Getting "turn the barrel" to stick

[moe]

DD's success is killing her progress. She is shown repeatedly how to turn the barrel, but we (Hitting coach and I) cant get it to stick. On my "progress of the swing" thread you can see that she doesnt.

Visuals arent working...she cant understand the motion...she understands swinging, but not the higher level swing we are shooting for. I know this is asked alot, but what is your go to EXPOSURE drill for Turning the Barrel? She NEEDS HER AHA moment...we arent finding it. WHat was your DD or students AHA drill that it finally clicked that this method is the right method? DD is behind on fast pitches and NEEDS this micro second a shorter swing will provide.

Thanks again all.
Moe

 

[knightsb]

For DD, the drill we use involves the use of the homemade "club" as seen here:

Straightleg has a similar device too.

Using the club along with Ray's commentary (see below) are our goto drills.

The use of the club helps her to feel a connected swing.

Instead of trying to answer your post - let me summarize:

The barrel should be turned rearward (for a righty the direction will somewhat away from where the second basemen plays). And again I will use this analogy. If you think of the very tip of the bat as the hand when you windmill - the path is very similar - meaning the hand goes around a circle to pitch....same as the tip of the bat goes around a circle.....

If I had mad GIF skills I would place a hand with a ball on the tip of Kemp's bat

Now - the Kemp clip shows a low pitch - but IMO that is the best way to practice with a tee - low and deep so you learn to do what Kemp is doing.

Here is the front view

And here is view of pitch up and out

Did the bat get launched any differently? I don't think it did - bat went rearward first....the hands did not push forward, they turned the barrel rearward first. They basically stayed in place for a split second so as to not get ahead of the hips, but the barrel was moving...

He does this efficiently by moving his back arm with the barrel turn - meaning as the barrel goes rearward the elbow comes down and forward as the front elbow elevates (all connected to start - a triangle).

And in the case of this thread and the OP's daughter - she starts to try and move the bat with the back elbow as the barrel gets turned in the wrong direction and the front elbow stays down forcing her to barrel to go around her rear hip which.....tada!.....makes front arm lengthen.....causing the arm bar everyone sees.....that's why I said fix the way the barrel is launched with the back arm and the front arm will fix itself...

 

[Howe]

DD's success is killing her progress. She is shown repeatedly how to turn the barrel, but we (Hitting coach and I) cant get it to stick. On my "progress of the swing" thread you can see that she doesnt.

Visuals arent working...she cant understand the motion...she understands swinging, but not the higher level swing we are shooting for. I know this is asked alot, but what is your go to EXPOSURE drill for Turning the Barrel? She NEEDS HER AHA moment...we arent finding it. WHat was your DD or students AHA drill that it finally clicked that this method is the right method? DD is behind on fast pitches and NEEDS this micro second a shorter swing will provide.

Thanks again all.
Moe

I do see your DD trying to turn the barrel, and I also see the downside effects you get when that is the main focus. If you want to see a more immediate improvement, ask your DD to forget turning the barrel for a moment. Tell her to stride into the pitch with her front shoulder down. Ask her to get her hands up a bit more. And tell her that her only thought should be to get the handle to the location where she can deliver the barrel (short). If she drags the handle to that location, ask her to try to create a little load of the barrel while she's bringing the handle to that location. Once she get's the handle and loaded barrel to the location, she will release through the ball.

 

[rdbass]

Pc,
Can you do this? If I had mad GIF skills I would place a hand with a ball on the tip of Kemp's bat
To this gif.

Atleast put your PC yellow ball on the tip.

 

[Rocketech1]

The first thing I noticed is that the knob of the bat is not pointed back towards the catcher in a good loaded position. Go to the model swings thread and see where the barrel angle is on almost all high level batters. She needs to have this good pre launch setup before thinking about turning the barrel.

 

[FiveFrameSwing]

There is no stretch. She is out of sequence.

It's about "where" in the sequence the barrel is turned.

 

[go4um]

While it is important that the rear hand/arm/shoulder "turn the barrel", it is also important that the front hand/arm/shoulder "move the nob to swing the barrel" into contact with the ball. She doesn't seem to be "swinging the barrel" with her front side...see her post contact extension and follow thru.

I would have her do a lot of front arm swings with a tee ball bat and sponge balls from 27 feet at 35 mph if you use a machine or front toss. Start with using rear hand grasping under the front wrist to provide stability and keep rear side load in the swing. Then use a grip where rear hand holds bat with fingers open and stays on bat till contact. The goal is to get the right balance between the rear "turning the barrel" and the front "moving the nob to swing the barrel". Using something like the Whiphit product can also help to get the feel of swinging the barrel with the front side.

 

[mann]

[/URL][/IMG]

[/URL][/IMG]

 

[Mr T]

The first thing I noticed is that the knob of the bat is not pointed back towards the catcher in a good loaded position. Go to the model swings thread and see where the barrel angle is on almost all high level batters. She needs to have this good pre launch setup before thinking about turning the barrel.

This. She is not loading the upper body properly. If you don't load the hands you won't be turning the barrel with any great effectiveness.

 

[moe]

That was her fourth lesson. It was a load unload lesson.

Ok, to understand this small piece of the puzzle:
The pointing of the knob at the catcher is a key element, thought we had it during this lesson...should that be more pronounced? Also, during that motion of the neg load where the knob at the catcher, should the hips be moving toward pitcher?
Dropping the shoulder...@Howe, could you place this for me in sequence to the neg load?
FFS - I will ask about the stretch when i get my head around this first motion.