Any comments?

[Greenmonsters]

So ,all this leads me to a question that has aggravated me for a while. As fastpitch dads/coaches , would we be better served trying to analyze the swings of the best fastpitch players rather than the MLB players? Afterall , these girls are very successful in the game right now (and most arent MLB pattern). Wouldnt most on here like their DD to hit like those girls? I know I sure would.

IMO, No. These hitters largely were modeled or modeled themselves after the best hitters that existed approx. 10 years ago. In the next 5-10 years, hopefuly that answer can change because there should be more high-level swings shortly appearing at the top levels of FP because more of today's hitters are trying to emulate the HLBB or best FP swings.

 

[Cannonball]

In this thread, the OP was asking about who to listen to. Ssarge no longer is active but I have seen video of his student and know his success in FP Softball. He has a tremendous resume. The same can be said about Mark Hanson. I wish both of them would share their knowledge again. FFS's daughter played at a very high level and so, I'd pay attention to when he says something. LCliffton's daughter has also played at a very high level and again, I pay attention to anytime he says something. LCliffton has been around for a long time and has a perspective of several different hitting philosophies so he has done his best to compare concepts.

Bouldersdad has done such a tremendous job with his daughter. Many of us have been blessed to get to see her on national TV and she is outstanding! I know that BouldersDad has also worked closely with Howard. That must have been a treat.

I think that Tewks has some good stuff and is hard working and sincere in his approach. I haven't gone to his website for a few months but I would speculate that he has some good stuff up for all to see.


Obviously, one recommendation early in this thread is a joke. Then again, maybe some of you want to deal with a narcissist and loser such as that recommendation.

 

[Wellphyt]

Heel plant...Fielder, Hamilton, Pujols, Longoria. All were full swings:










A couple of the above hitters are actually slightly beyond heel plant...they are at what Boardmember calls the shear point, where the weight shift from the backside begins to exert pressure into the front foot. I can find clips of many more MLB hitters with their back heel down at heel plant. I can also find some, with the back heel coming off the ground as the front heel drops. There are clips of the same player doing both...Williams for instance.

What you won't see is a clip of Williams turning his back leg inwards on purpose to turn his hips. The forward turn of his hips is what pulls his back foot off the ground. Jbooth has explained it many times from an anatomical perspective.

Williams didn't associate heel plant with swing initiation. He cocked his hips and got his butt into it.

"The next pitch is on its way, and your hips and hands are cock, your head staying back in place, your whole body more or less coiled for the opposite and equal application of power-the swivel or pivot, the opening of the hips."
--Ted Williams

 

[theaddition]

Many would be shocked at what a high GPA, AP-HP-IB classes and a ACT above 30 will get you in terms of free money.
Our DD turned down 2 D1 (mid level softball program) partial scholarships and 1 D1 (mid level softball program) full scholarship (50% atheletic and 50% acedemic) to attend a local private Catholic university when she was awarded nearly $75,000 from the university which will be ditributed over 4 years plus 2 other much smaller cash awards. All due to her outstanding academic accomplishments.

 

[Cannonball]

I was reading some other posts in this thread about genetics and that can't be dismissed. I think that some players are genetically superior and so, they do athletic things others simply struggle with. My child was never a natural athlete. She works so hard. The discussion today at lunch today with the other coaches was my child's performance in athletic pe. She was worn out one day and the teacher got after her some. She told him what she was doing each evening and so, this coach didn't believe her. The speed and weight training. Practicing at skills work, hitting, and team workouts took up every night. The question then was why do athletic pe if she was doing all of this other work. The simple answer is that she knew she was athletically challenged and so knew she had to ourwork all others.

I think that goal of trying to create a high level swing drove her. No, she didn't get it all right. She did get enough right to have success and to build on that success. My dd is still a work in progress. However, she knows that! At least I don't try to blow smoke at everyone and claim that she has a MLB swing like some do about their student who didn't get one at bat in college.

 

[Cannonball]

Wellphyt, I understand your point from those pics. However, we have to keep in mind that these pics were frozen in time and not a position that a player recognized seperated in the swing. IOW, IMO, 99% of the time, there is a point in the swing where both heels are off the ground at the same time. By "in the air," that might be in minute degrees and yet, not bearing weight. Again, JMHO!

 

[redhotcoach]

Wellphyt, didn't you just say on page 12 that the girls swing wasn't as good as the d1 players because her back heel is off the ground before her front heel is on the ground?

Ffs posted a little while back how to post those gifs so they animate, might help your point....or

 

[Ken Krause]

One thing I've said many times as far as comparing high level college players to MLB players is that there is often 7-10 years difference in experience, plus MLB hitters have access to facilities and equipment college players, even at the best schools, could only dream of. And while it's always said that a D1 player's "job" is softball, that just means she doesn't get to party and goof off like the rest of the kids. She still has to go to class, and sometimes hold a job.

Imagine what a female hitter might look like if she was being paid $7 million a year to hit, and the only thing she had to worry about was justifying that salary (or not in the case of some players; A-Rod I'm looking at you.) The NPF players play for the love of the game; most don't make enough to even subsist on softball alone, let alone live.

But that 7-10 year difference is huge. Consider the difference in a 22 year college senior's career on its own. 10 years previously she was playing 12U ball, chanting cheers and still trying to decide whether to play with her friends or go to a higher-level travel team. She hasn't attended a single minute of high school practice or played an inning in any of those games. You compare her swing then to where it is at the end of her senior year in college and odds are the difference is huge.

Even if you take a seven-year swag she's 15, maybe playing 16U or 18U plus high school ball. Odds are she'll still make a lot of improvement between that swing and the one she uses as a college senior.

So now give her another 7-10 years to work on it without much distraction, and with the incentivve of making $7 million a year for doing it successfully. It really changes the equation.

That's why to me it's worth looking at both the college female and the MLB hitter. The MLB hitter is probably as close to ideal as you're going to find. The college female with a great swing is probably much more achievable, just as a college male's swing is probably much more achievable for a young baseball player. Between the two, you get a pretty good level set of what you're trying to do and what you can reasonably expect. Differences in anatomy aside.

 

[Diamond Junkie]

Speaking from personal experience Crews's ego is not noticeable to his students or parents of students. He instructs/speaks to his students with positves never negatives. He shows them how they did it, and then shows a different way(more efficient) of way he believes and teaches about the swing. Always make it fun for the girls.

I am a big fan of Crews. He's has helped not only my DD's hitting, but my ability to teach it. His communication skills and ability to connect with his students is what sets him apart. I could sit and listen and watch him teach for hours. It's pretty impressive. That being said, anyone that is willing to commit themselves to a level that Crews, Englishbey, Epstien etc. have to their craft needs and has an ego at different levels. It's part of what drives them to succeed. I was only using that as an example becuase they all say "this is the way to do it" and all are slightly different.

 

[redhotcoach]

Heel plant...Fielder, Hamilton, Pujols, Longoria. All were full swings:

View attachment 2740

View attachment 2741

View attachment 2742

View attachment 2743


A couple of the above hitters are actually slightly beyond heel plant...they are at what Boardmember calls the shear point, where the weight shift from the backside begins to exert pressure into the front foot. I can find clips of many more MLB hitters with their back heel down at heel plant. I can also find some, with the back heel coming off the ground as the front heel drops. There are clips of the same player doing both...Williams for instance.

What you won't see is a clip of Williams turning his back leg inwards on purpose to turn his hips. The forward turn of his hips is what pulls his back foot off the ground. Jbooth has explained it many times from an anatomical perspective.

Williams didn't associate heel plant with swing initiation. He cocked his hips and got his butt into it.

"The next pitch is on its way, and your hips and hands are cock, your head staying back in place, your whole body more or less coiled for the opposite and equal application of power-the swivel or pivot, the opening of the hips."
--Ted Williams