Unlocking Blast's Full Potential | Blast Motion
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Like to hear some opinions.
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Blast and coach Lisle
- Thread starter Shawn
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see if that link works.
Like to hear some opinions.
What is it? Not really loving the idea of forking over all of my personal info to unlock the unknown.
- Dec 11, 2010
- 4,721
- 113
I watched it. It is a Zoom with Coach Lisle and two Blast staffers. I have used Blast as part of a team membership and at one time subscribed to The Hitting Vault. DD uses Blast at her school. I do not understand how to use Blast all that well but DD uses it so much she can make adjustments while taking swings.
I no longer subscribe to HV. I really like to listen to Coach Lisle, but I was already using similar drills with dd's and while I think it's a great service, I didn't get the value out of it (because I was already doing quite a bit of it.)
Some things covered (In summary not an explanation):
Separating hitters with similar swings and similar needs into "buckets" and assigning different workouts according to needs in a team practice environment.
VBA and its value. Correct VBA results in foul balls mostly foul/out of play. Incorrect VBA results in mishits in play (and more outs).
Lisle believes in heavy bats, short bats and maybe even long bats (Not sure if he said long bats). He put a lot of emphasis on how much he likes hitting plyo's. Said they hit balls "from a pound all the way down". TCB's are 400 and some grams, there are 454 grams in a pound. As detailed in another post, lighter plyo balls are available from Driveline Baseball. He likes hitting heavy bags. (Look up Manns Drill here at dfp) Also likes light bats, light balls.
Later said he likes overweight bats and underweight bats. Like above.
He didn't say it but I think it is safe to say he isn't using 1# balls and 40 oz. bats for prepubescent kids. (Driveline has "mini plyo's" that are light. If I ever coach young players again we WILL use those.)
Prefers evaluating swings with moving balls (machine) vs. tee. (He did NOT say "tees suck".)
#1 rule of hitting "Be On Time"
Switch hitters need to hit double. (A nugget of guidance for those making conversion to slapping in my opinion)
Left hand hitters/righty throwers probably need slightly different hitting training.
When players (and Parents, even though he didn't say that) are resistant to data, speak their language. If power is what they are looking for, suggest "hey here are metrics that can emphasize your power."
So- what did I think? Time well spent. I think he is on the practical side of the constant hitting debate. I really believe people get bogged down in absolute minutia every day in the week when it comes to hitting. I personally can barely stand to read it and listen to it. I think it's interesting that he uses a lot of tools that some coaches, parents and posters here absolutely lose their minds over.
Good stuff.
I no longer subscribe to HV. I really like to listen to Coach Lisle, but I was already using similar drills with dd's and while I think it's a great service, I didn't get the value out of it (because I was already doing quite a bit of it.)
Some things covered (In summary not an explanation):
Separating hitters with similar swings and similar needs into "buckets" and assigning different workouts according to needs in a team practice environment.
VBA and its value. Correct VBA results in foul balls mostly foul/out of play. Incorrect VBA results in mishits in play (and more outs).
Lisle believes in heavy bats, short bats and maybe even long bats (Not sure if he said long bats). He put a lot of emphasis on how much he likes hitting plyo's. Said they hit balls "from a pound all the way down". TCB's are 400 and some grams, there are 454 grams in a pound. As detailed in another post, lighter plyo balls are available from Driveline Baseball. He likes hitting heavy bags. (Look up Manns Drill here at dfp) Also likes light bats, light balls.
Later said he likes overweight bats and underweight bats. Like above.
He didn't say it but I think it is safe to say he isn't using 1# balls and 40 oz. bats for prepubescent kids. (Driveline has "mini plyo's" that are light. If I ever coach young players again we WILL use those.)
Prefers evaluating swings with moving balls (machine) vs. tee. (He did NOT say "tees suck".)
#1 rule of hitting "Be On Time"
Switch hitters need to hit double. (A nugget of guidance for those making conversion to slapping in my opinion)
Left hand hitters/righty throwers probably need slightly different hitting training.
When players (and Parents, even though he didn't say that) are resistant to data, speak their language. If power is what they are looking for, suggest "hey here are metrics that can emphasize your power."
So- what did I think? Time well spent. I think he is on the practical side of the constant hitting debate. I really believe people get bogged down in absolute minutia every day in the week when it comes to hitting. I personally can barely stand to read it and listen to it. I think it's interesting that he uses a lot of tools that some coaches, parents and posters here absolutely lose their minds over.
Good stuff.
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It’s just a webinar for Blast with Coach Lisle.
Do you think their discussion is based just on making the numbers improve? I knew a guy who achieved 100 mph batspeed and it didn’t help him.
- Dec 5, 2017
- 514
- 63
He didn't happen to elaborate on the left hand hitter/righty thrower scenario did he?
Best line from Moneyball: If (s)he's a good hitter, why doesn't (s)he hit good?
FWIW opinions: 1) every hitter needs to work with an instructor 1:1 -- as much as I have my ideas on the swing it almost doesn't matter as long as the hitter is working they will improve -- fastpitch with small fields and hot bats has MUCH more room for instruction error than baseball, and 2) effective team hitting sessions are REALLY hard to put together and require a) hitters that bring stuff to the session THEY want to work on, and they do it and b) some creativity from the coach(es) in keeping things moving and interesting and impactful station-wise with, yes, lots of opportunities to see moving balls not just tees.
FWIW opinions: 1) every hitter needs to work with an instructor 1:1 -- as much as I have my ideas on the swing it almost doesn't matter as long as the hitter is working they will improve -- fastpitch with small fields and hot bats has MUCH more room for instruction error than baseball, and 2) effective team hitting sessions are REALLY hard to put together and require a) hitters that bring stuff to the session THEY want to work on, and they do it and b) some creativity from the coach(es) in keeping things moving and interesting and impactful station-wise with, yes, lots of opportunities to see moving balls not just tees.
- Dec 11, 2010
- 4,721
- 113
Good question. I do notice that Lisle talks a lot about batspeed. Seems like he pays a lot of attention to VBA.
A little. It wasn’t in depth. This zoom didn’t need the video, it could be listened to in the car or whatever if you are curious.
Agree. And his deal about putting hitters into buckets really only works when you have someone doing tons of analysis and planning. Heck most colleges can’t do that, even most d1’s, even most p5’s.
And I LOVE that scene in Moneyball!
I rewatched this webinar and I am not sure I understand how VBA (Vertical bat Angle) is something you can adjust since it is dependent on the ball location. Coach Lisle details VBA as an important metric (starting at the 3:20 mark) but I do not see how that is adjustable by the hitter. Does the "Hitting Vault" go into more detail about VBA or blast usage?
