do i pull or push?

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Sep 11, 2008
74
0
caifornia
hi, my hitting instructor teaches a combinational approach to hitting, known as the Major League swing. the idea is to be rotational to the ball, getting to it as quick as possible, then be linear through it, extending your bat through the plane as long as possible, to ensure a longer chance to hit the ball. "quick to it, long through it". this is the same method mike candrea teaches, although he says "linear into roational" whereas my hitting coach says "rotational into linear".

the idea is to throw the bat head to the ball from a loaded position to ensure maximal bat speed. upon throwing the bat, you want to have a hammer action with your wrists, just like you would hammer a nail into a board. this hammer action is the uncocking of your pronated wrists. upon stepping, your hands move first, followed by the driving of your legs forward. "the hands lead the hips/legs". most major leaguers actually lead with their hands then drive their legs, not the other way around like most people think. your hands have to go first since otherwise there would be nothing behind them if the legs went first.

upon contact, you disconnect your arms from your body and stay long through the hitting plane, while trying to minimize torso rotation, keeping the shoulder in so you don't pull the ball ("over-rotate").

my question is when i throw the bat, do i want to pull the shaft with my bottom/lead hand??? or push with my top hand? or both? and where do i throw my hands to? hands to the ball? i try to keep my hands inside the ball and throw my bat head to the ball.

is this method superior to Steve Englishbey's PCR Rotational hitting? my coach thinks you should not tilt to the ball and have shoulders parallel to the bat plane like David Ortiz does, whom he thinks is a bad hitter. i watched Englishbey's first DVD and could not make sense of it. he just rambled on and on without really explaining clearly what he was doing with his arms, or how his method differed from other approaches. i did not bother muying his advanced DVD's. rotational hitting seems to be a fringe theory.

i am buying a whiphit bat and a rope bat soon. are these products comabtible with my combinational swing i use?

my fall ball coach said i was disconnected, and he wants my swing to be like the earth revolves around the sun, with my body as the sun and the bat head being the earth.

thanks!
 
Jul 14, 2008
1,800
63
You're 14 years old right?............Hmmmmmmmm

Here's what I find interesting, and almost unbelievable............

1.) ALMOST perfect spelling, organization and punctuation of sentences including proper use of "quotes", WITHOUT capitalizing any words at the begining of any sentence, or the word "I".......Seems a bit deceiving to me...

2.) Some pretty big words and thoughts on the subject of hitting from a 14 year old........Words like "uncocking", "pronation", "maximal", and thoughts like "fringe theory", "he just rambled on and on"........isn't my idea of what a 14 year old girl's language would consist of.........

Doesn't pass the "smell test" to me...........Sorry.......:cool:



hi, my hitting instructor teaches a combinational approach to hitting, known as the Major League swing. the idea is to be rotational to the ball, getting to it as quick as possible, then be linear through it, extending your bat through the plane as long as possible, to ensure a longer chance to hit the ball. "quick to it, long through it". this is the same method mike candrea teaches, although he says "linear into roational" whereas my hitting coach says "rotational into linear".

the idea is to throw the bat head to the ball from a loaded position to ensure maximal bat speed. upon throwing the bat, you want to have a hammer action with your wrists, just like you would hammer a nail into a board. this hammer action is the uncocking of your pronated wrists. upon stepping, your hands move first, followed by the driving of your legs forward. "the hands lead the hips/legs". most major leaguers actually lead with their hands then drive their legs, not the other way around like most people think. your hands have to go first since otherwise there would be nothing behind them if the legs went first.

upon contact, you disconnect your arms from your body and stay long through the hitting plane, while trying to minimize torso rotation, keeping the shoulder in so you don't pull the ball ("over-rotate").

my question is when i throw the bat, do i want to pull the shaft with my bottom/lead hand??? or push with my top hand? or both? and where do i throw my hands to? hands to the ball? i try to keep my hands inside the ball and throw my bat head to the ball.

is this method superior to Steve Englishbey's PCR Rotational hitting? my coach thinks you should not tilt to the ball and have shoulders parallel to the bat plane like David Ortiz does, whom he thinks is a bad hitter. i watched Englishbey's first DVD and could not make sense of it. he just rambled on and on without really explaining clearly what he was doing with his arms, or how his method differed from other approaches. i did not bother muying his advanced DVD's. rotational hitting seems to be a fringe theory.

i am buying a whiphit bat and a rope bat soon. are these products comabtible with my combinational swing i use?

my fall ball coach said i was disconnected, and he wants my swing to be like the earth revolves around the sun, with my body as the sun and the bat head being the earth.

thanks!
 
Sep 11, 2008
74
0
caifornia
im 15...ugh...and i've worked very hard with my hitting coach over the years to get better. he's introduced these theories to me and we talk alot. i've read ted williams book on hitting and seen mike candrea's hitting dvds.
 
May 27, 2008
106
0
Indiana
Hey, these softball kids are purdy smart these days! And haven't you seen kids doing all of the texting - they NEVER begin a sentence with a capitalized word..or for "I either. I think this young gilr wants to learn, maybe has studied some, and is giving us feedback from the coach.

You old doubter, you! :D

Mike
 
Sep 11, 2008
74
0
caifornia
ive also been on siggy's website and viewed those clips. i don't have a good understanding of PCR/rotational hitting tho and neither does my coach.
 
May 27, 2008
106
0
Indiana
Good for you, kiddo! And I give you a big pat on the back for reading William's book. Candrea's RVP CD is pretty good. I like his emphasis on the top hand and similarity to throwing....just don't do it like his drill showing a girl throwing a ball from the hitting position. Don't get that rear elbow leading excessively like the drill shows. When Candrea shows the top hand action while holding a bat, that looks good and what you should copy.

As you know, Williams called the swing "a hard push swing." Both hands/arms work to turn the bat or whip the bat out of the load position, but the top hand throwing action is dominant.

People recommend different websites, but I like HittingIllustrated.com to further your study. I think you would like it.

Good luck with your season,
Mike
 
Sep 11, 2008
74
0
caifornia
hi, thanks so much! the RVP dvd is saw features a coach from oregon or oregon state and was for pitching. the ones i saw of candrea were ASA ones from 2004 i believe and featured lovie jung and leah o'brien-amico i believe.

i will look at that site. i just want to get really good at hitting. i do it ok now, but i have alot of room to grow.

also, i didn't remember that from the williams book. i do remember he said the hips go before the hands, which contradicts what my hitting coach has taught me. i also remember he talked about hip cock, which i do not do (yet). i only wrist cock and load my hands back. sigg's site shows alfonso soriano shoulder cocking too.
 
Jan 15, 2009
585
0
"just like you would hammer a nail into a board. this hammer action is the uncocking of your pronated wrists"

Good luck trying to teach 10-14 yr old girl how to hit while talking about hammering and pronated wrists. My daughter's are 14 and 15 and I think they are both probably more comfortable with a bat than a hammer. Might as well compare hitting to shoeing a horse, or carving a barrel stave for all the frame of reference that your going to impart talking this way.

I was never a "squish the bug" advocate and the "skipping a rock" analogies have their limits, but at least these were relatable verbal ques.

If this kid is 15 and talking rotational to linear transition and analyzing what you can get from Englishbey and/or Candrea then by the time she's 21 we'll have posts on here that read like

"when examining the swing it is important to conceptualize the way the strong nuclear force traps electrons in a continuous parabolic orbit around a nucleus that is decaying at a rate of 10.5e^-679 as postulized by Oppenheimer the contact point will produce maximum energy exchange when..."

For the sake of pete, take a bat, a ball and a tee into the basement and swing until you figure it out for yourself. Talking and thinking about swinging won't get it done. You know the other difference between those MLB players and yourself?? About 1 million plus swings where their body found the groove where they get what they want.
 
May 27, 2008
106
0
Indiana
Calss of 2012, you are very observant! Williams definitely talked about hip cock. Candrea has changed his hitting philosophy since the ASA CD you have. He probably did talk about hands leading the hips back then.

Now, in his RVP CD he did with former UCLA coach Sue Enquist, he says at the beginning of the CD that the fastpitch swing is the ML swing. he has changed his views 180 degrees. That would be a great CD for you to get...and keep studying Williams' Science of Hitting.

And, if you live around Louisiana, I highly recommend you get to U of Louisiana-Lafayette's softball hitting clinic conducted by coach Mike Lotief.

By the way, I coach at the HS level and do teach the ML swing.

Mike
 
May 27, 2008
106
0
Indiana
Oh, and concerning the negative post right before mine from Snocatz - ignore it! Focus on the positive and on learning and improving. I like your mindset and attitude to learn - you seem hungry to me...and in this case, that's a good thing!

Mike
 

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