- Mar 20, 2009
- 11
- 0
can you guide me as to bend drill and face the fire drill? i've searched to no avail.
thanks
4x6 drill
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can you guide me as to bend drill and face the fire drill? i've searched to no avail.
thanks
I just took several swings doing this drill. IMO this is a bad drill. The drill prevents the hips from coming around. Plus all your weight is on your front foot.
IMO Manny's one legged tee drill or Cal Ripkin Jr's one legged drill are way, way, way better.
IMO Manny's one legged tee drill or Cal Ripkin Jr's one legged drill are way, way, way better.
BEND, BEND, BEND DRILL: We have been doing this drill for about three months and started doing it as a means to allow the hitter to feel or to sit on a slightly flexed lead foot knee to simulate the difference in a ball being pitched faster, off speed or change up. We have the hitter load and get to toe touch and separate the hands rearward. Look to make sure they are on the inside lead edge of the foot and the heel is NOT turned towards the pitcher. (In the beginning we have them take off the lead foot shoe so they can feel the weight is on the inside edge of the lead foot and have them take the baby toe and move it to assure they are not flat footed so the hips will keep moving forward). Now I say bend, bend, bend and soft toss the ball. They will swing and you will see the front leg firm up at contact and the back leg should be pushing up against the front leg and not bent . If you take a finger and poke their calf muscle and ham string it should be tight and if it is not they are not driving off the back leg big toe efficiently enough. You will even feel it up to the glutes however I would suggest the hitter do that themselves. About four or five of these and they start to get the point about firming up as they get to contact. I know this is not the exact timing of a fast or slower pitch however it seems to get the point across as to the degree or amount of flex in the knee that is done in an actual game situation which is done at less time it takes to blink the human eye one time or .50 seconds. I explain it as one bend equals a fast ball and the second bend maybe an off speed ball and the third bend a change up to try and get them to get the idea or concept of why we bend or sit on the front knee as we are moving forward or linear. To give them a sense of timing we drop the ball from about waist level high, ( I flex my wrist down ward and they start their load and I drop the ball) then shoulder level high level and then under hand soft toss to make it feel more like a change up by lowering the hand first and then tossing it up and they have to adjust by staying flexed on the lead foot knee. I do not do a timing drop drill above the shoulder as it is not what we would do in a game. I have seen some people stand on a ladder and drop the ball and I do not want them looking upwards as the pitchers window of release is at their hip not out of the clouds.
FACE THE FIRE: It uses vision training, momentum, rhythm and timing. We learned this drill from John Nathan several years ago. I prefer this as to the walk up drill. If you think the head is a camera and the eyes are the lenses of the camera, we want to keep the head from moving too much and step or move in such a way that we move our body under our head without the body moving too much as we stride forward to toe touch.
Place the tee at the front edge of home plate so it is about 2 to 3 inches in the front and in the middle of home plate. Adjust your stride so you land even with the tee or slightly behind it.
The hitter starts with the belly button facing towards the pitchers position directly behind home plate as if they were the catcher.
The hitter looks towards the pitchers window of release and steps with the back foot going behind them and to the side and then steps forward with the lead foot towards the pitcher to toe touch and as they step the hitter separates the hands slightly rearward.
Find something in front of you to use as a point of reference to focus on like it is the pitchers window of release. We want to keep the head steady and focused on the pitchers window of release as we are moving.
When the lead foot toe touches we separate the hands and look at the ball as we are simulating tracking the ball so point out NOT to look at the ball on a tee until they reach toe touch and then hit the ball on the tee.I also do this by side soft tossing. Think slow to load and soft to step on a flexed front knee. We do not want you trying to hurry to hit the ball as it should feel like we are building the momentum so we can explode on the ball like we would in a game.
Hit about 10 to 15 balls to get loose.
Remember as we go to toe touch keep the lead knee flexed and as closed as possible understanding there will be some opening taking place however we do not want to step open or have the foot pointed towards the pitcher. We point out it is not the foot that opens it is actually the leg turning inside the hip socket and the true indicator is actually the knee cap more than the foot.
This keeps the hips moving linear and keeps the knee cap pointed towards the first baseman as a right handed hitter and no further than were the second baseman usually plays. Step toe to toe and do not rotate the knee cap or turn your leg open in the hip socket.
If the head is the camera and the eyes are the lenses of the camera we want to move smoothly so as not to jar the camera and blur the picture. Keep your head steady while your body is moving under you.
FACE THE FIRE: It uses vision training, momentum, rhythm and timing. We learned this drill from John Nathan several years ago. I prefer this as to the walk up drill. If you think the head is a camera and the eyes are the lenses of the camera, we want to keep the head from moving too much and step or move in such a way that we move our body under our head without the body moving too much as we stride forward to toe touch.
Place the tee at the front edge of home plate so it is about 2 to 3 inches in the front and in the middle of home plate. Adjust your stride so you land even with the tee or slightly behind it.
The hitter starts with the belly button facing towards the pitchers position directly behind home plate as if they were the catcher.
The hitter looks towards the pitchers window of release and steps with the back foot going behind them and to the side and then steps forward with the lead foot towards the pitcher to toe touch and as they step the hitter separates the hands slightly rearward.
Find something in front of you to use as a point of reference to focus on like it is the pitchers window of release. We want to keep the head steady and focused on the pitchers window of release as we are moving.
When the lead foot toe touches we separate the hands and look at the ball as we are simulating tracking the ball so point out NOT to look at the ball on a tee until they reach toe touch and then hit the ball on the tee.I also do this by side soft tossing. Think slow to load and soft to step on a flexed front knee. We do not want you trying to hurry to hit the ball as it should feel like we are building the momentum so we can explode on the ball like we would in a game.
Hit about 10 to 15 balls to get loose.
Remember as we go to toe touch keep the lead knee flexed and as closed as possible understanding there will be some opening taking place however we do not want to step open or have the foot pointed towards the pitcher. We point out it is not the foot that opens it is actually the leg turning inside the hip socket and the true indicator is actually the knee cap more than the foot.
This keeps the hips moving linear and keeps the knee cap pointed towards the first baseman as a right handed hitter and no further than were the second baseman usually plays. Step toe to toe and do not rotate the knee cap or turn your leg open in the hip socket.
If the head is the camera and the eyes are the lenses of the camera we want to move smoothly so as not to jar the camera and blur the picture. Keep your head steady while your body is moving under you.
BEND, BEND, BEND DRILL: We have been doing this drill for about three months and started doing it as a means to allow the hitter to feel or to sit on a slightly flexed lead foot knee to simulate the difference in a ball being pitched faster, off speed or change up. We have the hitter load and get to toe touch and separate the hands rearward. Look to make sure they are on the inside lead edge of the foot and the heel is NOT turned towards the pitcher. (In the beginning we have them take off the lead foot shoe so they can feel the weight is on the inside edge of the lead foot and have them take the baby toe and move it to assure they are not flat footed so the hips will keep moving forward). Now I say bend, bend, bend and soft toss the ball. They will swing and you will see the front leg firm up at contact and the back leg should be pushing up against the front leg and not bent . If you take a finger and poke their calf muscle and ham string it should be tight and if it is not they are not driving off the back leg big toe efficiently enough. You will even feel it up to the glutes however I would suggest the hitter do that themselves. About four or five of these and they start to get the point about firming up as they get to contact. I know this is not the exact timing of a fast or slower pitch however it seems to get the point across as to the degree or amount of flex in the knee that is done in an actual game situation which is done at less time it takes to blink the human eye one time or .50 seconds. I explain it as one bend equals a fast ball and the second bend maybe an off speed ball and the third bend a change up to try and get them to get the idea or concept of why we bend or sit on the front knee as we are moving forward or linear. To give them a sense of timing we drop the ball from about waist level high, ( I flex my wrist down ward and they start their load and I drop the ball) then shoulder level high level and then under hand soft toss to make it feel more like a change up by lowering the hand first and then tossing it up and they have to adjust by staying flexed on the lead foot knee. I do not do a timing drop drill above the shoulder as it is not what we would do in a game. I have seen some people stand on a ladder and drop the ball and I do not want them looking upwards as the pitchers window of release is at their hip not out of the clouds.
QUOTE]
Very sage advice
