What do you mean by PUSH?

[FiveFrameSwing]

They get Sling-shot forward.

 

[Spartans21]

This thread is very good so far! I think it has some of the clearest explanations of the "under the hood stuff" regarding turning the barrel. Thanks

 

[Greenmonsters]

Since this is a softball site and since the goal of many of the posters here is to have their daughters play in college, it should be noted that the young lady who's swing is being critiqued here with the assertion that her swing sucks has produced these results:

(From the University of Oregon Softball Website)

AS A SOPHOMORE (2014) (AT NEBRASKA)
First Team All-Midwest Region...First Team All-Big Ten...Academic All-Big Ten...Started all 62 games for the Huskers in her sophomore campaign...Hit a team-high .369 with 51 runs, 80 hits, 21 doubles, 14 homers and 53 RBIs...Also led the team in hits, doubles and RBIs...Her 21 doubles were the fourth most in the NCAA and tied for the second most in Nebraska single-season history...Went 7-for-11 with a double, two homers and seven runs scored in Nebraska's series win at No. 23 Northwestern, including a school record four runs in the second game of the set...Hit .443 in Big Ten play and tied for the league lead with 35 hits in conference action...Ranked second in the Big Ten in overall batting average and runs scored...Continued her strong play in the postseason, hitting .429 (12-of-28) in seven NCAA tournament games...Went 10-for-20 in the Huskers' regional win in Columbia, Mo....Homered in the first inning of each game against host Missouri as the Huskers knocked off the No. 15 ranked Tigers in back-to-back games...Did not make an error in seven postseason games at second base and posted a .964 overall fielding percentage in 2014.

This young lady will play this year at the University of Oregon after transferring from the University of Nebraska. This then should raise some questions. If her swing is as bad as critiqued here then how can she have such a year in the Big 10? Other questions should be posed but I'll leave that alone. I'm betting that most of us, including me, would wish our dd's as much success as this young lady has had in two years of top flight ball.

Here is an article about her and her dad. Her dad must not know what he is doing since his students include Hailey, Buster Posey, Pablo Sandoval ... In short, her dad is the Director of hitting for the San Francisco Giants.

McNary's Hailey Decker learned hitting skills from dad, former MLB player Steve Decker - MaxPreps

If you are going to aim, why not aim high and model a Cabrera, or Posey etc? If you don't quite get there, I'm OK w/ settling for being an average MLB hitter, one of the highest level NCAA FP hitters, or even the best hitter you can be. If you don't aim as high, you eliminate the potential for truly being exceptional and likely will have to settle for far less. Honestly, I'd be thrilled if my DD swung (or more importantly, hit) like Decker, but still wouldn't choose her as the model over the likes of Bustos, Bautista, or Cabrera etc.

 

[FiveFrameSwing]

Mann, back to your point ..... when Williams was describing the swing as a hard push swing he wasn't describing the portion that RHC was describing, but the portion into impact.

 

[SoAZDad]

One college coach knows how to teach it.

Candrea? Got cleaned by ULL in the Supers, but the 2014 NCAA DI stats on a pretty tough schedule:

2nd in BA
15th in 2B/game
1st in HR/game
2nd in OBP
1st in scoring
1st in SLG

 

[redhotcoach]

Candrea? Got cleaned by ULL in the Supers, but the 2014 NCAA DI stats on a pretty tough schedule:

2nd in BA
15th in 2B/game
1st in HR/game
2nd in OBP
1st in scoring
1st in SLG

Na...IMO Candrea gets great softball players and keeps em great. Lotief gets soccer players and turns em into national team and pro fastpitch hitters. Christi Orgeron | USSSA Pride - Professional Fastpitch Softball

And a ps...I believe the Myers can create some pretty solid hitters.

 

[coachbob]

It is rear leg drive, which is not the rear leg pushing. Watch Prince for 15 minutes for your dd. His rear leg is turning his coiled rear hip. His front foot isn't even on the ground when his rear leg is starting to turn the hip forward, so can you legitimately say he is "two legged"? His back is pulling back against the rear leg turning forward. The barrel is being turning back into the arch as the coiling rear hip…being turning by the rear leg…is PULLING the handset forward….the handset that is turning the barrel BEHIND the coiled rear hip pulling. So the handset and barrel pulling against the coiled rear hip being turning by the rear leg get WHIPPED forward…not pushed forward, not muscled forward, but whipped forward.

One college coach knows how to teach it.

Post of the day. Nicely done RHC.

Go Cajuns!

 

[Eric F]

Since this is a softball site and since the goal of many of the posters here is to have their daughters play in college, it should be noted that the young lady who's swing is being critiqued here with the assertion that her swing sucks has produced these results...

It seems you're being a touch over-sensitive there, CB. Her swing doesn't "suck". No one on this board has said that. There are some components of her swing that don't match what the best hitters in MLB are doing, but that doesn't immediately mean "horrible". It's not a black and white issue, but shades of grey. As good as she is in the world of D1 softball, maybe there's some room for her to get even better, just as there is often room for a top D1 baseball player to get better.

 

[SoAZDad]

Na...IMO Candrea gets great softball players and keeps em great. Lotief gets soccer players and turns em into national team and pro fastpitch hitters. Christi Orgeron | USSSA Pride - Professional Fastpitch Softball

And a ps...I believe the Myers can create some pretty solid hitters.

I know I'm outside the tech hitting thread here. Good luck!!!!

 

[RichK]

RHC, nice job. I still find it hard to "read" some swings, especially very athletic ones. I really liked your distinction between attaining separation and maintaining a corner, achieving one without the other creating sort of a "false positive." That's really useful. I find the ideas you're advocating in these posts not only very useful in trying to understand video but also in working with girls -- I can demonstrate and get them to feel coil, pullback, how to swivel or pivot around the hands to "get behind" the ball (ie, turn the barrel) vs. all back/all-forward and slice down through it.

That said, I've seen girls with incredible hands and athleticism who are clearly arm-swinging with great success. A successful pusher is almost by definition uber-athletic...picture, for instance, Bryce Harper wailing away at it....

The thing is, on a 380 foot-to-center field with half-dead wooden or BBcor bats and sick sliders/off-speed to disrupt timing, the push swing craps out at some point in the boy's game. In fastpitch, with 200 foot fences, trampoline bats, 43 foot mounds and ever-stronger girls (with crazy aggressive plate approaches), the athletic push swing -- especially for a girl who can find the center of the ball consistently with her hands -- can be very successful. I'm not saying that should be the goal, but it certainly complicates the build-a-swing/use-the-swing instructional dynamic : )