Vid of 8 year old - looking for feedback

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Apr 20, 2018
4,581
113
SoCal
Looks good until the dreaded bat drag kicks in. Elbow separation tool could help. But there is a lot of good things happening too.
 
Last edited:
Oct 4, 2016
176
18
Looks good until the dreaded bat drag kicks in. Elbow separation tool could help. But there is a lot of good things happening too.

Thanks! Is this something that will correct with strength? She's pretty tiny and that bat is a 28 drop 13. What can I do to help her with this?
 
Apr 20, 2018
4,581
113
SoCal
The Baseball Rebellion Bat Drag Buster can help. Make sure you do not pinch the skin on her arm when putting it on her. See how her back elbow leads in front of her hands at the six second mark. That's what you are trying to prevent.
Her swing is much better than the average 9 yo. She does so much right. No overhaul needed. Show her slo mo video of great hitters and have her take notice of where the back elbow is at contact.
 
Oct 4, 2016
176
18
The Baseball Rebellion Bat Drag Buster can help. Make sure you do not pinch the skin on her arm when putting it on her. See how her back elbow leads in front of her hands at the six second mark. That's what you are trying to prevent.
Her swing is much better than the average 9 yo. She does so much right. No overhaul needed. Show her slo mo video of great hitters and have her take notice of where the back elbow is at contact.

EDIT: bat head should be ahead of her back elbow? Or even with it? Is that caused by a slow top hand?
 
Last edited:
May 24, 2013
12,461
113
So Cal
This is a tough age to get intense with detailed technical instruction, so tread carefully, and be willing to save instruction for another day if she is struggling to understand. Players of this age typically do not have a lot of body awareness, and are super-flexible. Both of these things can make communicating swing ideas a challenge.

I like her overall athleticism, and there are a lot of things happening in her swing that are on a good path.

For the bat drag issue, show her this video and point out that her rear elbow gets ahead of the knob of the bat and hands. Ask her to get the elbow under the hands, but not let it get ahead. It's going to feel new and different. Give her some time to figure out how to sort that out in her own body. That said, this is where body awareness becomes a factor. She needs to be able to feel the difference between elbow positions. If she can, good. If not, it's going to be tough.

Although she is getting a little separation happening as she strides forward, I can see that she might start trending into all-back/all-forward movement pattern (which we don't want to happen). There are a few people who have been helped with understanding a better movement pattern with this drill...

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vLbpAoG_dgQ&t=1s&list=PLLo_t691U8DVQCriImV9Kt44VdEI6iFir&index=18
 
Jan 6, 2009
6,587
113
Chehalis, Wa
Question to everyone, Is this swing a upperbody problem? Meaning the upperbody collapse into the body (aka bat drag) as the lowerbody starts.
 
Jun 17, 2009
15,105
0
Portland, OR
Shawn, there are many ways to explain this .... one simple way is that this young lady is not making the translation that the rear 'elbow' in a sidearm throw is equivalent to the top-hand 'wrist' in the swing ... she instead throws/flings the bat much like she would throw a ball.

She's simply one link away from solving the issue you see :).
 
May 24, 2013
12,461
113
So Cal
Shawn, there are many ways to explain this .... one simple way is that this young lady is not making the translation that the rear 'elbow' in a sidearm throw is equivalent to the top-hand 'wrist' in the swing ... she instead throws/flings the bat much like she would throw a ball.

She's simply one link away from solving the issue you see :).

Would you characterize this swing as making the elbow the pivot point instead of the hands?
 

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