What powers the barrel turn?

The hands, shoulders, arms, trunk and hips all play some role in turning the barrel.

Which is most important? What powers it? When teaching it, what should the hitter focus most on?

CoogansBluff said:

The hands, shoulders, arms, trunk and hips all play some role in turning the barrel.

Which is most important? What powers it? When teaching it, what should the hitter focus most on?

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Actually this is a thread that sounds interesting.
Thanks for posting this topic...




SL

What do smart hands know? (Where did you go, rdbass? Your post was good.)

I don't disagree. I've just been trying to sort out all the ingredients and their value.

Today, I decided to hit some balls off the tee myself, to learn more about what it feels like to attempt to swing correctly.

Getting this here down (below) seemed to be the most valuable element, for me (ie, hips lead, lower-back pinch). I might still have dumb hands, though.

And when I say what powers it, here's another way to ask. Imagine that a hitter had to turn the barrel while under water. What part of the body would get most exercised trying to power through that water resistance? I'd think in the lower back doing this move? Or the hands? I can easily see Cabrera turning the barrel, but I want to be able to know what it feels like. That's why I ask.

Excellent question.

I see a lot of moving parts working together. All of them are powering the movement.

I believe it starts from the ground up. Id describe it as a upward uncoiling cascade. Fluid but done in steps.

Ill be tuned in and anxiously waiting for the answer on how to teach this.

CoogansBluff said:

What do smart hands know? (Where did you go, rdbass? Your post was good.)

I don't disagree. I've just been trying to sort out all the ingredients and their value.

Today, I decided to hit some balls off the tee myself, to learn more about what it feels like to attempt to swing correctly.

Getting this here down (below) seemed to be the most valuable element, for me (ie, hips lead, lower-back pinch). I might still have dumb hands, though.

And when I say what powers it, here's another way to ask. Imagine that a hitter had to turn the barrel while under water. What part of the body would get most exercised trying to power through that water resistance? I'd think in the lower back doing this move? Or the hands? I can easily see Cabrera turning the barrel, but I want to be able to know what it feels like. That's why I ask.

Click to expand...

I don't view it as "Shift And Swing", but instead as "Pivot the Swing".

Really good topic and something I've struggled to understand for what seems like forever. As I was trying to get it, seeing clips like this made it even more confusing because I was seeing it out of sequence:



When we went to our first session with FFS, it took a lot of restraint to wait for it and not just blurt out "Please explain this barrel turn thing." Instead, he taught her how to sequence the whole swing by relating many things to throwing.

When he got to that phase of the sequence, I finally broke my silence and excitedly asked, "Is that turning the barrel?!?!" When he affirmed it, I got up from my chair, grabbed her wood bat and went off to a corner of the facility to swing. Put into context, I was able to feel and better understand how the one piece fit into the whole swing. It was awesome to feel the energy it put into the bat--almost felt like it was going to fly out of my hands at whip!

Turning the barrel is something that happens during transition from load to "Right now." My misunderstanding of what it was and how it related to the whole swing kind of reminds me of the focus on things like the "L" in throwing a ball.



It is one position that happens in most high level throws, but more important, it is part of a bigger sequence.

Edit: The "L" is a poor comparison to barrel turn/launch because it's more of an observable position--maybe like a high elbow prior to launch. Sorry--it was the best I had at the moment...

Edit: The "L" is a poor comparison to barrel turn/launch because it's more of an observable position-

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Throwing and hitting differ on the pivot points.
If it helps in the throwing pic above. Think of the elbow as the hand and the forearm as the bat.

Which is most important?

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Educated hands.

The hands, shoulders, arms, trunk and hips all play some role in turning the barrel.

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Even bad hitters use all of the above body parts. Good hitters know how to use their hands correctly.


I know this is before the turning of the barrel/bat.
The bodies rotation and leg drive power the 'turning of the barrel forward'.

The sequence is a kinetic chain, it is a whip, that ends in the load and the release/fire/snap of the forearm/ wrist assembly.

https://mann.smugmug.com/Other/Bagdrill/i-KJpXjWR/0/O/miggypausecornergif-M.gif



the same for throwing, and so many other athletic movements.


As others have mentioned, once you feel how little effort is required to "let your swing go" you will start to grasp 'turning the barrel"

Proper sequencing turns the barrel. The difference between "educated" and "dumb" hands is not in what they do, but whether they get to the right place at the right time to enable the bat to complete the sequence.