Needing some help (10u Swing)

[CoogansBluff]

I thought that way at first as well, as we were doing a more baseball-type, striding swing which finished with the rotating hip pulling back foot forward, toe-down and dragging, however many aspects of this current method were encouraged by another highly-regarded scholarship swing-builder from the Chicago area (not the Epstein Guy - I don't want to throw anyone's name out there without their permission, though).

I believe the premise of the back-foot mechanism I mentioned is that we have a more massive ball, and the back foot coming off the ground, or up on toe, does not carry mass forward as well - or probably not until you are old enough to swing a heavier bat. If you watch a lot of college girls swing, you see that back foot even sit back onto the ball again at the end of the swing in an effort to power that barrel through that massive ball.

A baseball, however, has a superball in the core (whereas a fastpitch ball is just solid cork), so its elasticity quotient is much higher - you can pivot on front foot on heel and drag up and forward on the tip of that back toe a lot more confidently when the ball springs off the bat like that.

I don't know enough to take sides her, but my experience has been that those who ''finished with the rotating hip pulling back foot forward, toe-down and dragging'' might actually get more power, but at the risk of some accuracy.

 

[rdbass]

I can see what you are getting at., in terms of inward ball depth at point of contact, but the setting of the shoulder plane that I was referring to is more in terms of contacting the ball square, or avoiding off-hitting the ball. A dipping shoulder will invariably lead to off-hit balls.

I really enjoy breaking this down - this is awesome, and I appreciate the volleying!

getting bat on plane and at the right height, and quickly -

I don't agree:
The bold is what you're promoting. JMHO.

AMATEUR HIITTER: The amateur hitter flattens his bat then swings. He has a slop move that is not part of the launch, yet he can't launch until he does it. He has two moves to his launch. That flattening move happens first, then he launches. Therefore, if he flattens his barrel and drops his rear shoulder THEN launches, the acceleration of his bat will be upward and forward. And that technique will pop the ball up a lot.

HIGH LEVEL HITTER: The high level hitter does not flatten his bat before swinging. He swings from 'up'. The dropping of the shoulder that you see in the clips above IS AN ACCELERATION MOVE. He is turning the barrel rearward with his forearms and the lateral tilt of the torso enhances that action. It adds great power to the acceleration. The lateral tilt of the torso is maybe THE MOST EXPLOSIVE thing the body can do. That action is critical to the suddenness needed to hit at high levels. In fact, the acceleration of the bat is DOWNWARD, not up. The high level hitter swings down with a PINWHEEL action. Which means the barrel will turn up, but only as a result of the downward acceleration reaching the bottom of the arc. The hitter can hit the ball on the downstroke, or just at the bottom of the arc, or, preferably, just as the barrel turns upward.

 

[CoogansBluff]

I don't know enough to take sides her, but my experience has been that those who ''finished with the rotating hip pulling back foot forward, toe-down and dragging'' might actually get more power, but at the risk of some accuracy.

For example, here is who who drags the toe who gets good power.

 

[coachmup]

I don't agree:
The bold is what you're promoting. JMHO.

JMHO, nothing I said would lead to the conclusion in bold.

 

[coachmup]

For example, here is who who drags the toe who gets good power.

I am talking about an ideal swing for a 10 year old fastpitch softball player, not a pro baseball player, or Lauren Chamberlain.

If my kid were a little older and stronger, of course I would love for her to have a dynamic swing more like this:

. . . but without the strength and heavier bat, I simply see coming up on the back toe at that age as throwing away power.

 

[Greenmonsters]

I am talking about an ideal swing for a 10 year old fastpitch softball player, not a pro baseball player, or Lauren Chamberlain.

If my kid were a little older and stronger, of course I would love for her to have a dynamic swing more like this:

. . . but without the strength and heavier bat, I simply see coming up on the back toe at that age as throwing away power.

Love your passion and enthusiasm, but please understand that you are not the first one to venture down the fastpitch hitting path and that the philosophy of "Trust, but verify" will allow you to learn from the experiences, both good and bad, of the others that have traveled the path before you.

FWIW, relative to usage in the context of current DFP hitting discussions, two words - "stretch" and "sequence" - more effectively describe what you attempted to in your Post #15 dissertation, which IMO displayed confusion between cause and effect and misplaced focus on ancillary body parts.

 

[coachmup]

Love your passion and enthusiasm, but please understand that you are not the first one to venture down the fastpitch hitting path and that the philosophy of "Trust, but verify" will allow you to learn from the experiences, both good and bad, of the others that have traveled the path before you.

FWIW, relative to usage in the context of current DFP hitting discussions, two words - "stretch" and "sequence" - more effectively describe what you attempted to in your Post #15 dissertation, which IMO displayed confusion between cause and effect and misplaced focus on ancillary body parts.

That's 5 points right there for the use of the word "ancillary" in a sentence.

I guess this is the Hitting Bar, where you saddle-up and snobbily talk hitting - let it fly!

I understand. I may have worded things a bit confusingly, but I am not going to make any videos, so you'll just have to take my word for it. . . or not! Doesn't matter either way, we'll all be still having fun playing "Best Last Word Getter".

Awesome.

 

[rdbass]

coachmup said:

I simply see coming up on the back toe at that age as throwing away power.

I'll agree with this. I see some hitters that are too quick to get their 'toes pointed to China'. I call it the 'look' and yes they do leave power on the table. I'm not saying all hitters that get onto their front toes but, some....

 

[rdbass]

I am talking about an ideal swing for a 10 year old fastpitch softball player, not a pro baseball player, or Lauren Chamberlain.

If my kid were a little older and stronger, of course I would love for her to have a dynamic swing more like this:

. . . but without the strength and heavier bat, I simply see coming up on the back toe at that age as throwing away power.

Just helping you out her. This hitter that you posted is 'all back/sway, all forward.

This hitting is 'throwing away power' as she comes forward. What I mean is there is very little stretch/separation as she shifts THEN swings instead of shift AND swing. Chas's hitters at BaseballRebellion all seem to jump to their front foot. They can't wait to get to their front foot. This may work during front toss but, against a real pitcher changing speeds will make them possibly look silly.

I guess this is the Hitting Bar, where you saddle-up and snobbily (snobbery)talk hitting - let it fly![/

What you call snobbily/snobbery 'we' call help. Sorry 'we' aren't amazed at your hitting knowledge because a few posters have been 'around' hitters for awhile. It's a discussion thread where 'we' discuss hitting. So, discuss a way.

 

[Greenmonsters]

That's 5 points right there for the use of the word "ancillary" in a sentence.

I guess this is the Hitting Bar, where you saddle-up and snobbily talk hitting - let it fly!

I understand. I may have worded things a bit confusingly, but I am not going to make any videos, so you'll just have to take my word for it. . . or not! Doesn't matter either way, we'll all be still having fun playing "Best Last Word Getter".

Awesome.

Sorry, thought this was the technical hitting forum where things get looked at under the microscope. Maybe I got lucky using ancillary in a hitting sentence or maybe spell check reworded my sentence expressing that your primary upper body swing focus on the elbows is asinine and I wanted to spell asinine with two s's.

Please feel free to have the last word, but just do it after you've learned that it's a waste of time to teach anything other than a high-level swing from the very start.