- May 13, 2008
- 824
- 16
Here is my interpretation of Crystl's 7 Steps:
<font size="4">Bustos - 7 Steps</font></b><br><ol><li><b>Ready </b>- Standing relaxed in the batter's box</li><ul><li>Measure off of the plate with the bat from the second outside corner of the plate, place the stride foot at the end of the bat.</li><li>For most players use a slightly open stance, shoulder width apart. We can measure by placing the back foot instep against the ball of the stride foot to get a visual of the offset we're looking for.</li><li>Get a good grip. Hold the bat down as if you were holding a golf club. Open your hands, now grip the handle with the middle two fingers of both hands, just letting the pinkie finger and index finger close loosely around the handle.</li><li>Bring the bat up to rest on the rear shoulder with the hands below the chest.</li><li>Look ahead to the pitcher. Head level with both eyes forward. The pitcher should be able to see "white" on both sides of the iris.</li></ul><li><b>Set</b> - When the pitcher is ready to start her motion, we get into our hitting stance</li><ul><li>Bend at the waist, soften the knees. The order is important. Bend slightly over, but not past the toes. Take the knees towards the toes without the hitter's waist "sitting" down. The weight should be on the balls of the feet and the hitter should feel more pressure on the big toe of each foot. Some may need to turn their feet slightly inwards, or "pigeon toed" to achieve the feeling. There should be almost no weight on the heels or pinkie toes. <br></li><li>Elbows up. Bring the elbows up, lifting the bat off of the shoulder. The forearms will form the shape of a triangle. The hands should be at least as high as the top of the back shoulder and no higher than the ears. The bat should be at approximately a 45 degree angle, bisecting the head. She should be able to tap her ponytail with the barrel of the bat.</li><li>Keep the head level and eyes forward to the pitcher.</li></ul><li><b>Separate to Toe Touch</b> - Stride and "walk away" from the hands</li><ul><li>As the pitcher's hands separate and the ball gets to about the 12 o'clock position, we perform a slight load by turning the stride foot knee slightly inward.</li><li>As the ball is released, and prior to traveling half way to the plate, we stride forward onto the big toe of the stride foot. The stride foot heel is still off of the ground at this point.</li><li>While the hitter strides forward the hands "stay" in the same place, as though she were "walking away" from them. The rear elbow should elevate slightly while the elbows of both arms maintain the same distance apart. The hands should be at, or slightly behind, the rear shoulder's armpits.<br></li><li>The bat should remain "slotted", or continue to bisect the head.</li></ul><li><b>Elbow-Knob-Box</b></li><ul><li>As the stride foot heel drops, we push off of the rear foot's big toe which lifts the rear foot's heel.</li><li>While the rear foot's heel is lifting, we turn the triangle shape of the forearms into a box by keeping the lead elbow above the level of the hands while simultaneously lowering the rear elbow into the "slot" position (just in front of the hip).</li><li>Although it is a pass-through position, the top hand will be stacked over the rear elbow or slightly ahead. If the hands are behind the rear elbow we get "bat drag", which is undesirable.<br></li></ul><li><b>Release to Contact - </b>Rotate as needed and take the barrel of the bat to the point of contact<br></li><ul><li>Think about rotating the belly button to the location of the pitch; toward the second baseman on an outside pitch (RH), toward the pitcher for an up the middle pitch, or towards the shortstop for an inside pitch.</li><li>Transition the hands to contact by keeping the hands inside the ball in relation to the balls depth in the box and the pitch location. We allow the ball to travel deeper for an outside pitch and hit an inside pitch before the ball reaches the plate.<br></li><li>Keep the palm of the back hand facing the direction you are trying to drive the ball.</li><li>Release the angles of the wrists to send the barrel of the bat into the contact point.</li><li>At contact we want the lead elbow to be above the hands and the hands to be above the barrel of the ball.<br></li></ul><li><b>Extension - </b>Hit through the ball<b><br></b></li><ul><li>Hitting "through" the ball is almost a no teach, however, some hitters stop at contact. We want our hitters to power through the ball.</li><li>After contact the wrists roll and the arms become fully extended creating a "V" shape that many call the Power-V. The "V" should be towards the direction we are intending to hit.<br></li></ul><li><b>Finish - </b>Finish high<b><br></b></li><ul><li>After hitting through the ball we must allow the bat to decelerate. If our elbow, hands, and bat have followed a good path the follow-through should be above the height of the shoulders.</li><li>The relative height of the follow-through will be dependent on the location of the pitch. Higher for a low pitch and more level with the lead shoulder for a higher pitch.</li><li>Some hitters release the top hand during the follow-through, but this is individual for each hitter.
<font size="4">Bustos - 7 Steps</font></b><br><ol><li><b>Ready </b>- Standing relaxed in the batter's box</li><ul><li>Measure off of the plate with the bat from the second outside corner of the plate, place the stride foot at the end of the bat.</li><li>For most players use a slightly open stance, shoulder width apart. We can measure by placing the back foot instep against the ball of the stride foot to get a visual of the offset we're looking for.</li><li>Get a good grip. Hold the bat down as if you were holding a golf club. Open your hands, now grip the handle with the middle two fingers of both hands, just letting the pinkie finger and index finger close loosely around the handle.</li><li>Bring the bat up to rest on the rear shoulder with the hands below the chest.</li><li>Look ahead to the pitcher. Head level with both eyes forward. The pitcher should be able to see "white" on both sides of the iris.</li></ul><li><b>Set</b> - When the pitcher is ready to start her motion, we get into our hitting stance</li><ul><li>Bend at the waist, soften the knees. The order is important. Bend slightly over, but not past the toes. Take the knees towards the toes without the hitter's waist "sitting" down. The weight should be on the balls of the feet and the hitter should feel more pressure on the big toe of each foot. Some may need to turn their feet slightly inwards, or "pigeon toed" to achieve the feeling. There should be almost no weight on the heels or pinkie toes. <br></li><li>Elbows up. Bring the elbows up, lifting the bat off of the shoulder. The forearms will form the shape of a triangle. The hands should be at least as high as the top of the back shoulder and no higher than the ears. The bat should be at approximately a 45 degree angle, bisecting the head. She should be able to tap her ponytail with the barrel of the bat.</li><li>Keep the head level and eyes forward to the pitcher.</li></ul><li><b>Separate to Toe Touch</b> - Stride and "walk away" from the hands</li><ul><li>As the pitcher's hands separate and the ball gets to about the 12 o'clock position, we perform a slight load by turning the stride foot knee slightly inward.</li><li>As the ball is released, and prior to traveling half way to the plate, we stride forward onto the big toe of the stride foot. The stride foot heel is still off of the ground at this point.</li><li>While the hitter strides forward the hands "stay" in the same place, as though she were "walking away" from them. The rear elbow should elevate slightly while the elbows of both arms maintain the same distance apart. The hands should be at, or slightly behind, the rear shoulder's armpits.<br></li><li>The bat should remain "slotted", or continue to bisect the head.</li></ul><li><b>Elbow-Knob-Box</b></li><ul><li>As the stride foot heel drops, we push off of the rear foot's big toe which lifts the rear foot's heel.</li><li>While the rear foot's heel is lifting, we turn the triangle shape of the forearms into a box by keeping the lead elbow above the level of the hands while simultaneously lowering the rear elbow into the "slot" position (just in front of the hip).</li><li>Although it is a pass-through position, the top hand will be stacked over the rear elbow or slightly ahead. If the hands are behind the rear elbow we get "bat drag", which is undesirable.<br></li></ul><li><b>Release to Contact - </b>Rotate as needed and take the barrel of the bat to the point of contact<br></li><ul><li>Think about rotating the belly button to the location of the pitch; toward the second baseman on an outside pitch (RH), toward the pitcher for an up the middle pitch, or towards the shortstop for an inside pitch.</li><li>Transition the hands to contact by keeping the hands inside the ball in relation to the balls depth in the box and the pitch location. We allow the ball to travel deeper for an outside pitch and hit an inside pitch before the ball reaches the plate.<br></li><li>Keep the palm of the back hand facing the direction you are trying to drive the ball.</li><li>Release the angles of the wrists to send the barrel of the bat into the contact point.</li><li>At contact we want the lead elbow to be above the hands and the hands to be above the barrel of the ball.<br></li></ul><li><b>Extension - </b>Hit through the ball<b><br></b></li><ul><li>Hitting "through" the ball is almost a no teach, however, some hitters stop at contact. We want our hitters to power through the ball.</li><li>After contact the wrists roll and the arms become fully extended creating a "V" shape that many call the Power-V. The "V" should be towards the direction we are intending to hit.<br></li></ul><li><b>Finish - </b>Finish high<b><br></b></li><ul><li>After hitting through the ball we must allow the bat to decelerate. If our elbow, hands, and bat have followed a good path the follow-through should be above the height of the shoulders.</li><li>The relative height of the follow-through will be dependent on the location of the pitch. Higher for a low pitch and more level with the lead shoulder for a higher pitch.</li><li>Some hitters release the top hand during the follow-through, but this is individual for each hitter.
