Bonds ... catching the ball with the bat.

FiveFrameSwing said:

Not so sure why many take offense to the notion of 'swing down'.

Take note of where the barrel was at 'swing launch'. Compare that to where the barrel is at 'impact'. The barrel has primarily been swung 'down' ... especially during much of the 'effort' proceeding the 'release'.

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I think because the novice player/coach sees video of pros and comes to conclusion that the pros don't swing down. To the untrained eye they don't. But they do. Well most of them do. The ones who lead the league in hits and avg do.

When I started coaching. I thought the same . I have come along way since then.

The better cue to me would be keep the barrel up as long as you can. I personally use "don't dump". That one works pretty good. The girls know what they need to adjust and nobody likes to be told their dumping . Haha

Work=wins said:

Launch angle is definitely tied into timing . You can have "high level mechanics" and still beat the ball into the ground or pop it straight up. Timing is and always will be king. No matter your mechanics .

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Good mechanics/sequence, including a good hand-path ... and including a core with the lead-side working appropriate and in concert with the 'hand/forearm engine' ... and with the understanding of 'release' ... will result in a high percentage of bat/ball squaring ... which many attribute to 'good timing'. It really is difficult to teach 'timing' separately from mechanics/sequence. Hence the phrase ... timing is hitting, hitting is timing.

I like 1CAs model . I pay attention when he posts. He has a lot of good posts on dfp as well.

FiveFrameSwing said:

Instead of "hands high", consider "hands up".

If you swing through an "upright vee" (i.e., power-vee, RVP, swearing-in position, explosion point position, etc.) then you are keeping the "hands up". That's stage one of keeping the hands up ... you also want to keep the "hands up", albeit it they actually lower, this point onward in the swing ... you attack from above ... and with the hands being a pivot point, the barrel will bottom out and swing upwards through the ball.

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FiveFrameSwing said:

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Hands up in relation to? This is mainly for any lurkers.

Work=wins said:

Hands up in relation to? This is mainly for any lurkers.

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The pause here is roughly at the "upright-vee" (power-vee, swearing-in, explosion point, RVP) pass-through orientation.



One 'hands up' mentality that I teach is basically passing through this orientation ... if one were to pause the swing, freeze the arm to torso orientation, and stand upright ... then the rear arm would be in an "upright vee" orientation. I.e. ... at this point "hands up" can be considered to be relative to the torso ... later it will be relative to the ball.

From this orientation onwards the hands work downwards BUT "above" the ball. The lead arm at this point has already been inspired to be a 'swinger' ... and as one 'releases' into & through the ball, the barrel will essentially line-up with the lead-arm ... which is what Bonds was basically trying to state in the video in the original post when he spoke of the barrel being an extension of his lead arm and the barrel lining up to it.

Do you think the hand pump is with what in mind? I have contended with myself forever that it was intentional as opposed to some other thought triggers it.I have some hitters who have it. Some who dont. They will set their hands in their gather. Both hit/adjust equally. I notice with mlb guys 90% have it. Fastpitch maybe 10%. Any theory on that? Me personally I don't pump. Keep in mind they

This does tie into the 'hands up' thread here. I'm not falling off the tracks .

Work=wins said:

Do you think the hand pump is with what in mind? I have contended with myself forever that it was intentional as opposed to some other thought triggers it.I have some hitters who have it. Some who dont. They will set their hands in their gather. Both hit/adjust equally. I notice with mlb guys 90% have it. Fastpitch maybe 10%. Any theory on that? Me personally I don't pump. Keep in mind they

This does tie into the 'hands up' thread here. I'm not falling off the tracks .

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Curious if you mean "barrel pump" ....

Barrel pump is not just baseball ... softball as well. Many of my hitters will use a pre-swing barrel pump depending on what they are trying to build into short-term muscle memory for their next swing.

Joe DiMaggio would perform a barrel pump instinctively ...