“Down To” vs “On Plane Deep”

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Aug 20, 2017
1,475
113
Pros and cons of each. Can you have both? I know every hitter is different. Will down to with posture and tilt create both? Where do you want the barrel and hands to be when the bat gets parallel to the ground?
 
Jan 6, 2009
6,591
113
Chehalis, Wa
Are you considering the old karate chop instruction as down to?

Are we talking down to for both hands/arms?
 
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TDS

Mar 11, 2010
2,926
113

Down to is what gives hitters an aiming point on the ball.. Once leveraged they are trying to drive the ball through there target out front. 95% hitters who swing and miss are underneath the ball.. We have all herd it over and over homers are mistakes, as in they missed with their aim. No different then kids swinging at a ball off a tee and some still hit the tee and not the ball.

Pick a spot on the ball and try to hit it out front.

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Ignore the definitions of the lines.. The top line is correct if one has a loop in their swing or rolls the top hand over.

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May 11, 2014
275
43
Would the palms be a true palm up/palm down with that type of swing or more of a top hand palm forward(not a slap) maybe diagonal would be a better word
 
Aug 20, 2017
1,475
113
Cons of Down To
- too much back spin
- sequencing issues
- shoulders rotating instead of tilting
- smaller hitting window
Pros of Down To
- less misses under
- shorter swing
- better timing on velocity
Cons of On Plane Early
- longer swing
- more misses under (most miss under)
- timing issues
- hitter stays back longer
Pros of On Plane Early
- better sequencing
- bigger hitting window (if timing is good)
- more adjustability
- ball can get deeper

Just some thoughts
Edited to add: the plane of a fastpitch pitch in not 7-8 degrees down. Maybe a degree or two down. I think this gets overlooked way too much when comparing swings even though they are very similar.
 
Jan 6, 2009
6,591
113
Chehalis, Wa
Down to and down through, one of my 12 yr old does this and has 5 legit triples so far this year.

This swing sucks and anyone can find a video of hitters doing crappy things.

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There are so called gurus teaching weird stuff because of their agenda. They find video or train hitters to do crappy moves.

Jamie Cevallos has some stupid stuff where he shows pictures of hitters in poor positions and says it’s the correct way to swing a bat.
 
Jan 6, 2009
6,591
113
Chehalis, Wa
Cons of Down To
- too much back spin
- sequencing issues
- shoulders rotating instead of tilting
- smaller hitting window
Pros of Down To
- less misses under
- shorter swing
- better timing on velocity
Cons of On Plane Early
- longer swing
- more misses under (most miss under)
- timing issues
- hitter stays back longer
Pros of On Plane Early
- better sequencing
- bigger hitting window (if timing is good)
- more adjustability
- ball can get deeper

Just some thoughts
Edited to add: the plane of a fastpitch pitch in not 7-8 degrees down. Maybe a degree or two down. I think this gets overlooked way too much when comparing swings even though they are very similar.

I like your thoughts.
 
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