Frustrated....

[MacLobo]

Poor Kris. He lost all his power...

Josh, too!...

...and Jenna Lilly!...

...You're giving up all your power, Lauren Chamberlain! You'll never hit the ball far with that back foot....

Re: "to the toes to China"
The gifs above is what I think of when I hear that. I guess it depends on "when" you're using that reference??

 

[Il softball fan]

Yes the toes may end up pointing at the ground at the end of the swings...It is how they get there. Merely spinning on the back foot to turn the rear leg, or the "squish the bug" action is not ideal.

 

[Eric F]

Yes the toes may end up pointing at the ground at the end of the swings...It is how they get there. Merely spinning on the back foot to turn the rear leg, or the "squish the bug" action is not ideal.

Yes! What happens at the foot is a reaction, not a primary movement.

 

[MacLobo]

Yes! What happens at the foot is a reaction, not a primary movement.

Gotcha! In essence, it should not necessarily be taught, other than a "your back foot may look like this as you progress through your swing."

 

[CoachJD]

Josh, too!...

I don't mean to hijack the thread, but does anybody have any minor league video/GIFs of Donaldson? He was always an OK prospect with Oakland (and the Cubs before that), but he was never thought to be a future MVP. I'm curious to see if he made any significant changes to his swing at some point. It could be useful for people here, too, to see how a certain mechanical change could be directly related to improved performance.

 

[rdbass]

I don't mean to hijack the thread, but does anybody have any minor league video/GIFs of Donaldson? He was always an OK prospect with Oakland (and the Cubs before that), but he was never thought to be a future MVP. I'm curious to see if he made any significant changes to his swing at some point. It could be useful for people here, too, to see how a certain mechanical change could be directly related to improved performance.

Best I got:

Josh Donaldson - 2012 vs. 2013


As I write this, I am coming to the realization that Josh Donaldson will probably not make the All-Star team. Which is ridiculous. But despite that, Donaldson he is having a phenomenal year. I will be the first to admit it that I didn't see it coming in early 2012. I think it was Towny on 95.7 The Game who put it best, "The second coming of Mike Schmidt, Josh Donaldson is not." Let's take a look at the swings of Donaldson from (early) 2012 and 2013 to see if we can see any improvements. (2012 is on the left and 2013 is on the right. I did my best to sync the swings up with contact.)

The first thing we see is that in 2012 Donaldson looks like a rookie. He just has the look. Moving on. At first glance, there doesn't seem to be much difference. You could simply stay it was just a matter of time and practice, maybe confidence. But let's look really closely at Donaldson as he plants his front foot. Notice how he has what some would call a "hitch" with the hands in the 2013 swing compared to the 2012 swing ? (This movement has actually gotten more pronounced as the year has progressed from this video of the early part of the season.) Instead of just launching his hands straight at the ball as in 2012, he is putting them in position to allow his legs and torso to get some bat speed generated.

Here's is a shot of the frames I am focusing on. Notice how in the last frame his hands work down toward the ground in 2013, instead of straight at the ball in 2012. He isn't being "direct to the ball."

By allowing his legs and torso to work more before using his arms, he has a slightly faster swing - about half a frame at 30 fps. The quickness allows him to improve on the -13.5 weighted value he achieved on fastballs in 2012 (according to fangraphs.com). In 2013, he is up to 9.1 on fastballs. (As a side note, Donaldson is positive on everything but change-ups, and only at -0.5. That's friggin awesome.)

Do I know if this swing change is the result of A's coaching or even a conscious thought, no. But I do know that trying to "keep the hands quiet" isn't a great cue for everybody, including Josh Donaldson.

 

[Eric F]

Gotcha! In essence, it should not necessarily be taught, other than a "your back foot may look like this as you progress through your swing."

Generally speaking, yes, If things are working correctly in the rear hip and leg, the action of the rear foot is a no-teach. There are times when I will talk about the rear foot action with a hitter - what we want to see vs. what we don't want to see, or where we want to feel pressure - but the focus of the action is still in the rear hip and leg.

 

[CoachHarley]

Update......

Been teaching what I normally teach and haven't said anything more about the squish the bug cue. I have been concentrating on the rear hip action and getting them to understand what the hips are supposed to do. The appearance of them squishing the bug is still there some, so that works. I haven't heard the head coach use the cue either, he has been telling them to point their belly button at the pitcher. Have a lot of girls that are rolling their wrists way early and casting, so I have been trying to get that fixed. Been going good, have some that are improving faster with it then others, but making progress. Still have a few that are older, juniors/seniors that look at me like I am crazy. Oh well.

Started last night on working on low outside. They have been told before, that they should be bending their knees to go get a low pitch. They couldn't understand why even though they were hitting it, it was a weak shot. I started working with a few, telling them to keep the swing the same leg wise, but just taking their hands to the pitch. Magically they started hitting low outside pitches just like a pitch right down the middle. Crazy. Best part has to be the way their eyes light up when they are struggling and getting frustrated, I give them something to fix, they do it and it works and they understand why it worked.

 

[rdbass]

They have been told before, that they should be bending their knees to go get a low pitch

I started working with a few, telling them to keep the swing the same leg wise

Might want to tell them rear leg knee needs to bend and body needs to tilt down to get to lower pitched balls. JMHO.

 

[CoachHarley]

Sorry, should have said that they have been telling the girls to bend their front knee to get the low ones.