Path of the Hands

[rkbenn]

I've been working with a number of LL kids. I'm curious if I'm right on with the path of the hands.

In LL terms. Work them around the body and just like the elbow work up.

To many kids path is down to the ball, hence ground balls all day.

Better way to explain?

RK

[wogdoggy]

I've been working with a number of LL kids. I'm curious if I'm right on with the path of the hands.

In LL terms. Work them around the body and just like the elbow work up.

To many kids path is down to the ball, hence ground balls all day.

Better way to explain?

RK

righty hitter.. left elbow above hands hands above barrel..see if that helps

[Ursa Major]

I've been working with a number of LL kids. I'm curious if I'm right on with the path of the hands.
In LL terms. Work them around the body and just like the elbow work up.
To many kids path is down to the ball, hence ground balls all day.
Better way to explain?
RKB, with all due respect, I have no idea what you're talking about, so I suspect that there has got to be a better way to explain to your kids.

And, what LL age are we talking about? 8U? 13u? Rec ball? Travel ball?

And for all my years in coaching, I've never told a kid what "path his hands should take". I may have told them what their bodies should be doing so that -- as a result -- the hands take the right path. But, you don't tell a student driver what direction her wheels should be in when she's making a turn; you tell her what she should be doing with the part of the car she should be manipulating to make the turn -- the steering wheel.

Forgive me for being a little cranky -- I've spent the last three weeks working in my business with someone who lobs little instruction grenades via his Blackberry that are cryptic, ambiguous demands without any context. Your post is eerily reminiscent of those.

[wogdoggy]

RKB, with all due respect, I have no idea what you're talking about, so I suspect that there has got to be a better way to explain to your kids.

And, what LL age are we talking about? 8U? 13u? Rec ball? Travel ball?

And for all my years in coaching, I've never told a kid what "path his hands should take". I may have told them what their bodies should be doing so that -- as a result -- the hands take the right path. But, you don't tell a student driver what direction her wheels should be in when she's making a turn; you tell her what she should be doing with the part of the car she should be manipulating to make the turn -- the steering wheel.

Forgive me for being a little cranky -- I've spent the last three weeks working in my business with someone who lobs little instruction grenades via his Blackberry that are cryptic, ambiguous demands without any context. Your post is eerily reminiscent of those.

Forgive me for being a little cranky -- I've spent the last three weeks working in my business with someone who lobs little instruction grenades via his Blackberry that are cryptic, ambiguous demands without any context. Your post is eerily reminiscent of those.


at least he gained your attention..:D

[straightleg]

rkbeen
Are they taking there hands to the ball?

You could say something like hands inside the path of the pitch. Try to show them, that will hit the ball with the sweet part of the bat when released right.

If they stay connected or not, hand travel inside the path of the pitch would be better than hands to the ball. IMO


Straightleg

[rkbenn]

RKB, with all due respect, I have no idea what you're talking about, so I suspect that there has got to be a better way to explain to your kids.

And, what LL age are we talking about? 8U? 13u? Rec ball? Travel ball?

And for all my years in coaching, I've never told a kid what "path his hands should take". I may have told them what their bodies should be doing so that -- as a result -- the hands take the right path. But, you don't tell a student driver what direction her wheels should be in when she's making a turn; you tell her what she should be doing with the part of the car she should be manipulating to make the turn -- the steering wheel.

Forgive me for being a little cranky -- I've spent the last three weeks working in my business with someone who lobs little instruction grenades via his Blackberry that are cryptic, ambiguous demands without any context. Your post is eerily reminiscent of those.

No problem...i got a crackberry that the company gave me and I feel your pain.

I've got a few players in the 12u that bring their hands straight down to the ball. Like Woggy said I tell them elbow hand barrel from top to bottom. They are swinging elbow, hands, and barrel level to each other and working down to the low pitch. Everything else looks great.

It really seems to help. I had a kid with power hitting ground balls ALL the time hit 2 out in practice for the first time and hit some ropes. It was the coaches kid BTW. I've only worked with him 4 times. He was there, but didn't have the proper path to the ball and approach at the plate.

Some kid don't understand what I'm saying, but most do. I'm just looking to see if i'm right on or if there is a better way to teach so I can get through to the other kids.

[rkbenn]

rkbeen
Are they taking there hands to the ball?

You could say something like hands inside the path of the pitch. Try to show them, that will hit the ball with the sweet part of the bat when released right.

If they stay connected or not, hand travel inside the path of the pitch would be better than hands to the ball. IMO


Straightleg

Yes, hands to the ball. I may have to bring out the heavy bag and do stop swings with some of the players and put them in the right position at contact.

[ssarge]

righty hitter.. left elbow above hands hands above barrel..see if that helps

Good advice.


"Hands to the ball," interpreted just in the way someone would interpret English - horrible advice.

[Ursa Major]

RK, when you say, "I tell them elbow hand barrel from top to bottom," do you mean that the elbow, hands and barrel will all travel through the same point in space of they're taking the correct path to the ball? If so, I'm with you, but my crankiness came from the fact that you are explicitly trying to get input as to what to tell kids, so I would think that we would try to make your explanation as close to the verbatim words you're going to use with the kids as possible.

If so, I would think that, here, your best bet to teach it would be to take a light bat and have them do slo-mo bottom arm swings to feel the right swing path. As you mention, the heavy bag is a good way to check to see if they're getting to the right position at contact.

Anyway, I'll try your cues with Ursa Minor, as he too has been hitting too many grounders as of late. To be sure, he's hitting 'em hard -- he was 2 for 3 on Sunday when the two-hoppers found holes -- but you'd still like to get 'em over the infielders.

[jbooth]

RK, when you say, "I tell them elbow hand barrel from top to bottom," do you mean that the elbow, hands and barrel will all travel through the same point in space of they're taking the correct path to the ball? If so, I'm with you, but my crankiness came from the fact that you are explicitly trying to get input as to what to tell kids, so I would think that we would try to make your explanation as close to the verbatim words you're going to use with the kids as possible.

If so, I would think that, here, your best bet to teach it would be to take a light bat and have them do slo-mo bottom arm swings to feel the right swing path. As you mention, the heavy bag is a good way to check to see if they're getting to the right position at contact.

Anyway, I'll try your cues with Ursa Minor, as he too has been hitting too many grounders as of late. To be sure, he's hitting 'em hard -- he was 2 for 3 on Sunday when the two-hoppers found holes -- but you'd still like to get 'em over the infielders.

Clint Myers, the ASU women's softball coach, and former baseball coach, uses the cue; "elbow, knob, barrel."

It can have two meanings; 1. The bent elbow moves toward the ball, then the knob, and then the barrel.

2. At contact with the ball, a line from top to bottom can be drawn from the elbow, to the knob, to the barrel. On a pitch that is at the waist or below, the barrel is below the knob, and the knob is below the elbow and they are all on the same line.

It's similar to MY cue of Hips, Handle, Head (bat Head).

[rkbenn]

RK, when you say, "I tell them elbow hand barrel from top to bottom," do you mean that the elbow, hands and barrel will all travel through the same point in space of they're taking the correct path to the ball? If so, I'm with you, but my crankiness came from the fact that you are explicitly trying to get input as to what to tell kids, so I would think that we would try to make your explanation as close to the verbatim words you're going to use with the kids as possible.

If so, I would think that, here, your best bet to teach it would be to take a light bat and have them do slo-mo bottom arm swings to feel the right swing path. As you mention, the heavy bag is a good way to check to see if they're getting to the right position at contact.

Anyway, I'll try your cues with Ursa Minor, as he too has been hitting too many grounders as of late. To be sure, he's hitting 'em hard -- he was 2 for 3 on Sunday when the two-hoppers found holes -- but you'd still like to get 'em over the infielders.

I like that, top hand swings. I tell them, elbow, hands, and barrel, and always work up on the plane of the pitch, all 3

We had a gang of kids hitting ground balls or striking out because their bat wasn't in the zone very long.

I've got the same problem as you do with your son. On the tee, soft toss, wiffle balls, dimpled balls he hits line drives. With live pitching he hits grounder and pop ups. I know what he is doing, but having him correct it has been difficult.


I'm thinking it's the distance. We do all the hitting exercises up close and I throw the dimple balls really hard from 20 ft away and he strokes it. I think he gets anxious and has too much time and trys to go after the ball, instead of the ball coming to him and looses his mechanics.

He hits great as well, but not the liners I want.

What I find interesting, I can fix most kids, but finding it difficult to fix my own.

[rkbenn]

Clint Myers, the ASU women's softball coach, and former baseball coach, uses the cue; "elbow, knob, barrel."

It can have two meanings; 1. The bent elbow moves toward the ball, then the knob, and then the barrel.

2. At contact with the ball, a line from top to bottom can be drawn from the elbow, to the knob, to the barrel. On a pitch that is at the waist or below, the barrel is below the knob, and the knob is below the elbow and they are all on the same line.

It's similar to MY cue of Hips, Handle, Head (bat Head).

I like that, elbow, knob, barrel. I especially like the other cue of elbow, then knob, then barrel. Thanks JB

[Ursa Major]

I like that, top hand swings. I tell them, elbow, hands, and barrel, and always work up on the plane of the pitch, all 3No, no, no. It's bottom arm swings to establish that path.
I'm thinking it's the distance. We do all the hitting exercises up close and I throw the dimple balls really hard from 20 ft away and he strokes it. I think he gets anxious and has too much time and trys to go after the ball, instead of the ball coming to him and looses his mechanics.That's a big part of it. In our 13u league, the pitchers aren't all that fast this year, and the 13 y/o are making the leap from the 48 foot pitching distance to the 60 foot. And, of course, the hitters -- including UM -- are bigger and have better bat speed, so they don't believe they can get around that fast. So, they start too early and have to slow down. That's where I think hitting off machines in the cages can do well, because you can get consistent accurate pitching from that distance so the kids judge speed all the way from the time of release.
I've got the same problem as you do with your son. On the tee, soft toss, wiffle balls, dimpled balls he hits line drives. With live pitching he hits grounder and pop ups. I know what he is doing, but having him correct it has been difficult.He hits great as well, but not the liners I want.

What I find interesting, I can fix most kids, but finding it difficult to fix my own.Tell me about it. I think it's usually about 70% the kid not taking you seriously, and 30% being unable to really see the flaws in your own kid, particularly when it's your own coaching that may have placed them there. And I have a devil of a time getting my son out to the cages.

[rkbenn]

No, no, no. It's bottom arm swings to establish that path.
That's a big part of it. In our 13u league, the pitchers aren't all that fast this year, and the 13 y/o are making the leap from the 48 foot pitching distance to the 60 foot. And, of course, the hitters -- including UM -- are bigger and have better bat speed, so they don't believe they can get around that fast. So, they start too early and have to slow down. That's where I think hitting off machines in the cages can do well, because you can get consistent accurate pitching from that distance so the kids judge speed all the way from the time of release.
Tell me about it. I think it's usually about 70% the kid not taking you seriously, and 30% being unable to really see the flaws in your own kid, particularly when it's your own coaching that may have placed them there. And I have a devil of a time getting my son out to the cages.

I ment bottom...typo.

I see the flaws and tell him and he makes the adjustment, but not against live pitching. There is something to be said about hearing it from another person other than your dad.

I had a coaches kid at the tee with me Monday night. His dad was a very good ball player. He had a great swing, but his approach was wrong. I couldn't believe that his dad was telling him where to make contact with the inside pitch, and not telling him to keep his hands high. We talked about it, nothing else. He said that I'm having trouble with the inside pitch and hitting grounders. I've been hesident to offer advice because of his dad. So we talked about it. I said, the more inside the more you have to hit it out front of the plate. I then put a bat down to show him where he should make contact with the ball. Also told him think inside and adjust to the outside. I told him pull the inside stuff and push the outside. Then we talked about the hands. You can see the light bulb going off above his head. In his BP he crushed the ball all over the field, liners and 2 jacks. His 1st and 2nd jacks ever! He was pulling the ball on inside pitches and crushing them. I've know this kid since he was 9, now 12 and he never hit the ball like that.

I talked to his dad and he told me that he's talked to him about the inside pitches and keeping his hands high. So what I'm saying is, maybe find someone with the same views on hitting and have them give it a try. I'm looking for an instructor here in the Fresno area for my son for this very reason.

[FiveFrameSwing]

It's similar to MY cue of Hips, Handle, Head (bat Head).


Can I get you to explain your usage of this cue.

By 'hips', do you mean firing the 'glutes' first?

By 'handle' and 'bat head', do you mean that one 'throws the hands and the barrel follows'?

Would this be similar to 'glutes and hands' or 'hips and hands'?

[jbooth]

Can I get you to explain your usage of this cue.

By 'hips', do you mean firing the 'glutes' first?

By 'handle' and 'bat head', do you mean that one 'throws the hands and the barrel follows'?

Would this be similar to 'glutes and hands' or 'hips and hands'?

You're over-analyzing it.

It's simply a very basic description of the sequence of those major pieces.

You turn the hips first, the handle comes around with the upper body, and then the bat head goes into the ball.

It's to teach students not to cast, and not to move the hands at the ball before the hips turn.