Hitting a ball high in the zone hand & barrel position?

Like to know what some of you guys think, on hitting a ball high in the zone is it barrel below the hands, barrel even with the hands or barrel above the hands?

I’ve always heard barrel below the hands, but my daughters has been recently told different, and I am interested in your opinions on this.

Review video and you'll get your answer ... and more.

Go through the swing clips in the "Model swings" thread. Please let me know if you see a swing with the barrel above the hands (at contact).

Even the clip of Dena Tyson, who is hitting a ball about as high up in zone as I've seen, has the barrel slightly below her hands at "contact".

My daughter’s coach was telling the players that they attended a hitting clinic and that on the high pitches barrel above the hands. The clinic was a D1 coach for a SEC team according to her coach. That’s not what I had always been told.

I wanted some input if I was wrong, or something new I wanted to know.

I like what you are doing. You received information from what you perceive to be a reputable source and you are seeking confirmation. If you review videos from some of the game's better hitters, then I believe you'll come to the conclusion that having the barrel above the hands, for pitches high in the strike zone, is not something that you can support with the Hanson Principle. I don't see it happening in a 'good' swing.

The reason I'm a big advocate of the Hanson Principle is because you run into this. Case in point, I had a hitting student that attended a Univ. Washington clinic last year, and she came back telling me that the UW hitting coach wanted her swinging with "level shoulders". I told her I wasn't going to promote that. I ended up giving the kid several video clips of the UW hitters ... stopping the clips at contact ... and drawing lines to highlight the angle of their shoulders. My point was ... that while she may believe that the UW instructor was teaching this, that not a single one of their hitters was swinging this way in games.

Always compare the information you are receiving to actual swing clips of how the best hitters actually swing a bat. This will help you move forward and limit the number of steps you take back. And let's face it ... if you avoid taking step backwards then the chances are good that you'll be much further ahead of those that don't.

PEPPERS said:

My daughter’s coach was telling the players that they attended a hitting clinic and that on the high pitches barrel above the hands. The clinic was a D1 coach for a SEC team according to her coach. That’s not what I had always been told.

I wanted some input if I was wrong, or something new I wanted to know.

Click to expand...

The barrel is still below the hands, but just by a few inches.

To turn this around I think we've all seen girls (or boys) hitting the ball with barrel above the hands -- tomahawking it -- and we all can instinctively know something's not right with that swing, even if the "result" is good : >

FFS, I had a pitching student a few years ago who attended a clinic run by the UNLV coaching staff at that time. I asked her what she learned about hitting, just out of curiosity, and she also told me that they told her level shoulders all the way through the swing. I couldn't believe it.

I did the same thing -- pulled a few clips and showed them to her. I think I used Siggy's hitting clips since they were so handy. She was quickly convinced to forget about what she'd heard. (I worked with her now and then on hitting too.)

She was the top hitter this year as Junior at a D3 school here in the midwest. I don't think that would've happened had she followed that bad advice from those D1 coaches.

Thank you for responding and helping with my question, I was interested in your opinions.

When she told me what the coach said, barrel above the hands, I was uncomfortable with it and after trying it myself I thought this is wrong.

Sometimes you wonder how people get where they are at with some of the instructions they give.

Peppers, it is my opinion only, that " people get where they are" because they are good a salesman. It is the same thing with some politicians, televangilists, etc.

Sometimes there is just something about being able to say "She takes lessons from ___________.". But whether they can teach your kid to hit or pitch, is another story.

Is it possible that the coach misspoke? I made a mistake once and heard myself say to a group of outfielders "Your first step is in." I caught it at the time, but when someone has been coaching a few hours outside in the heat, mistakes happen.

Regarding the original question this is something i am really looking at because of the difficulty many young hitters have with the rise or high heat.

Currently I am having players focus on almost level (parallel to the ground) on this pitch. Hands slightly above the ball but more importantly turning the corner and and making sure the lead elbow/forarm stays above the ball the whole time. One TV commentator said go from high to higher which I know can work but my focus has been more of a level with not as high a finish as usual and a focus on front arm/elbow above ball. Thoughts?