team.

[NoonTime]

Buh Bye BBF!

[HYP]

So, you don't believe all the MLB hitters who often say, "I need to get that front foot down early." Or, "In time."

Getting the front foot down early and on time are 2 different things. Also, getting the foot down has nothing to do with shirting to the front leg. The weight can still be back with the foot down.

This hitter is sliding onto his front leg which is forcing him up and out front.

[lancers]

He's getting on top of his front leg and then going up even more.

Check good MLBer swings. The COG should be coming down. The rear butt got pulled down instead of pulled up.

[NoonTime]

Buh Bye BBF!

[pstein]

So, you don't believe all the MLB hitters who often say, "I need to get that front foot down early." Or, "In time."

I do believe them, but the foot can be down without pressure shifting. Obviously, when you get the foot down, some weight does move to it.

Unfortunately, most of us are extremely sloppy with our meaning of "weight" and "pressure". The hitter in question has pressure on his front leg far too early.

[songtitle]

The hitter in question has pressure on his front leg far too early.

In the video clip, you can't see the ball, so how would you know? I'm not following you.

[jbooth]

Getting the front foot down early and on time are 2 different things. Also, getting the foot down has nothing to do with shirting to the front leg. The weight can still be back with the foot down.

This hitter is sliding onto his front leg which is forcing him up and out front.

Yes, he has a habit of lunging his torso forward.

All, MLB hitters keep the torso centered, but the fact is no pressure is on the back foot at contact. In fact, a pressure greater than the weight of the body is on the front foot at contact. "Staying back" means to keep the head and torso centered. It has nothing to do with where the kinetic force is. The force is on the front foot at contact.

Force goes to the front foot before contact, but not the body's mass. You push pressure ONTO the front foot, but you don't push your body OVER it. Big difference.

[azmatsfan]

Here's a swing from his HS freshman fall team this morning. I haven't been working with him directly, but we talk a lot about his swing. After practice, he's been sticking around the fields and working in the cages until it's too dark to see. Personally I'm really happy with where his swing is right now. He's come a long way since this summer, and it's entirely due to the hours he's put in working on his swing. I'm proud of the fact that he puts in the extra hours that he does, and that when he's in the cage he's always working on something specific and not just swinging to be swinging.