When would you use a "Knob to the ball" cue?

When is a good time to use this cue? It doesn't seem to be as reviled as squish the big, but it definitely has a growing number of detractors on these boards. Is there still a place for it in your "hitting toolbox"? If so, what would you have to see in a swing to pull it out and use?

Backstory: My younger daughter was at a winter skills clinic this evening, and was given a 15 second correction of "you're doing this..." (instructor imitates her swing, and does a good job (probably unintentionally!), IMHO, of demonstrating a pretty decent "turn the barrel" / swoosh movement), "...and you should be doing this..." (demonstrates moving hands across body, slow motion snapping of wrists as she moves to extension).

My daughter's now used the "they teach things differently than you do, Daddy" line for both the defensive (wrist snaps, ball to 2b) and offensive (knob to the ball, door knockers, elbows down) parts of the clinic.

[sigh] The innocence is gone [sniff] I was hoping for a few more years before we had to have the "smile and nod" conversation!

[disclaimer - I haven't actually told her "smile and nod"...yet. I'm keeping my fingers crossed she doesn't throw me under the bus with a "but my Dad told me to do it this way" -type comment anytime soon.]


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I'm with you- I don't like what they're teaching. As Don Slaught (sp?) said- "If you are teaching the fundamentals you were taught, then you are at least 20 years behind the times".

Research research research. Try out the swings for yourself. See what you want your DD to do. Show her the how and why behind it. Make sure that swing becomes hers. Then, begrudgingly, teach her the nod and smile. It's time, my friend. 2 weeks ago, DD was in the cage with another coach who told her "quicker hand quicker hands!" She started her swing earlier (same swing and speed) and she replied "EXACTLY RIGHT! WAY TO SPEED UP THOSE HANDS!" DD smiled at the coach and proceeded with the cage practice. Certain things, however, I've told her to never do under any circumstance and if there's an issue, just send the coach to me. I.E. squish the bug.

I'd rather hit with the barrel...not the knob!.... always seems to go further that way.

Knob to the ball is a position that appears in all the good swings if you watch video. That doesn't mean it's a teach. It just means it occurs as a part of the swing path as the barrel is arcing into the path of the oncoming pitch. It is a brief part of the bats journey. The exaggerated push of the knob and hands in the direction on the ball that some instructors demonstrate cannot be replicated in their actual swing. (no one tells a lumberjack to take the end of the ax handle to the tree)

With young hitters who have issues with dropping/looping hands (DBSF pattern stuff), I have used "knob/hands to the ball" a few times talking about the start of the hand path, in the process of building a more direct path from launch to contact. Pushing the knob cross the chest is not involved. With specific hitters, I have found the cue useful, as a small part of the complete puzzle.

Like most cues, using "knob/hands to the ball" as stand-alone instruction, or taking the cure completely literally, is a recipe for problems.