More swings.....

[RobV]

Hi guys,

Well, here were some recent batting practice swings we took. Live BP with a wood bat. We've been working on being "more ready to swing". He is starting his stance kind of open now, and then trys the technique of "falling into posture".

Here is the link:

http://home.comcast.net/~julievalente/SkillHitOnly.mpg

Again...still lots of work, but with this method he's been able to get a much better feel for being "ready to hit the ball". I think he is loading better and his connection is better, but his posture still isn't quite there yet (he has a real tendency to be too upright).

He started to become more succesfull at the plate towards the end of the season, and actually started hitting the ball very well (after a season long "slump"), by doing the above.

In a couple of these swings he hit the ball about 330 to left center (which is pretty good for him right now).

Thanks as always!

RobV

[paul5150]

it looks like hes getting under the ball alot , mostly in the first few.

[jojab]

... but his posture still isn't quite there yet (he has a real tendency to be too upright).


Absolutely. I'm sure you are following the HG Recent Swings thread. Some of the same things apply.

Look for the clayman model with the two planes that Ohfor posted in that thread. It is important to understand how connect the bat to the body and efficiently turn on the one plane (once the swing starts). If posture is off, a disconnection is inevitable (the hitter will somehow have to get the bat to the ball).

I'm working diligently with my sons on this currently. I used the following stills of Barry (see next post for second one) to show them how this looks before the swing and at contact.

[jojab]

At contact.

[Fuddrules]

It seems to me he also has substantial bad drag.

[Ohioteamz]

I am not inclined to say this is bat drag because of the angle. On the other hand, there does seem to be a difference in a few of the swings. I really didn't like the next to last swing, as he seemed to lose that shoulder/swing plane angle. However I liked the last swing, so it looks like the one before was simply less than optimal.

[chesspirate]

Rob,

Why, after contact, does this hitters head move backwards and down?

What i see is a lot of linear hitting. A linear move backwards and forwards, even though the later swings show some rotation into footplant.

Yes, even from this angle I agree there is actually considerable bat drag.

I think though the telling part of this swing is the portion right at contact and right after contact, the lack of rotation finishing the swing, the amount of instability overall, and the body moving backwards away from the pitcher.

Looks like a swing dominated by the arms/hands and seems to me possibly another problem: no matter what happens with his swing, no matter the posture or the adjustments he makes with his hands, he takes the top hand off the bat after every swing and it finds itself moving to the same spot (the left shoulder) no matter what. This implies to me that he is more worried about how the swing 'looks' than how the swing functions.


Since i don't know you guys or anything i think that hitter probably does have some power though, due to the well timed wrist uncocking into contact. Unfortunatly this move is very pronounced and again leads me to believe that the hands/arms are the dominant forces in this swing, and not rotation.

[RobV]

He does need to be more rotational, I agree. Can't work on everything all at once. I do know where the head moving back thing happened on a few of those.

I just told him "lets do a home run derby" type of practice, with the intention of getting him to load up and swing as a unit better. Aniticipating, getting ready, rather than trying to start from a dead stop as we were before.

I guess it's from trying to hit the ball hard he started to use his arms more rather than his center. Again, it's something that I'm trying to convery that just isn't getting under his skin yet.

We'll keep trying.

[Ohfor]

... "lets do a home run derby" type of practice...

Not a bad idea.

Sounds fun to him.

But, it's really a test to see what is sticking.

I think a lot is sticking.

Now, continue to work on the things pointed out.

[RobV]

Not a bad idea.

Sounds fun to him.

But, it's really a test to see what is sticking.

I think a lot is sticking.

Now, continue to work on the things pointed out.

Thanks Ohfor...will do that for sure.

Even thought there is still work, I am confident one day he will be able to bring these "good swings" (relatively speaking) to the games.

He seems so much more confident and intense during our practice sessions, I'm trying to convince him to just bring that same mental appraoch to the field. Once he does that...consistantly...then I think we'll make some real progress.:gt

[Ohfor]

Confident in practice. Less in games.

Could just need tons of at bats to learn how to do what he can do in practice in a game. Timing the swing in your own body is one thing. Timing that swing against a pitcher is something else.

[Comm]

I didn't see much wrong with his first and last swings, but it's those other hacks were all over the place.