FiveFrameSwing
Banned
For some hitters that can be helpful.
Keep in mind that some hitters have the opposite issue, and for them that cue would be like putting fuel on the fire.
critique my 9yo DD swing...
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For some hitters that can be helpful.
Keep in mind that some hitters have the opposite issue, and for them that cue would be like putting fuel on the fire.
FiveFrameSwing
Banned
Getting the sequence correct in terms of "walking away from the hands" is a help, but it is not a guarantee for curing bat drag. A hitter with bat drag will often still have bat drag after getting a handle on the initial sequence. The activation of the hands/forearm still needs to be taught to many hitters. The notion that the rear hand/forearm is simply along for the ride has to be replaced with the appropriate building of structure. Core usage is important, and without that a kid will often attempt to muscle the result.
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- Jul 4, 2012
- 329
- 18
Is this particular example indicative of a stronger top hand (maybe it's called bottom hand in hockey) or a stronger girl?
I like how she is extending through the ball. A lot of (if not most) kids will pull off at that age.
I've been busy with spring break, but we did get a chance to go to the cages yesterday. I worked on two things, acknowledging that there are lots of good things from her swing, but fix the simple to comprehend stuff first. First up was the soft front leg. Made a point to bring it up and showed her some good gifs. At this age, so much work goes towards progress in very small increments. Body position awareness is not a strength of my DD. Second up was the rotational upper body coil, lead elbow low/down back elbow high and "show numbers". This movement was a little easier to understand. Anyway, if it wasn't drizzling, I would've got video to upload. Thanks for the feedback, it's much appreciated.
What's interesting about my hockey player is that she bats right but plays hockey left...different top hand for each sport...
The other piece of this is that the strongest players on my team were the easiest to cure their bat drag...My DD2 has improved a ton since October much of which I attribute to her swimming for school for 16 weeks...she's gotten much stronger...hands are much more in control of the barrel...
I really like the OP's DD's swing...lots of good there...just don't kill her athleticism through over coaching her...CP
- May 3, 2014
- 2,149
- 83
A player with 'bat drag' tends to create a fulcrum with their rear elbow. Their rear elbow leads the swing and serves as a pivot point. This supports a fairly powerful leveraged swing. In a sense you have two fulcrums in such a swing … the rear elbow and then the hands … both serving as pivot points in a chained 'fling' of the barrel. You basically have a double pendulum. The second pendulum action in such a swing has the hands being the second fulcrum, and due to the use of the first fulcrum (the elbow), the bat dragger ends up with their hands (the second pivot point) catapulted far out front.
The result can be a fairly powerful swing … yet a ‘long’ swing, and a swing that requires that the application of force be committed much earlier than need be the case. At the lower levels such a swing can make a kid appear to be a stud. What you have is a powerful swing that is often inaccurate and will not scale as the pitching gets better … i.e., as the pitching becomes faster and moves more.
Hitters that have a sense of 'the hands being along for the ride' can fall into this trap of what is being termed ‘bat drag’. They in a sense allow their top-hand and rear-forearm to ‘go to sleep’ … to be ‘inactivated’. These hitters understand that their hands are the last to go forward, yet they don’t understand the concept of ‘live hands’ … they instead have ‘dead hands’ … hands/rear-forearm that have yet to ‘connect’ to their swing, that are semi-floppy, that lack ‘structure’, and are in a sense ‘along for the ride’. As their rear elbow ‘slots’, their top-hand over does things and the top-hand palm will orientate skyward. They don’t have a sense of what it means to ‘work the barrel’ so as to avoid this issue … and that there … 'waking up the hands' to activate the rear forearm … to install the ‘around’ / ‘short-to’ … is where the solution resides for many.
This should be a sticky post. I give FFs a lot of grief, but his explanation here nailed it. I actually used this explanation for one of our HS players (low level swing, DBSF with loads of drag) that is headed off to Yale next year. This explanation caused a light bulb to go off. Tripled into the gap off one of the fastest pitchers we have seen. Probably just a coincidence, but maybe not.
- May 3, 2014
- 2,149
- 83
And think about throwing wrt to FFS's post. Most girls push the ball instead of using the elbow as the fulcrum to create whip. Backwards.
The ball in the hand in throwing is the barrel head in hitting.
The ball in the hand in throwing is the barrel head in hitting.
FiveFrameSwing
Banned
In the overhand throw the rear elbow serves as a fulcrum, much like the wrists serve as a fulcrum in the swing/throw of the barrel. In that sense, the wrists in the swing are like the elbow in the overhand throw.
From my perspective, those that preach the "L" in throwing often do so to the detriment of the player.
From my perspective, those that preach the "L" in throwing often do so to the detriment of the player.
In the overhand throw the rear elbow serves as a fulcrum, much like the wrists serve as a fulcrum in the swing/throw of the barrel. In that sense, the wrists in the swing are like the elbow in the overhand throw.
From my perspective, those that preach the "L" in throwing often do so to the detriment of the player.
As i like to mention quite often Five, In the throw the elbow being the fulcrum, and an arm whip, does not set well in my swing thoughts.
DBSF, and Bat drag Is a throw, while swinging properly is not.
That being said, the late part of the swing is more throw like,
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