Bat Path

[Cornbread]

What things need to happen mechanically to work from the inside of the ball? Drills and Feels? What can we do to create a bat path that allows for a big hitting window (barrel in the zone longer)?

Mechanics
- posture maintained?
- head stays down (posture related)?
- shoulder tilt?
- hands connected to rear shoulder?
- coil?
- good sequence

Drills
- Inside seam drill?
- kickstand posture drill?

Feels
- swing towards the 2B
- let the ball get deep

 

[Rolling Hard]

I do a lot of long tee. Hitters should be able to consistently hit line drives to RCF. Move the tee to inside and have them hit line drives LCF. (no pull or hooking balls) I also have some balls that I drew dots and arrows on.
DD approach is to look for outer half and drive to RCF gap and react to every thing else. Its been working.

 

[Work=wins]

Back arm inside/out tee and toss. hit Line drives at the mifs.

the back arm sets and widens for adjustments.

 

[Cornbread]

I do a lot of long tee. Hitters should be able to consistently hit line drives to RCF. Move the tee to inside and have them hit line drives LCF. (no pull or hooking balls) I also have some balls that I drew dots and arrows on.
DD approach is to look for outer half and drive to RCF gap and react to every thing else. Its been working.

Forgot about long tees. Every time I work with a new hitter they look puzzled when the tee is so far away and angled toward 2B. I’ve noticed over the years that when I angle the tee towards 2B that players immediately miss under.
Long tees are immediate feedback. Most will hit the pull side of the screen initially coming around the ball. Great feel drill and visual without a lot of instruction

 

[Work=wins]

I think what you’re looking for is ‘dropping a pig in a tornado’. That’s basically ‘inside the ball‘ or ‘planing early’ ‘loading the barrel’ or ‘deep’ or ’educated hands’ or TTB’ which has many different meanings. So I steer clear of that cue on these boards.

creating a tight rear forearm-bicep relationship is key. Maintaining and adjusting is done w the back arm. The hands will articulate the back elbow/wrist while the front arm creates spacing to accomplish the goal, if the hands know the goal.. if the player doesn’t say ‘this feels faster’, then your doing it wrong.

some say the front arm/hand sets plane. in some ways that is true. for me I think it sets the up and down path. But the back arm sets the in and out path. It might be a bit different for some. But I think most pros say its this way as well.

once learned the hitter will need to learn their personal contact points for release of the barrel etc. etc.

it is a mechanical advantage to have this mechanic in your swing.

 

[Cornbread]

I think what you’re looking for is ‘dropping a pig in a tornado’. That’s basically ‘inside the ball‘ or ‘planing early’ or ‘deep’ or ’educated hands’ or TTB’ which has many different meanings. So I steer clear of that cue on these boards.

creating a tight rear forearm-bicep relationship is key. Maintaining and adjusting is done w the back arm. The hands will articulate the back elbow/wrist while the front arm creates spacing to accomplish the goal, if the hands know the goal.. if the player doesn’t say ‘this feels faster’, then your doing it wrong.

some say the front arm/hand sets plane. in some ways that is true. for me I think it sets the up and down path. But the back arm sets the in and out path. It might be a bit different for some. But I think most pros say its this way as well.

once learned the hitter will need to learn their personal contact points for release of the barrel etc. etc.

it is a mechanical advantage to have this mechanic in your swing.

The rear forearm/elbow relationship makes sense for staying inside the ball!

Any drills for the maintaining the integrity of the rear forearm/elbow relationship? I’ve done the putting the tennis ball between the forearm and bicep.

 

[Work=wins]

The rear forearm/elbow relationship makes sense for staying inside the ball!

Any drills for the maintaining the integrity of the rear forearm/elbow relationship? I’ve done the putting the tennis ball between the forearm and bicep.

i like back arm off tee in and out. I ask for them to feel what their back arm/hand has to do to hit line drives for each location.

you can complicate it and say maintain the back arm angle w the barrel up Until launch Same effect. Harder to understand. a constraint, kinda like your tennis ball drill But w words.

If a kid is pulling off it’s usually a body thing. Not the hands. Hips mostly.

 

[Rolling Hard]

The red spatula thing works too.

 

[Work=wins]

The red spatula thing works too.

never tried that. I don’t understand how it works in all honesty. To ‘load the barrel’ is more of a sequencIng thing and setting a path thing w the hands Imo.

that thing seems like it just lets your hands stay close to your body and cheat a hitter out of spatial awareness training. That alone doesn’t put the hands ‘inside‘ the ball correctly w a loaded barrel. jmho.

 

[FP26]

I think what you’re looking for is ‘dropping a pig in a tornado’. That’s basically ‘inside the ball‘ or ‘planing early’ ‘loading the barrel’ or ‘deep’ or ’educated hands’ or TTB’ which has many different meanings. So I steer clear of that cue on these boards.

creating a tight rear forearm-bicep relationship is key. Maintaining and adjusting is done w the back arm. The hands will articulate the back elbow/wrist while the front arm creates spacing to accomplish the goal, if the hands know the goal.. if the player doesn’t say ‘this feels faster’, then your doing it wrong.

some say the front arm/hand sets plane. in some ways that is true. for me I think it sets the up and down path. But the back arm sets the in and out path. It might be a bit different for some. But I think most pros say its this way as well.

once learned the hitter will need to learn their personal contact points for release of the barrel etc. etc.

it is a mechanical advantage to have this mechanic in your swing.

Nice post. It's like a combination of 1 chapter ahead and five frame swing.