Back elbow initiates the swing?

[PEPPERS]

PEPPERS why are you blaming me? LOL!

Try this for me please! Take her to a field and place a tee 2 to 3 inches forward of home plate and centered so the ball should go up the middle if she measures off from the back corner of home plate.

Hit ten balls and see where the balls land and how far the balls were hit.

Now explain to her how we think the elbow works in my world and that does not mean it agrees with anyone elses opinion of how it works.

We explain we want the elbows to work together as a unit and stay connected however as the back elbow lowers, how do you explain what the lead arm elbow does or feels like.

This is where the rope comes into teaching the feel of getting to connection and bat lag.

The lead elbow is explained as making a good first move and that is by moving forward and up a ramp verses just forward ( ground balls) or up (probably high fly balls or over the back stop foul balls) .

We have them take the top hand and turn it palm down and place our lead elbow on top of the back of the top hand and rest it there. We are wanting to show them the motion of the lead elbow. We say were the elbow was the hand will now be and they move the lead elbow forward and do not not loose contact with the back of the hand the elbow was resting on and keep moving it forward while the forearm will stay in contact and finally the lead hand will be where the elbow was. We point out the elbow is now at about the top of the shoulder and during the swing the tilt and turn of the shoulders will be adjusting.

The lead elbow will be above the plane of the pitch and the hands will be above the ball and the bat head will be below the hands or elbow, hands and bat head a slight angle depending on the pitch.

After that let her pull on a rope and stage her at bat lag so she can feel it and make sure the lead elbow is up a little so you create the angle of lead elbow above the ball, hands above the ball and below the elbow and bat head below the hands.

Put a visual in her mind of the back hand being stacked over the elbow as the lead elbow is moving forward and up please.

I would like some feed back from you after you try it.

Thanks Howard

Howard, sorry it took so long to get the feed back, DD final test, bad weather, ball games taking field time, my work and etc .

Hitting 10 balls as you advised 6 balls line drives 7 – 8 feet high landing 30 – 40 feet past second in the grass, 2 line drives waist high 1 just to the left second 5 feet in front second 1 just right second 8 feet in front second, 1 line drive 10 feet high halfway between second and first 120 feet from home, 1 about 30 feet high landed 178 feet from home straight over second.

We did the rope drill and talked about feeling the stack position at bat lag as you described and hand under the elbow drill. It looks like she has the hands just slightly ahead of the elbows, she is blasting the line drives the homerun production is down, but hitting for average is up. She advised she was abel to feel the hand position and elbow position with the rope drill.

In the past I explained that front elbow leads the way followed by back elbow, hands inside or even with the elbow at bat lag to adjust to the inside and outside pitch keeping the hands loose and independant of the elbows.

At the AL camp she was taught to hit from SS - 2B in between thoes positions, almost always hits grounders to third line drives from SS to RF line.


Thank you Howard.

 

[Hitter]

Peppers

Thank you for getting back with us!

It sounds like you saw some improvements and she could feel the difference.

For me I like explaining the back elbow begins to lower as the lead elbow makes a good first move like it is going up a ramp.The rope seems to help them set the elbows so the feeling can be used when actually using the bat.

If you ever get a chance to meet Coach Larabee at Arkansas, he does an excellent job with clinics and has a high energy level!

Thanks Howard

 

[Chris O'Leary]

If you ever get a chance to meet Coach Larabee at Arkansas, he does an excellent job with clinics and has a high energy level!

I went to a tourney and was impressed by his hitters.

Lots of nice swings.

 

[SBFAMILY]

Coach B, put on the best hitting clinics at the college level that I have attended , when he was at WSU.

 

[PEPPERS]

I intended to see a few of the college games in our area, things just worked out where I was unabel to go. I hope too see his kids play and meet him some day.

 

[Hitter]

I went to a tourney and was impressed by his hitters.

Lots of nice swings.

Chris

I have been working with Coach B for three years now with our unfounded methods and crazy gadgets and hand stacked over the elbow used in drills.

The first year yielded 67 home runs verses 22 and doubled his offensive out put and since he went SEC he has used these crazy methods with the players he inherited and has done pretty well.

Maybe sometimes it is not the method exactly however it may be the teacher who can convey what they see on video to their students and get the results!

I have laughed about this a million times and will continue to do so probably for the rest of my life!

Thanks Howard