DD Bat Drag ?

[batdragon]

So for the last 2 nights, she has been hitting a punching bag and breaking up the stride and the swing by pausing at toe touch.

1) Stride- I have her striding to toe touch while loading/coiling and getting her back elbow above & behind her hands. Her back shoulder is higher than her front shoulder at toe touch, like rdbass mentioned. In the above video/picture from last weekend it shows her elbow is dropping at toe touch. I am now having her elbow peaking above and behind her hands as she reaches toe touch. This actually brings her hands closer to her armpit at toe touch and seems to prevent her from dropping her hands prior to her shoulders rotating and her elbow beginning to slot. The hands seem locked in when the elbow is higher, and forced to move with the rotating shoulders.

2) Swing - Next she is swinging, and I have been using the queues that many here have mentioned. I believe these queues make sense.

"turn the barrel to contact with hands"
"keep the back elbow behind your hands"
"allow the rotation of the shoulders to turn the bat to contact"

She has been taking about 70-100 cuts on the bag each night just to get the feeling. I do not see any bat drag at all when she is hitting the bag, but I am going to video her hitting the bag to make sure before we move on to the tee.

Does this approach make sense ?
Any other queues that may work ?

Thx,
BatDragon

 

[redhotcoach]

You just nailed it.
The one thing all "bat draggers" have in common (flaw) is what you just stated.
I'll bet your DD first move with the upper body is she'll flatten the bat (palm up/palm down) behind her.
it's all about eliminating the premature palmup/palm down is the "bat dragger's" swing.
As coach Cohen said (or something close)in his video:
pay attention to the shaft to shoulder position. Look at the Bonds photo as henears "the corner".
Or for a good bat drag photo at the "near's the corner" position, look at RHC's avatar. You'll notice how the guy in the photo is already palm up/palm down, when he should still be somewhat top hand's palm facing the pitcher but absolutely not PU/PD.
That is the major hurdle IMO.

throwing the barrel....

 

[redhotcoach]

One thing I have noticed while watching "some" mlb hitters is that they get their back elbow back and above their hands during the stride. SCAP LOADING

The elbow seems to reach its highest point (back and above hands) at toe touch.STRETCH Bryce Harper for example, I believe does this. When the elbow is up and behind the hands while hip/shoulder rotation begins it forces the hands to stay connected to the shoulders longer until the rear elbow begins to slot.RESIST TURNING THE HANDS, TOP HAND VERTICALLY STACKED OVER BOTTOM HAND, BAT NEAR VERTICAL, ALL WHILE THE ELBOW "WORKS UNDER" TOWARD SLOT. FIRE!: RELEASE THE RESISTANCE IN THE HANDS, TURNING THE BARREL AND FIRING, NOT TURN THEN FIRE. The hands are briefly locked into this position and can not physically drop until the back elbow gets below the hands. So as the shoulders turn, the rear elbow being high and behind hands moves the hands towards the ball as the back elbow slots. The high back elbow position at toe touch also seems to move the hands slightly up when the back elbow is trying to slot during shoulder rotation. This slight upward movement of the hands also seems as if it would help prevent bat drag.

Let me know what you think about this observation.

Thx,
BatDragon

My thoughts in bold ^^^^^^

SnF...Stretch and Fire. The elbow high and back you are talking about is loading the scapula like Maddox in doing above in the pitch. Doing it back as you are going toward toe touch is stretch.

Nice.

 

[redhotcoach]

Mankin talks turning the barrel.

 

[redhotcoach]

Next part of the lesson.

 

[batdragon]

I think the bat drag is gone when working on just hitting a punching bag.

Here is a video...please let me know if you agree...and I can move on to a ball on a tee.

Jayla 11-14 HitBag - YouTube

I know the quality is not great, but from what I can tell it is gone.

Thx,
BatDragon

 

[FiveFrameSwing]

Well BatDragOn ... perhaps you'll need to change your handle to BatDragOff.

Congratulations on the improvement.

Not that this is the finished product mind you ... but I'd like you to share what she was working on to make these changes and what you feel may have helped the most.

 

[redhotcoach]

Great work!

You said earlier about Cabrera makes it look so easy. It is anything but!

The first time I went through the Mankin videos, I just had to laugh out loud. He does a great job describing what it is, but he ends the last lesson with the advice of (basically) "it's extremely hard, only about 5% of good hitters do it, and good luck figuring out how you are going to learn it."

 

[Shawn]

That looks better. One thing at a time, there is still lifting/pushing off the back leg that lifts the hands a little to high. Can't change everything at once. The only hitters that lift upwards are the ones who have very deep knee bend, for example Bagwell.

Although the hands aren't creating as much loop, therefor less drag or dropping.

The front foot is opening to much before foot plant. This ties into the pushing off the back leg that triggers the start of the swing in the old swing and is still present. This is still to slow of a process and is when she started dropping the barrel in the first clip.

Move her closer to the bag and practice hitting the ball deeper. This should also help prevent any bat drag, not enough time to drag the bat. This will create a deeper power L, less back elbow extension.

She is still to upright which creates a level high swing plane. Not sure what would happen on a lower target. If the bat drag would come back. You can practice on the heavy bag hitting different/lower locations.

One thing at a time though, looks like your on the way. Good start, the swing doesn't happen fast enough where you can't see the elbow leading or the barrel dropping. So you are seeing the right thing and there isn't much dragging.

 

[FiveFrameSwing]

Your daughter is only 9. She made this transformation over the course of a day or so. Would you believe that there are "experts" that struggle to solve 'bat drag' issues with older boys while working with them for years? It's true.