Drills to improve hitting sequence

CoachJD said:

And they're all featured in hitting instruction videos on YouTube.

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Yes, there is a lot of bad information out there. Many folks don't seem to be embarrassed to ignore the Hanson Principle and skip the confirmation process.

Hanson Principle:
“Always compare what anybody tells you about the swing to slow motion clips of the best hitters in the world”.
-- Mark Hanson

FiveFrameSwing said:

I laughed at that part. The kid was actually using his core ... and the instructor robbed him of it. Way to ruin a kid!

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I figured you would catch it as well.

FiveFrameSwing said:

Yes, there is a lot of bad information out there. Many folks don't seem to be embarrassed to ignore the Hanson Principle and skip the confirmation process.

Hanson Principle:
“Always compare what anybody tells you about the swing to slow motion clips of the best hitters in the world”.
-- Mark Hanson

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One of my players is learning to pitch. She came to me one day all excited because she was watching videos on YouTube. My guess is she was expecting me to share that excitement because of how much she has taken to wanting to learn. And I was happy about that, but I was also horrified that she was not watching pre-approved instructional videos.

FiveFrameSwing said:

The number of ways to ruin a hitter is virtually unlimited.

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Why is isolating the hips a way to ruin a swing. Just curious How do you get the same result differently? Are you strictly referring to the pivot? how do you get the hitter to rotate the hips in the swing from their starting position. can you link a video.

Gags said:

In my much more limited experience (working 90% with 8YO and younger), I've found the opposite of the bold above to be much more common. (Disclaimer - I haven't watched the video yet). In my rec league, hitters who stand in the box with a narrow stance (b/c to me, shoulder width on a 6-7-8 YO girl is still narrow) are much more likely to swing with just their arms, and use their hips minimally, if at all. This is why I'll encourage a no-stride, wider stance for many beginners, as a way to get them to engage their hips more, to feel their weight shift off of their back foot. If the player doesn't have the type of swing that looks like they're trying to punish the ball, a narrow stance leaves them flat footed throughout the swing.

Again - you've been coaching much longer and at higher levels than me, so I'm working with a limited sample size. Or maybe I'm misinterpreting the meaning of "isolate the hips"? Interested in hearing more of your thoughts on this (and any clarification on the hitting the ball with their heel).

If nothing else, this thread looks like it's brought several new (or at least infrequent) posters out from hiding!

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The small step in the initiation phase of the swing is the starting point of the rotation. It is to get the lower body moving in their forward motion through rotation to the ball. The preparation of the swing or starting point starts with the feet about shoulder width apart because then they can move to the ball. If they are in a static position when swinging, they will be more likely to only use their arms and simply drop the bat on a lower pitch or wave at the ball if it is a higher pitch. I have used a batting tee with 8U players and said only 3 things. Step - turn your hips - swing. It was a great strategy and they were very successful with it. Minimizing the amount of instruction makes it easier for them to understand and they can then just focus on hitting the ball. The rest can be refined as they go but those are the starting points and easy for them to understand. Make sure if you are using a tee that you set it up so it is slightly ahead of the player and not directly in front of them. We want them hitting the ball where they would if they were up to bat which is just in front of the plate and not at the plate. Put a throw down home plate behind the tee so that they are hitting the ball in front of the plate.

Hitting the ball with their heel gives them instant feedback on how they are pivoting their foot in the rotation of the hips. If the ball goes directly back they are pivoting forward as needed.

Eric F said:

Are you saying that the hitter should pivot on the ball of the rear foot?

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Yes sort of or with the front half. Some players in lifting up onto their toe of the back foot will change the whole swing that they started with. The idea with this move is to drive the back leg however with young players it simply moves the hips up because they don't know how it feels yet. If there is no motion at all on the back foot, they will leave their hips back. By pivoting forward you are allowing the hips to turn toward the pitcher to incorporate the most powerful part of the body for girls.

Softball Tutor said:

Why is isolating the hips a way to ruin a swing. Just curious How do you get the same result differently? Are you strictly referring to the pivot? how do you get the hitter to rotate the hips in the swing from their starting position. can you link a video.

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ST, in thr video towards the end of this post the stated objective was something to the effect of to "help with turning the rear leg a little better".

Turning the rear leg inward as a unit (i.e., turning the upper and lower rear leg simultaneously) is a horrible objective. This objective bypassed the core.

I've shown isolation drills in terms of usage of the core. But it is only a brief introduction to how the core is capable of moving, and the notion is to use the core from there to mimic what we see below ...



If you have an example of "isolating the hips" then please share it. The video here is really bad ....

ST, then you are saying you do teach squish the bug.

Cannonball said:

ST, then you are saying you do teach squish the bug.

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What?????? Butttttttt ....... I saw it on Youtube.

FiveFrameSwing said:

What?????? Butttttttt ....... I saw it on Youtube.

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FFS, since you know me so well, please, PLEASE, if I ever get that bad, call me on it! Then, come see me and have me committed somewhere.

Edited to add:

Your point again about the Hanson Principle is spot on. Don't teach/coach anything that does anything other than help a player attempt to match the best. I am not saying that they will match exactly but that is a better goal than to teach something that you will have to correct later.