13 yo swing clips

[my3boys]

Please take a look and provide any feedback.

We've been working on and off over the winter on a few things.

Better posture, It's improved.. I still think the angle of his spine could be better.

Loading the hips, and better rotation of the hips to start.. some improvement, but I'd like to see a little more inward turn. At times his arms/ upper body still take over before he fully get's his hips going.

We've battled some mild bat drag on and off and it you could still see some start to creep in.

Staying connected and just turning into the ball. It appears there are some swings that things start off well, but he still seems pretty dominate with his top hand and it looks like it takes over before contact.

He also seems to leek open his lower half with the way he comes down at foot plant.

On the other hand, I might not know what the heck I'm talking about... so any advice is welcome. Really looking for the best thing to focus on over the next couple weeks before things start up.

regular (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LFCFMoGQbAI)

slow (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=L4Ez4jUzg9Y)

If anyone could pull a swing or 2 up into a gif to aid in discussion that would be great. The file I have is a wmv, and I still havn't tackled the best approach to editing or sharing clips. Hopefully the quality will do.

[my3boys]

As some reference here's a thread from last year around the same time.

Looks like his hips, connection, and swing plane has shown some improvement.

3/2008 (http://baseball-fever.com/showthread.php?t=75192)

[DukeK]

My quick analysis....

Looks like he needs better hip/shoulder seperation and weight transfer. His shoulders are rotating at the same time or almost ahead of his hips which also pulls his head/eyes off the ball a bit. He also still has too much weight on his back foot at contact. He also kind of rotates his front foot from slightly closed to open (front toe pointing straight ahead) which is pulling him off balance, could be due to the front shoulder opening too soon.

[CoachW]

First, that video is very difficult to watch since it is so choppy, so if you can get some video that is easier to watch that would help the analysis. That being said here is what I see:

He looks like a shoulder/arm swinger which is not what you want.

You want to be hips and hands. His top hand needs to get involved. Think of throwng the top hand. Do some drills with just the top hand on the bat hitting and then the lead hand on hitting, this will help isolate and get more of a feeling of using the hands.

His hips are not involved either. When he strides his hands are coming at the same time, where they should be stretching back more, so as he strides continue to hip coil which will make his hands go back, get that stretch.

I agree with the last post that his shoulders are opening, you want the front arm to jut up so he doesnt use the shoulders much, it should be more a tilt up not a sideways shoulder turn.

Throw the top hand!!! It looks like he is dominating the lead arm.

CoachW

[AgentX]

It also looks as though he's not just opening the front foot, but also rolling over on it. That's definitely going to throw off his balance, and it will also slow him down in getting out of the box.

[my3boys]

It also looks as though he's not just opening the front foot, but also rolling over on it. That's definitely going to throw off his balance, and it will also slow him down in getting out of the box.

I agree... I think his front side stability and weight shift is a root of some of the problems. It doesn't allow him to get the weight off his back foot.

We've worked on a different lead step with his front leg to try and load the lower half, but like you said it seems like it's causing problems the way he's coming down.

I have to try recapturing video this weekend to see what I could do about the quality. Just got a new computer set up and need to re-install some programs. I captured with windows movie maker, which was pretty simple, but hastily threw up. I have to check some options to make sure I'm getting the best quality I can. The camera I have is similiar to a previous one I used and the quality is night and day from the post last year. Then again I used Adobe for the editing. Would the video card affect it? I have an integrated card on this computer and not sure if that's going to limit anything. The output file said it captured at 30fps and from the clip you see it came in at 1.70 mb. Don't want to turn this into an editing thread.. I'll do some more homework this weekend!

Thanks for the feedback!

[Swing Coach]

My3,

If this were my student, I would definitely help him with his extension because he has none. If you were to ask him to take a dry swing and let go of the bat at the pitcher, he would not be able to do it...his bat would fly toward the left side instead. Look at these pics and then compare them to the same point in his swing. He has to hit "through" the ball, not around it.

63606



SC

[my3boys]

Good stuff Swing coach.. thank you. I actually read your other thread 1st as it caught my eye with my son.

We actually did your suggestion re a dry swing last year. Perhaps it was on one of your previous posts I saw it on. As noted it went flying into the net directly to his left. After a few swings it was straight forward. Will have to try again to help with the feeling.

As far as squishing the bug, for a while now the main cue I'ved used to fire the hips more was to drive the rear knee down to the ground. If you look at the comparison from last year, it's improved some, but I don't like the his front leg as it appears as noted there's not much of a weight shift.

Again comparing last year we've worked on keeping the box and avoiding the arm bar he was going right into. I think that maybe related to the lack of forward extension.

http://i710.photobucket.com/albums/ww103/my3bbsons/JON22609B.jpg

http://i710.photobucket.com/albums/ww103/my3bbsons/Jon22609a.jpg

You could see his extension going toward third here. I guess there's more then one thing resulting in this. His loading and lack of delay of his top half I guess are part of it.

However below I'd like to think his top half looks decent, at least compared to last year. He's maintaining the box better and besides not getting up on his toe his knee is turned in allowing his hips to get in on the action. I think it needs to happen earlier though. I think his front leg should be firmer though, and maybe more closed, agreed?

http://i710.photobucket.com/albums/ww103/my3bbsons/Jon0226c.jpg

http://i710.photobucket.com/albums/ww103/my3bbsons/Jon0226d.jpg

[Swing Coach]

Have him hit fungos to right and center field..or wiffel balls over your house etc.(if you can get outside). THis fungo drill can't be executed w/o proper swing plane and extension. The more he does this and the more his body adapts to hitting it farther and farther, the better his swing becomes. Jim Thome told me he used to hit rocks with his bat into and over the tree line by his house over and over and over.

SC

[my3boys]

http://i710.photobucket.com/albums/ww103/my3bbsons/jonclip2-new.gif
http://i710.photobucket.com/albums/ww103/my3bbsons/jonpic2slo-new.gif
http://i710.photobucket.com/albums/ww103/my3bbsons/clip1slo2-new.gif

Cleaned a few clips up some. What do you know, it worked! :clapping

So here's what I'm thinking..

First, work on his stride.. when he lifts his knee, try and bring it back toward the catcher more. At foot plant, come down more closed with that lead knee/ toe more towards 1st base line with a firmer front leg.

His hands/ rear shoulder/ elbow slot all start when his rear knee starts to come down. Try to work on getting more of a stretch and load in the scap opposite of his lower half starting.

I think his upper half looks ok as his shoulders turn to rotate... if they were delayed more. Any comments on his connection / arms? That was a big part of our battle.

Any other thoughts on helping his weight shift and seperating his upper/ lower halves? I agree I think he has a lot of weight still on his rear leg at contact.

[Ursa Major]

I remember the clip from last year -- from the mud in it. Ickkk!

Definitely improved, but still has the bug squishing/lack of forward movement, and the late and incomplete hip turn leading to early disconnection of the hands. The back elbow drop and the drooping of the barrel precede the start of the hips. I think you're seeing where he needs to go to continue to improve.

It almost seems like a matter of timing. Maybe have him try -- as a drill -- wrapping the bat around his neck more and doing bottom arm swings. This gets him used to getting his hips moving first before the bat head comes around. Also might want to try the pole drill - trap a broomstick behind his back held into place by his elbows, then try to hit a wiffle ball off a low tee with one end of the stick. The only way to accomplish that is by bringing your hips through.

Dumb question, maybe. The way he pushes the bat toward the pitcher at the end almost looks like he's got his top hand wrapped around the bat a little too much, making it hard to 'whip' it around on some of the early swings in the clip.

Anyway, good to see his improvement and that you got him out of the mud. That sh&%$7 was nasty.

[my3boys]

I remember the clip from last year -- from the mud in it. Ickkk!

Definitely improved, but still has the bug squishing/lack of forward movement, and the late and incomplete hip turn leading to early disconnection of the hands. The back elbow drop and the drooping of the barrel precede the start of the hips. I think you're seeing where he needs to go to continue to improve.

It almost seems like a matter of timing. Maybe have him try -- as a drill -- wrapping the bat around his neck more and doing bottom arm swings. This gets him used to getting his hips moving first before the bat head comes around. Also might want to try the pole drill - trap a broomstick behind his back held into place by his elbows, then try to hit a wiffle ball off a low tee with one end of the stick. The only way to accomplish that is by bringing your hips through.

Dumb question, maybe. The way he pushes the bat toward the pitcher at the end almost looks like he's got his top hand wrapped around the bat a little too much, making it hard to 'whip' it around on some of the early swings in the clip.

Anyway, good to see his improvement and that you got him out of the mud. That sh&%$7 was nasty.

Thanks Ursa... figured you'd remember last year!

Got practice this pm so will work on some of the suggestions. We hung a heavy bag a few weeks ago and just picked up a shorter '1 arm bat' so will work on some things through the weekend. In addition to more hip focus I want to work on seperating the loading phase of the top and bottom halves into toe touch.

I'll check out his grip too, I see what you're saying.

[Swing Coach]

part of getting him off the back side (also) is to make sure he really understands what "hip explosion" is like. When you watch a mlb swing, their hip rotation is much more defined. Get him to exaggerate this explosion by telling him to fire the back butt cheek to the pitcher or squeeze the butt cheeks together ...but think explosively. I would like to see how that might help getting off back side.

SC

[my3boys]

Spent some time over the weekend with just a focus on getting some seperation and better weight transfer. Did a variety of things trying to figure out something that he would get a better feel for it.

Worked some just with a pole driving the hips, and just some dry swings just on the loading pattern. Also worked on some one handed bottom hand swings.

What seemed to be most effective was doing the happy gilmore drill.. once he got the timing right he could definitely start to sense the feeling of getting that stretch and transferring his weight. Granted some other parts of his swing broke down some, but I think some more work with this might get his loading pattern better. I'd still like to see a little more seperation, but it looks like he's starting to get it.

http://i710.photobucket.com/albums/ww103/my3bbsons/Sequence01-new.gif

Here's a normal swing minus the crossover and you could see the seperation and weight transfer starting to carry over.. Will keep working on this for a few days and see how it carries over into some live bp.

Ursa - you called it right on his grip too.. talking about it over the weekend he denied it, but you could see in the beginning he's clearly overturning his top hand.

http://i710.photobucket.com/albums/ww103/my3bbsons/Sequence01_1-new.gif

Over the winter he picked up that shorter, almost slide step, but I think we're going to work with the higher knee as he strides because I think it helps with his timing to load his shoulders.