Front shoulder

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Aug 19, 2013
73
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DD front shoulder keeps opening to early. I know that this is widely accepted to be a problem. Did some research and watched some slow mo videos of top hitters and the one thing that I noticed on a lot of them is that the front shoulder does open early and far. Is this really that big of a deal?

Please help cause I don't want to teach her wrong.
Thanks
 
May 24, 2013
12,461
113
So Cal
The answer is..."it depends". It depends on some of the other things happening along with the shoulder, and the results of those actions. This is an area that you usually need to look at more than just the action of one body part, and try to correct it, without taking into account the upstream actions or the results.

Got video?
 
Jul 26, 2016
108
18
Front shoulder must open (and work up) to contact. Every good player "flies open" it is just important that the shoulders stay closed until the hips open. At toe touch front shoulder must be closed and ideally slightly below back shoulder.
 
May 24, 2013
12,461
113
So Cal
Front shoulder must open (and work up) to contact. Every good player "flies open" it is just important that the shoulders stay closed until the hips open. At toe touch front shoulder must be closed and ideally slightly below back shoulder.

Agreed. Timing and sequence of the movements is critical. That said, the movement of the front shoulder is largely reactionary. The front shoulder being "down and in" at toe touch is a result of actions elsewhere.
 
Last edited:

ian

Jun 11, 2015
1,175
48
https://youtu.be/hXM3EUkoLxM

Forget about the front shoulder for a second. Watch closely at the :30 mark. Study what's going on with the top hand. At finish, the knuckles are pointing to the sky, there is no wrist roll over. Bat is pointing to centerfield. Do the top hand drill as shown over and over and over. Now swing with both hands while doing the top hand drill. Slowly increase the speed. Now watch the front shoulder, no more flying open. Now you are staying through the ball. Now there is no more swinging around the waist or the barrel dropping after contact.
 

Chris Delorit

Member
Apr 24, 2016
343
28
Green Bay, WI
Good advice ian.

This is so very common in youth-level softball.

Much like the front shoulder helps promote accuracy in pitching, the action of the front shoulder during the swing process is very similar. The front shoulder is really the mechanical leader of where the upper body (including the hands) goes in the swing process. In my opinion, if the front shoulder becomes rotational too early, it takes the front side with it. That can create a diagonal bat path to & through the contact point. This can result in a slicing of the barrel through the contact point, rather than driving through the contact point. You may see alot of lazy infield pop outs.

So, the goal would be to really try to discipline the front shoulder to keep the upper body as linear as possible prior to contact. Think "drive to contact" with the front shoulder, keeping it in a bit longer. As linear to contact as possible, then becoming rotational to finish. The front side will naturally become rotational just prior to contact, just not as premature.

Remember, the front side guides a nice hand path, the back side will be a Mike Tyson KO punch. Really get that rear weight behind the barrel. Also, keep an eye on the front foot. If it bails, it could be the culprit.

In addition to ian's & the others advice, you could set up a tee deep & outside relative to home plate. Walk-throughs & normal batting position wings focusing on driving the ball to the opposite field should work wonders with muscle memory.

Best of luck!
 
Jul 26, 2016
108
18
Late in relation to the sequence of the lower Body but early in relation to contact. keeping the shoulder closed until contact is bad and leads to hitting the ball on the wrong side of the Body
http://www.tewkshitting.com/where-do-the-hands-go-2/

BTW I prefer to Keep the rear shoulder back over trying to Keep the front side closed but of course there are plenty of MLB guys who talk about keeping the front shoulder closed, so whatever works for you.


sequence.jpg
 
Last edited:
May 24, 2013
12,461
113
So Cal


Thanks for posting video. It makes things a lot easier to diagnose.

If you look at the line of her shoulders at contact in comparison with top hitters, she is rotated past the point of being square to the pitcher, whereas top hitters aren't rotated that far.
Correa_Slomo.gif


It looks to me like the hands/rear shoulder/scap need to be pulling back a little longer - against the hips turning forward - which will help keep the line of the shoulders closed a little longer.

With some hitters, they pull hard with the front side (usually with an arm bar), which also leads to being too far open too soon. I don't see that in this swing.
 

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