Back to work and open stance

[FiveFrameSwing]

Thanks Five Frame. I think I see the difference. DD seems to be collapsing her core some on that outside hit.

And yes, she's made so much progress from when she started. Still have plenty of work to do. But, she started in rec roughly a year and a half ago...to playing A ball and led the team in hitting. And like I said, last week she went 3-4 against some really good pitchers in her 1st outing of the season. She'll keep working and getting better

Bold above ... that is one way to describe it. Sometimes I refer to that as 'body extension'.

One way to work on this is with the cue of pulling the string .....

 

[cbullard]

Thanks FiveFrame.....I like that pull the sting drill. That is surely something we will try. Overall she did better tonight. Getting separation from her hands is still a struggle. She feels like she is...they eye in the sky says she isn't. haha

 

[FiveFrameSwing]

Thanks FiveFrame.....I like that pull the sting drill. That is surely something we will try. Overall she did better tonight. Getting separation from her hands is still a struggle. She feels like she is...they eye in the sky says she isn't. haha

The separation you are talking about can be tough for various reasons.

I am assuming that your DD is having difficulty with this even with a tee-swing ... which you'll wish to address prior to dealing with head-on front-toss.

Take note of Tjintx's earlier comment ... "Get the hands away from the body so you can feel the barrel."

Tjintx is correct. Within one's normal stance, prior to the action of "walking away from the hands", the hands should be approximately 6-8" away from the hitter's chest. The closer the hands are to one's chest, the more difficult it will be to "walk away from the hands". The further away the hands are from the chest, the easier it will be. Get too far away and you are likely to run into other issues.

Tjintx mentions "feeling" the barrel. I instruct the same. That is the object you wish to throw. I want the hands to feel the barrel ... I want the rhythm pulsating from foot-to-foot to also include the hands moving the barrel (this need not be a large movement ... small is fine ... but 'still' is not fine) ... I instruct my hitters to lose 'tightness' and 'closeness', which will conflict with that goal of "walking away from the hands ... i.e. preparing to throw".

Keep the feel in the wrists 'loose' ... as well as in the arms and shoulders. Let the bottom-hand "go along for the ride" during the act of "walking away from the hands" ... i.e., do not be concerned if the lead arm lengthens as you "walk away from the hands" (which is perfectly normal). Feel the top hand/arm as being in charge as you "prepare to throw during the move out".

 

[cbullard]

Awesome feedback FiveFrame....the loosness you speak of makes sense. DD tends to tense up when she swings because she really wants to kill the ball. I'm hoping this will help with that as well

 

[do-over]

In the 'red shirt swing' we see a bracing into impact.

We see the hips extended.

Bracing was taking place.

In a sense the body was preparing to have the hands/arms whip out. In Yeager speak, the water is being thrown out of the bucket ... you brace to throw the water out of the bucket.

This bracing, which can be accompanied with a 'core pulse', enhances the whip-like action through impact.

Compare the above photo to the photo below in which there is no significant bracing taking place into impact. Note that the hips are not extended. The body is not preparing for a whip-like action.

Neither swing is ideal, but the elimination of bracing effect is a significant loss.

As Yeager is fond to mention, the job is not to "turn the body into contact".



Pay attention to the last comment in the above video ... "We've got to increase the bracing effect".

Great post. And the SwingBuilder clip sums up a critical component of the swing IMO.

The girl here has no "right now". She had it, now she doesn't.
It's gone, lost. Go find it, get it back.
She'll be back on the fast track.

As FFS says above. "...The elimination of the bracing effect is a significant loss."
It's a true hitting absolute. IMO. Look at any clip you want, from Mantle to Trout, they
all have it (maybe not always on change-ups).

Fortunately, it's not to difficult to correct.

 

[cbullard]

do-over what do you mean by right now?

 

[Eric F]

do-over what do you mean by right now?

The suddenness is missing.

 

[cbullard]

Thanks Eric.....referring to aggression?

 

[Eric F]

Thanks Eric.....referring to aggression?

Not quite aggression, but rather quickness of movement. Explosiveness.

 

[cbullard]

Ok, gotcha. In games she's plenty explosive as far as movement (still lacking in certain fundamentals). But, sometimes she goes around 80% when she's trying to learn things.