itsallgood

Snotty is talking about the back shoulder going forward. That's like some chef trying to create a new secret sauce. He has to use one ingredient that other chefs don't use so he tosses in a pinch of whatever. Why don't you throw the right ear lobe into the equation? If you can get it to wiggle just before the ball arrives, then you'll relax just enough to hit a homer!

Then I get a reply that says getting your top hand to turn over isn't important. Palm up is good? No wonder so many girls travel like nomads from hitting coach to hitting coach wasting their parents' hard-earned money. I'm surprised they don't need psychiatrists by the time you guys get through with them. Poor girls.



I'm otta here.

kenkrause

The top hand turning over is a result, not a thing to teach, and it happens well after contact. Take a look at the freeze frame of any hitter making contact, and a couple of frames after that. Trying to turn the hands over at contact will cause the bat to move upwards, creating a weak contact and most likely a ground ball. That is different than snapping the bat head through as you move into contact. It will still not roll over until afterwards.

As for taking the back shoulder to the ball: when you see good hitters hit, they keep their hands close to the back shoulder until it's time to bring the bat into the contact zone. At that point they're going to start pulling the bottom hand in more of a circular movement than a direct line toward the ball, as it helps provide a short yet powerful swing, instead of extending the knob of the bat to the ball and losing power.

Ultimately, though, the object is to get the bat head to the ball quickly, and at the right time. I use many different cues to teach the same thing, because it's not about me and how I teach. It's about the players and how they learn. For me, explaining it as taking the back shoulder to the ball has been more effective for helping hitters get on the plane of the ball than teaching knob to the ball. Which I used to do.

Remember what Ralph Waldo Emerson said: Do not go where the path may lead; go instead where there is no path and leave a trail.

__________________
Mundelein Thunder 18U
Danes Fastpitch
Contributing editor, Softball Magazine
Life in the Fastpitch Lane

itsallgood

A "cue" is something you use to shoot pool. I don't have to watch video to know that if a hitter's top hand isn't getting involved, the ball is NOT going to jump off the bat like it will for a hitter whose top hand DOES. There are many ways to swing a bat and hit a ball. Fortunately for all the snake oil salesmen who've never acatually done it themselves, there will always be people out there who buy into theories that sound too confusing to be wrong.

Are you saying that it's a bad thing to hit a ground ball? What if a hitter smokes one past your third baseman--- who probably plays just as close for a .400 hitting right handed number three hitter with average speed as she does for a .250 hitting left handed slapping number 9 hitter who can fly? Would that be a bad at bat?

Mark H

Scott Sarginson did an extensive video study of Sarah Pauly's rise ball. The conclusion was, after much vetting by others, the ball might be rising a little from it's initial trajectory shortly after release but through the zone it's trajectory was flat to down relative to the earth. Since then no one has come up with video showing differently so, contrary to what my eyes see in person and contrary to what I'd like to believe, the ball does not break upward through the zone. At least not in female fp according to the video evidence.

People talk about matching swing plane to pitch plane but we can argue that point all day long too looking at clips like the ULL clips on the following link. http://home.mindspring.com/~rmk/

I do agree that teaching rolling of the hands at or through contact is a recipe for trouble.

Mark H

I do love watching Manny hit. Which clip or clips would you identify as uppercutting?

Mark H

Cues, in this sense, are things that coaches say to get a kid to do what they want though the cue has no connection to reality. Saying goes, "any given cue can be golden with any given hitter any given day". Key is, understanding where you really want to get the hitter to. As always, compare your own thoughts as well as others thoughts on the swing to slow motion video of the best in the world.

Love the last sentence of your first paragraph. Reminds me of someone I know who doesn't teach kids but pontificates at length. Having said that, even former great hitters are often known to teach things that don't match video of great hitters or even video of what the instructor/former great hitter actually did when he or she played. So again, compare to video.

As to ground balls, depends on the hitter, the situation and the ground ball. A ground ball for Nuveman is not nearly as happy an outcome as a ground ball for Lowe. Having said that, a ground ball that leaves scorched brown grass smoking all the way to the wall down the line and brings in a couple of runs is different than a routine bouncer to short. Even a routine ground ball to F4 bringing in a run from third is a happy outcome if we need one run to tie or win whoever the hitter is. Let Autumn Champion be Autumn Champion and let Bustos be Bustos. Of course my comments will usually be with the hitter in mind who is trying to drive the ball hard in the gap and make the outfielders run backwards but I do love having a little rocket slapper on first when my middle of the order hitter does that.

kenkrause

Are you saying that it's a bad thing to hit a ground ball? What if a hitter smokes one past your third baseman--- who probably plays just as close for a .400 hitting right handed number three hitter with average speed as she does for a .250 hitting left handed slapping number 9 hitter who can fly? Would that be a bad at bat?[/quote]

Of course not. I should clarify. I mean those weak ground balls that get gobbled up and turned into outs.

Sometimes a ground ball is the best possible outcome, such as on a hit and run. A team that's hitting all weak ground balls, though, will have a tough time winning.

__________________
Mundelein Thunder 18U
Danes Fastpitch
Contributing editor, Softball Magazine
Life in the Fastpitch Lane

Mark H

Here's a Marx clip. http://imageevent.com/siggy/hitting/...=0&w=4&s=0&z=9

You said "Don't let hips open before the hands start at the ball. Let the swing pull them open."

How do you see that advice relative to the above clip?

itsallgood

She has to get the hips turned quickly to get the barrel to it--- otherwise she gets sawed off. Six high school hitters out of ten would jump away from that pitch. Two out of ten would hit a fist shot back to the circle. The two who could get the barrel to it and keep it fair would play at the college level. Personally, I would have hit it forty yards foul into the parking lot just for a free swing. The best thing is her head. Dead down on the ball. She can hit.

Mark H

If you are saying the hips going before the hands in this clip is location specific perhaps you could pick out a clip where the hips do not go first?

http://imageevent.com/siggy/hitting;...q3o5f1.zebra_s