Hey everyone. I'm a new member here and trying to work on some things with my daughter. She does have a hitting instructor that we work with from time to time. I've read up on lots of threads here and one thing I haven't been able to find a discussion on is hands at start. I've perused through pages of the model swing thread and the one thing I have noticed is that a lot of the top girls start with their hands mid neck. Now from there I've seen hands go up to around the head then back down into the swing or hands that start high around the ear then come down. In other words all over the place. To me the logical place would seem mid neck (lower) would be better but then again what do i know lol. That's why I'm here asking your opinion on why and what the differences are of starting hands higher vs lower.
Hands at start
- Thread starter OutInLeft
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We start with the top hand thumb around the hole in the ear.
Bustos teach's a little high hand set then Howard.
She does it because of at her level, rise ball pitchers will smoke you with a low hand set.
Maybe not as important at lower levels.
SL
Bustos teach's a little high hand set then Howard.
She does it because of at her level, rise ball pitchers will smoke you with a low hand set.
Maybe not as important at lower levels.
SL
redhotcoach
Out on good behavior
- May 8, 2009
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Howard Dobson (LSU hitting coach) said that many girls come to LSU and he asks them "is that a bat in your hands or is it your cell phone?" Talking about the girls that have their hands preset up by their ear hole. You won't find any top hitters, and typically no boys that have their hands preset there. Only girls that have received out dated teaching….go look around for yourself.
I don't believe in too many absolutes in where the hands should be in set up, except not too high. More important is what the hands are doing during the move out when the rear leg is turning/front foot coming down. The best take their hands up a bit and top hand begins to come around the bottom.
The up and around can allow for more of the upper loading into the lower unload. Can increase/decrease as needed for timing…help on the change up. Can't do this if your hands are already up by your ear….and if you are swing at a pitch above your handset, you've got other issues to be worrying about.
I don't believe in too many absolutes in where the hands should be in set up, except not too high. More important is what the hands are doing during the move out when the rear leg is turning/front foot coming down. The best take their hands up a bit and top hand begins to come around the bottom.
The up and around can allow for more of the upper loading into the lower unload. Can increase/decrease as needed for timing…help on the change up. Can't do this if your hands are already up by your ear….and if you are swing at a pitch above your handset, you've got other issues to be worrying about.
I'm more concerned where the hands get to at launch than I am about where they start. That said, if they are excessively too far in any direction and it's hindering their ability to get to a good launch position, I'll have them adjust. Generally speaking, starting in the vicinity of the rear shoulder is fine.
