OK, a few caveats to start: First, I have no issue with a no-stride swing. I am not suggesting a stride is necessary for all swings. I do believe it's either a matter of style or one of those things that might be better for some than others (some of what people here call "style" I think may be more "personal necessity"). This is not a post about the overall merits of not striding. Please keep that in mind. I know there are some super successful no-stride hitters.
HOWEVER...
I've noticed that nearly all (estimating maybe 75%) of the new hitters I've been working with, all ages, don't stride. And it's a problem. I've figured out that the reason they don't stride is because they have no intention of using their lower half at all. They're not striding because all that does, to them, is slow down their "swing" (which is just using the hands to sweep the bat across the zone). In other words, they're not not striding because that's their personal style, but because they're just using their arms to swing anyway. In addition to that, they don't really understand that the swing has to start before they see the ball, so they're cutting out the "less important" part so they can more quickly get to the part where the bat does something.
Before now, I haven't really tinkered with stance/stride or other "style" issues unless something isn't working and I think a little tweak could help. I'm not the type to go in and try to make every hitter the same. But I think it would be a good idea to take all these hitters who exhibit the same issue and give them a small stride or at least a toe touch, even if it's only temporary to get them to understand that the legs need to be involved. I've tried working with the no-stride stance (admittedly hard for me since I stride and I have a tough time making everything work when I don't), but it doesn't translate.
Any thoughts on this? I realize that just adding a stride won't fix everything, but attempting other ways to get them to understand hasn't been working for whatever reason, so I thought it might be worth a try.
HOWEVER...
I've noticed that nearly all (estimating maybe 75%) of the new hitters I've been working with, all ages, don't stride. And it's a problem. I've figured out that the reason they don't stride is because they have no intention of using their lower half at all. They're not striding because all that does, to them, is slow down their "swing" (which is just using the hands to sweep the bat across the zone). In other words, they're not not striding because that's their personal style, but because they're just using their arms to swing anyway. In addition to that, they don't really understand that the swing has to start before they see the ball, so they're cutting out the "less important" part so they can more quickly get to the part where the bat does something.
Before now, I haven't really tinkered with stance/stride or other "style" issues unless something isn't working and I think a little tweak could help. I'm not the type to go in and try to make every hitter the same. But I think it would be a good idea to take all these hitters who exhibit the same issue and give them a small stride or at least a toe touch, even if it's only temporary to get them to understand that the legs need to be involved. I've tried working with the no-stride stance (admittedly hard for me since I stride and I have a tough time making everything work when I don't), but it doesn't translate.
Any thoughts on this? I realize that just adding a stride won't fix everything, but attempting other ways to get them to understand hasn't been working for whatever reason, so I thought it might be worth a try.
