LA LaFayete- Split Grip

[bullethead]

Once the ball leaves the bat from contact, does it really matter what you do with the bat from the ball's perspective?

 

[T Red]

Quite a few coaches in my area push explode at ball contact. I understand you want the batter to finish accelerating through he ball. But, I think they miss teaching explode to the ball. Accelerate as quickly as possible from the beginning of the swing to impact. Bat head speed is what will drive the ball. What happens after impact is not important, IMO, other than to show that the batter is finishing their swing.

 

[FiveFrameSwing]

If the ragin cajuns are hitting split grip at the expense of power, I'll trade for that anyday! Sarah Draheim's homer didn't have to go over the fence, it would have gone through it.

I believe Doc worked with some of these ladies and had them doing his split grip drill.

 

[redhotcoach]

 

[jbooth]

Once the ball leaves the bat from contact, does it really matter what you do with the bat from the ball's perspective?

No. In fact physicists have proven that during bat-ball collision you don't even need to hold on to the bat. At collision time, there is no more force that can be transmitted from the body, to the bat.

The question is; can you get as much velocity in the bat, at contact, with a split grip, as you can with a normal grip. I don't know. But, many are hitting it deep with that grip. My gut feeling is; by using the split grip, they finally figured out how the two hands are supposed to work together. You can do the same action without splitting. I don't know what the difference in the physics is; but my gut feeling again, is that the split isn't as efficient, it's just helping those who weren't using the hands correctly before using the split grip.

 

[SoCalSoftballdad]

Once the ball leaves the bat from contact, does it really matter what you do with the bat from the ball's perspective?

You are missing the point. The follow-through is a direct result of what happens PRIOR to the point of contact (POC) and is indicative of good hitting mechanics "upstream". The same is true for throwing overhand, windmill pitching, swinging a driver, etc.

One local D1 school here puts a big emphasis on extension after contact and the swing key is "hit the ball as long as possible along the same plane of the pitch". Do you actually have the ball on the bat for a longer period of time than not taking a full extention, NO. But this swing key allows the bat head to stay in the hitting zone longer and allows for better, more efficient and solid contact.

The bottom-line is what happens after POC (even if the ball has left the bat) is a critical component of the entire swing process.

 

[bullethead]

You are missing the point. The follow-through is a direct result of what happens PRIOR to the point of contact (POC) and is indicative of good hitting mechanics "upstream". The same is true for throwing overhand, windmill pitching, swinging a driver, etc.

One local D1 school here puts a big emphasis on extension after contact and the swing key is "hit the ball as long as possible along the same plane of the pitch". Do you actually have the ball on the bat for a longer period of time than not taking a full extention, NO. But this swing key allows the bat head to stay in the hitting zone longer and allows for better, more efficient and solid contact.

The bottom-line is what happens after POC (even if the ball has left the bat) is a critical component of the entire swing process.

Believe me, I get the point. My point is that so much emphasis is placed along your line of thought - you get the pretty follow throughs yada yada, but the person is not accelerating the bat TO the point of contact as quickly as possible, in fact oftentimes they are quite late getting the batspeed up and also have to hit the ball further in front. Then they have to "guess" which works with average and below pitchers but not the best

If spreading the hands helps a less experienced hitter wrap their brain around the concept of turning their bat more quickly further back in the swing sequence, getting acceleration going and being square earlier/hitting the ball deeper in their stance - those are very important/good things - right? It may abbreviate the pretty follow you solicit but it does not mean they decellerated thru contact of the ball even if their finish "aint purty"

 

[Tewks]

Accelerating the bat TO contact can be very different than accelerating the bat behind contact. To the ball then arc is most common, but not what Bustos or Yee does.

 

[Greenmonsters]

The split grip changes the fulcrum point - the point about which the bat rotates - much the same as choking up does, and reduces the moment of inertia, making the bat easier to swingn. IMO, the difference between standard choking up and the split grip is that the split grip allows the hitter to better feel and focus on what their hands are doing.

 

[FiveFrameSwing]

Check out their process between pitches.

Yes .... you'll see a very similar process for virtually every Lafayette batter.