Pujols and David Wright's swings

[MannyRamirez2006]

I notice how they lift their front foot but not off the ground and really coil their hips this way. It seems to me that this is the easiest way to coil the hips or at least the most efficient way. I find it very hard to coil the hips while striding. They show the 3rd base coach their backside or show the pitcher their front pocket. Any opinions...

[hellborn]

I notice how they lift their front foot but not off the ground and really coil their hips this way. It seems to me that this is the easiest way to coil the hips or at least the most efficient way. I find it very hard to coil the hips while striding. They show the 3rd base coach their backside or show the pitcher their front pocket. Any opinions...
Lifting my foot too high totally messes up my baseball and softball swings. Watching the clips of Pujols on this site was a revelation to me and immensely helped me in finding my SP stroke this summer.

[MannyRamirez2006]

I'm gonna try the same. Did you just think about it and do it or did you do any drills to help you??

[hellborn]

I'm gonna try the same. Did you just think about it and do it or did you do any drills to help you??
I did a lot of dry cuts in the basement to see the effects on my raw bat speed of doing the little foot/knee twist and concentrating on getting the hips opening up, but I had to take a lot of swings at the cages to really get it down.
My biggest problem in SP has been lifting my foot too early, I have to force myself to hold the trigger off until the ball is pretty close. I think that I have a habit from baseball of getting prepped during the pitcher's windup that just doesn't work for me in SP, for obvious timing reasons.

[MannyRamirez2006]

Yeah I hear you hellborn. One thing I hate about slowpitch softball is the high loopy pitches that could be called for strikes. Sometimes your head has to move to follow the flight of the ball and that can throw things off. I think the pitches should be pitched more flat (illegal). I guess anything under 6 feet is an illegal pitch but I think anything under should be legal and anything over should be illegal. It's amazing how I will know right away how I will do before the game starts just by seeing how the pitcher pitches. The only way to hit those really high loopy pitches is to get one at about knee height and you have to hit the ball lunging forward which isn't rotational mechanics but it's the only way you can hit the ball hard against those loopy pitches because they will be called strikes even though they cross the plate at your chest at the last moment.

[hellborn]

Yeah I hear you hellborn. One thing I hate about slowpitch softball is the high loopy pitches that could be called for strikes. Sometimes your head has to move to follow the flight of the ball and that can throw things off. I think the pitches should be pitched more flat (illegal). I guess anything under 6 feet is an illegal pitch but I think anything under should be legal and anything over should be illegal. It's amazing how I will know right away how I will do before the game starts just by seeing how the pitcher pitches. The only way to hit those really high loopy pitches is to get one at about knee height and you have to hit the ball lunging forward which isn't rotational mechanics but it's the only way you can hit the ball hard against those loopy pitches because they will be called strikes even though they cross the plate at your chest at the last moment.
Manny, I would love to play baseball instead of SP, and did until about 5 years ago, but I just don't have the time for 3-4 hour games that are up to a 1.5 hour one way drive from my house anymore. I can play SP 2 miles from my house and a good game will only be a little over an hour. The playing experience is nowhere near as exciting and fun as baseball, but it's better than nothing.
I played in a SP league in Chicago that had no height restrictions and called strikes based on hitting a mat behind home, and I swear that there were pitchers who could sky the ball 30 feet high and hit the mat. That was really, really miserable. You'd have to swing at stuff falling behind your back shoulder.
Well, call me a genius...I was really happy with my SP hitting and decided to mess around with trying to hit lefty in practice. Ever since then, I can't find my good righty swing...I hit OK in my last game, but wasn't killing the ball anymore. Lesson learned!!! Have to watch that Pujols swing a few hundred more times to get back on track...
Your namesake has been on fire lately...I hope that you're a Red Sox fan like me?

[MannyRamirez2006]

Absolutley I am a Red Sox fan. I'm from New Haven, Connecticut and I am 23 which is really too old to get back into baseball. I am on 2 co-ed softball leagues. One league does the same thing you speak of about the mat behind home plate and the other league does not.

[hellborn]

Absolutley I am a Red Sox fan. I'm from New Haven, Connecticut and I am 23 which is really too old to get back into baseball. I am on 2 co-ed softball leagues. One league does the same thing you speak of about the mat behind home plate and the other league does not.
Manny, you are absolutely NOT too old to get back in to baseball! I played in an 18+ NABA league around Chicago when I was about your age, and then joined a 30+ league here in NH when I moved. There is presently a 38+ wood bat league with a team in my town, but, as I mentioned before, I just don't have the time to play in it right now (I'm 39).
You actually might have an issue with being too young, as there seems to be an emphasis on 30 and over baseball leagues right now. But, if you really want to play baseball, look around carefully and you might find an adult league with a team close to you.

[Jake Patterson]

Manny, you are absolutely NOT too old to get back in to baseball!

Manny, I played until I was 40, my dad lasted until he was 50 and my old Little League Coach is still playing in Florida.... I'm 51.

[MannyRamirez2006]

Well here in Connecticut they have 18+ wood leagues that I know of but you need to be "drafted" as I was told out of high school. Because of my lower interest level at the time and an extreme case of politics I quit my sophomore year so I couldn't be "drafted". I think the whole "drafted" thing is ridiculous. There should be try-outs. Just because you were good in High School or you happened to know the coach very well or he happened to be your father then you shouldn't be "drafted" to play later. I've never really faced 80+ mph pitching. Fastest was probably low 70's in High School occasionally.

[Jake Patterson]

Well here in Connecticut ...

It may be a little drive for you but try the ECML (Eastern Connecticut Men's League). Great baseball. They are located in the Willimantic area.