Donaldson discusses his swing

JOSH DONALDSON ON HITTING


1) "I got my weight in my back heel right there, which....

2) "Is going to let me stay balanced in my back hip"

3) "Once I get into my hip right here (puts front hand on rear hip), my weights going to be able to transfer (not shift) from my back knee"

4) "What's a little different, what people don't understand is....I never want to think about my hands going towards the baseball"

5) "The only time I think about hands....is if it's an emergency swing, that I'm just trying to foul a ball off"

6) "From this point forward, when I get to the top of my leg kick...you see how everything is nice, and stacked?.....so once I begin to go forward, THAT'S when I start to create my load, and when I start to create my angles and get my stretch.

7) "The term I like to use is "effortless bat speed" (wonder where he got that? lol)"

8) "OK, I'll tell ya....if you're 10 years old, and your coach says "get on top of the ball".....tell him "No". Because in the big leagues, these things they call ground balls are outs. They don't pay you for ground balls...they pay you for doubles, they pay you for homers."

9) "When I'm right here (demonstrates stance, and before load) I don't want to feel....I want to feel like my arms are limp...like I have zero tension....

10) "The time my arms get engaged with my body, is when I....when my scap loads my bat, and pulls it back....

11) "I don't want to think about my hands loading it. Because if my hands load it, my barrel gets messed up".

12) "The whole fact of the matter is; to keep this as simple as possible...I want my bat to be near a 45o, and I want my bat to split my head...whenever I finish my load at this point."

13) "Let's think of this logically (talking about hitting a letter-high, inside pitch), if I hit a ball like this right here (pulls/yanks in his hands, and chops straight down towards the ball)....that ball's going straight down this way (pushes with his hand towards the ground out in front of the plate), or I'm going to clip the bottom-side of it, and pop it straight up".

14) So the proper way to hit this pitch....I'm at my load, I'm at my heel strike.....so now I'm here (shows himself in the fully loaded/"stretched" position), now it's all about getting my elbows in the right position...and now I'm firing my back shoulder, back hip to this ball right here....FHEW...and now it's a homer.

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Eric F said:

I wish JD had been able to just talk through his entire swing process without interruption. I get there feeling there's a LOT more good information to be shared.

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Work=wins said:

So when JD says he doesn't think hands. That sounds kinda like the Epstein stuff revised with a MUCH better loading system that activates the hands at the right time late in the swing for a deep hpp. When my kid went through the Epstein stuff 3 yrs ago she really hit for power .The position JD gets into at foot strike looks like bat on deltoid to feel the stretch part of the rubber band part of the swing and keep a deep hpp. Am I just seeing what I want or is anyone else seeing the same basic Epstein stuff from his last dvd that he no longer sells . I got away from the Epstein mechanics because I have read many times that there is a low ceiling on those mechanics. Last year or so I have been using the ISO stuff for the most part with good results . Although DDs power numbers have suffered.14 hr Epstein , 4 Hr ISO. Avg is pretty close to the same.

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