Critique / Help Series of Swings

IMO, the improvement the OP's DD has shown in very short time suggests that more of us need to re-visit and re-think conventional wisdom/instruction and "what 99% of coaches are teaching".


A big tip of the hat to Knights DD - nice work!
And another one to MTS for patiently trying to teach a dinosaur a new trick.

Knightsb, your daughter has shown significant improvement.

Please summarize what you worked on that you believe resulted in the greatest benefits.

MTS said:

Starting to get the hang of it, but needs to tighten up the back arm - still too much external rotation.

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MTS,
Question about the bold above. Just so I am clear are you saying that her rear arm is to high in this drill?

Watch the back elbow. It comes down before the barrel starts moving....the elbow moves like this because the humerus (upper arm) externally rotates....in live swings this player does have an issue with the rear elbow getting way ahead of the hands....she has hit some absolute bombs for a smaller player but she has to hit the ball way out in front.

The other thing I will say about this demo is that she is not resisting enough with the rear hip and rear leg to create enough stretch...

rdbass said:

MTS,
Question about the bold above. Just so I am clear are you saying that her rear arm is to high in this drill?

Click to expand...

knightsb said:

VLOG from 02/02/2013:

[video=youtube_share;1QJ6kW4emM8]http://youtu.be/1QJ6kW4emM8[/video]

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Awesome video and to the untrained eye I would say she has come a long way...Congrats!!!

Marcus said:

Knightsb, your daughter has shown significant improvement.

Please summarize what you worked on that you believe resulted in the greatest benefits.

Click to expand...

Hi Marcus,

Simple question…. complex answer…. complex because there were many problems and we worked on many things….

[Right mouse click on the post hyperlink to open link in a new tab]

Problem

• Hitting too far out in front. Reaching for the ball.

Post #39
There is a tendency to practice hitting off of a tee with the tee out past the front foot. I believe this is because the batter is able to generate more bat speed by the time they reach the ball, so the ball rockets off the tee. When the tee is deeper the ball doesn't have the same pop. When the batter practices with the tee that far out front there is a tendency to "reach" for that point of contact in a game.

Corrective Action:

• Deep Tee Drills

Problem

• Stride foot was also reaching with her weight back.

Corrective Action:

• Adjust batting stance and start with feet closer together.
• Shorten Stride
• LEARN TO CONTROL THE BACK SIDE

Post #20
one of the best drills you can do is take rear leg swings....once a hitter can control her swing using only the rear leg for balance and strengthens all of her stabilizers - the stride can then be controlled by the back leg....in the process you learn the correct direction to launch the bat.

Post #28
Pictures of Kent let us know our stride wasn't too far off. And provided a model to observe.


Problems

• Starting hand position
• Early arm bar of the front elbow
• Swing around her rear hip instead of behind.

Corrective Action:

• LEARN TO CONTROL THE BACK SIDE

Post #6
arms/hands/bat connected) and more behind her rear hip.
Post #50
Had to bring this over as it ties in with thinking the bat tip is the hand in a windmill throw and how the front arm works itself out...
Post #71
If you think of the very tip of the bat as the hand when you windmill - the path is very similar - meaning the hand goes around a circle to pitch....same as the tip of the bat goes around a circle.....

And in the case of this thread and the OP's daughter - she starts to try and move the bat with the back elbow as the barrel gets turned in the wrong direction and the front elbow stays down forcing her to barrel to go around her rear hip which.....tada!.....makes front arm lengthen.....causing the arm bar everyone sees.....that's why I said fix the way the barrel is launched with the back arm and the front arm will fix itself...
Post #72
Watch the back arm and barrel - they move at the same time as if their is a steel rod connecting his elbow to the barrel tip - also notice that as the barrel is headed away from contact that the rear leg is sensing it must move forward....



IMHO.... and I am no hitting expert.... the GOLD lies in posts 71 & 72. Getting to that point, the deep tee drill and SnF drills are key. Last night I asked DD in help responding to this question. She said practicing the deep tee drills has given her the awareness of her bat position, so when she swings now, she can identify when she is too out in front, or swinging off her front foot. She said the SnF drill gave her the feeling of whipping the bat through the zone (her words not mine... I never mentioned whip the bat through the zone).

knightsb said:

Hi Marcus,
Simple question…. complex answer…. complex because there were many problems and we worked on many things….
.

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One the best answers I've seen yet.... pretty much the answer to why your DD did so good so fast !!!!

MTS said:

Watch the back elbow. It comes down before the barrel starts moving....the elbow moves like this because the humerus (upper arm) externally rotates....in live swings this player does have an issue with the rear elbow getting way ahead of the hands....she has hit some absolute bombs for a smaller player but she has to hit the ball way out in front.

The other thing I will say about this demo is that she is not resisting enough with the rear hip and rear leg to create enough stretch...

Click to expand...

MTS,

I'm so glad you pointed out the back elbow. I've said it several times on her but here it goes again. I went to a Don Slaught RVP clinic several years ago when Brooke and I first started our journey, one of his biggest ques was that the rear elbow initiates the swing so what did I do? I told Brooke that and bingo welcome to severe bat drag.

It didn't make any sense to me when he said it because I never swung like that when I played and frankly I hadn't ever dissected video of elite hitters at that either. I swung and swung and I finally came to the realization that it was a horrible que and scrapped it. None the less it really aggravated me that we had wasted time on it. From that point on I never used anything with Brooke unless I could feel and agree with what was said. Bad information is extremely dangerful to a kid and their journey.

I take this journey very seriously because I've been at the starting point and realize how hard and time consuming it is. Brooke has reached the point where she has D1 offers and I truly wish every dad and DD the same. I do owe RD an apology for being a jerk to him, he just trying to help others and I overreacted, for that I apologize.

Knights,

Your DD has made tremendous progress. Tell her gd job and keep working hard.

Crankermo,
If apology for me, all is good and forgotten. I can also be a jerk at times. I wish Brooke all the best.

Steve Huff said:

Here is a video that visually explains what I am saying with slow motion breakdown and analysis.

How to Avoid Bat Drag - How The Best Hitters in Baseball Use Their Hands - YouTube

knightsb, this video reminds me of the video where DD hit the batting tee.

How to Avoid Bat Drag - How The Best Hitters in Baseball Use Their Hands - YouTube

As I have said, "the swing does not change, inside pitch or outside pitch". Orientation changes.

Hitting the Baseball to All Fields - YouTube

Discusses barred front arm. Perhaps MTS should watch this also. Has an excellent "load" drill.

Hitting Drills - Setting the Hands with The Bat - YouTube

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This is the post that stuck out the most to me in the debate. The coach in the video is saying the hitter is intentionally using his hands to apply torque to the handle of the bat to launch the barrel. I may be wrong but this seems like what MTS is referring to when he speaks of launching the bat rearward to gain the most bat speed possible from the very start. Not extending the arms rearward or anything that would break the triangle. I'm not sure if this is what Steve Huff thought or not because I wasn't able to read any of this while the debate was taking place but I wonder if maybe it was.