squishing the bug and lack of extension

[Swing Coach]

Anybody who has worked with hitters knows that plenty of them stay back and squish the bug - which is a problem. Many of us coaches taught that in the past until we started looking at high level swings in stop-action video.
Getting kids to go from squishing to toe up is a very difficult task.
*Sometimes they have an improper (downward) swing plane that does not utilize their hips, which makes it almost impossible for their toe to come up.

*But sometimes a kid uses good hip rotation, but stays back and squishes - he is unable to get proper weight shift. A kid who does this is very difficult to "coach" into a swing where he gets proper weight shift and comes up with his back toe. At least I haven't heard many solid fixes on this forum for this problem.

After posting the below clip (13-year-old swing) in another thread I realized that at the moment a pro hits extension, his back foot is up. Then I grabbed a bat and swung it with and without extension and realized something. Many, many kids swing around the ball w/o extension and most often squish the bug. Am I on to something here? - look at the moment the pro's hit extension, they are up on their back toe. Does this extension help get the body to shift forward against the stiff front leg?

63607

SC

[dominik]

Do you mean extension of the arms?
If yes I think the thing lacking is not extension of the arms, but lack of whipping the bat. I think the bat whip pulls the arms into extension(normally after contact).

[LAball]

You should never try for extension. It occurs naturally during follow through

[Swing Coach]

you guys are missing my point...I want to know if is there any correlation between kids who "squish the bug" and a lack of extension?

**And back to you....so you got a kid who has no extension (like the pro photos) what do you do to get him there?

**ANd...you get a kid who squishes the bug, what do you do to get his back foot up (like the photos)?

SC

[LAball]

If the kid has no extension, I wouldnt worry about it.

If the kid is squishing the but, you cold try step-block the front leg-swing. This usualy brings the toe up, but its not MLB swing. is it better then squish the bug? i duno.

another words sorry , cant help much:silent:

[Rydell]

I think I know what your going through regarding squishing the bug and its effect on extension.

Squishing the bug is generally somewhat successful for little leaguers because its not only simple to understand but it has the positive quality of firming up the front leg and keeping the front leg a 45 degrees during the impact zone. Considering most little leaguers stand closer to the plate and don't have to worry too much about off speed pitches, squishing works well enough.

However, when they get to HS, squishing doesn't work nearly as well, because solely squishing the bug makes them very vulnerable to offspeed and outside pitches. This is because the squishing is an immediate front side firm up trigger which is a problem for offspeed and outer half pitches.

The trick when teaching these "yutes", is to get them off their backside, while still keeping the 45 angle on their front leg. THEY WILL SLIDE AHEAD OF CENTER , unless your moniter the front leg angle. The feeling should be that the back side gets up, then back down post impact (Due to the front leg remaining @ 45 degrees) .

Crossover drills work well to help these young lads get off their back side.

Hope this helps. BOB

[my3boys]

I think I know what your going through regarding squishing the bug and its effect on extension.

Squishing the bug is generally somewhat successful for little leaguers because its not only simple to understand but it has the positive quality of firming up the front leg and keeping the front leg a 45 degrees during the impact zone. Considering most little leaguers stand closer to the plate and don't have to worry too much about off speed pitches, squishing works well enough.

However, when they get to HS, squishing doesn't work nearly as well, because solely squishing the bug makes them very vulnerable to offspeed and outside pitches. This is because the squishing is an immediate front side firm up trigger which is a problem for offspeed and outer half pitches.

The trick when teaching these "yutes", is to get them off their backside, while still keeping the 45 angle on their front leg. THEY WILL SLIDE AHEAD OF CENTER , unless your moniter the front leg angle. The feeling should be that the back side gets up, then back down post impact (Due to the front leg remaining @ 45 degrees) .

Crossover drills work well to help these young lads get off their back side.

Hope this helps. BOB

Bob - could you elaborate on crossover drills? This may help in some things I'm working on with my son.

[Rydell]

Bob - could you elaborate on crossover drills? This may help in some things I'm working on with my son.


A crossover drill is basically walking into hitting a pitch (or off a tee).

1) Start with your feet pretty close together
2) Move your back foot ahead of your front foot (but from behind and towards the pitcher).
3) Then stride with your front foot and hit.

Do this slowly, but all in one flowing motion. It also has the added benefit of allowing the player to naturally feel a proper athletic transition.

Hope this helps, Bob