Hands apart

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Apr 27, 2020
83
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I am going to have this girl next year that goes up to bat with her hands about 5 inches apart on the bat.
I have never coached her before and her old coach was ok with her doing this.
Now I have an old machine that is very hard to hit off of. It pitches off the BOTTOM of the wheel and gives proper fastpitch spin and throws kind of a drop. you can also change the location of the pitch easily.

Now this girl can face this machine or a live pitcher and hit EVERY pitch. Shes been playing about 4 years now I guess.
Should I change this grip ? Or let her do it like she has been?:confused:

Japan National softball team won gold with several players using this batting style....Its about contact and let the pitcher supply the power. One lady went yard only to have the Left fielder from Team USA bring it back in....
 
May 21, 2018
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While I'm not saying this is a bad way to swing at all, recent evidence (exit velocities) points to the fact that the pitcher doesn't supply much power.

Alan Nathan, physics professor emeritus at the University of Illinois, has studied baseball extensively and estimates that, when a hitter squares up a ball on the sweet spot, only about 15% of exit velocity is attributable to the pitch’s speed at contact — often 3-4 mph slower than as measured at release point — while the remaining 85% is generated by the hitter. Lowering pitch speed by 20 mph, he says, only reduces exit velocity by about 4 mph.

DD's team has a player who just switched to a split grip and has done well with it. I used to have DD do it as a drill, but kind of forgot about it. I think we will try it again.
 
Apr 2, 2015
1,198
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Woodstock, man
This effectively shortens the bat by the length of the split. Math is hard. This is more stupid than choking up, since it inhibits the wrist action as well.

They also slid into first, with the bodies hitting the ground (and began slowing, vs continued to accelerate) well before the bag.

2021-0814-slide.PNG

Their win doesn't mean that we should emulate them for split grips, and sliding head first. This just means our team was so bad, they beat us even with this nonsense.
 
Last edited:
Dec 11, 2010
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Post from 2010, my how things have changed.

A search on “split grip” will result in newer info.
 
Apr 27, 2020
83
18
This effectively shortens the bat by the length of the split. Math is hard. This is more stupid than choking up, since it inhibits the wrist action as well.

They also slid into first, with the bodies hitting the ground (and began slowing, vs continued to accelerate) well before the bag.

View attachment 23550

Their win doesn't mean that we should emulate them for split grips, and sliding head first. This just means our team was so bad, they beat us even with this nonsense.
Not saying its for everyone but it is an option that has a lot of success at all levels of play. This style of hitting was actually copied from American baseball legends like Ty Cobb. (He was a pretty decent hitter in his day) Several MLB players also use this grip today.
Japan has beat the best fastpitch pitching in the world with this hitting style and put on an impressive display of hitting this past Olympics with a +15 on runs scored and had the least amount of Ks in the tournament.
I am not a fan of diving or sliding at first but is a tactic they used to try to distract the first baseman on plays where they knew they were most likely out in ISF play. With the Olympics using the safety bag it pretty much took away any chance of a misplay at first.
 

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  • Josh Harrison Hitting.jpg
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Apr 2, 2015
1,198
113
Woodstock, man
Not saying its for everyone but it is an option that has a lot of success at all levels of play. This style of hitting was actually copied from American baseball legends like Ty Cobb. (He was a pretty decent hitter in his day) Several MLB players also use this grip today.

Ty Cobb hitting in an actual game, looked like this. Just like every other MLB hitter.
2021-0814-cobb.PNG

Here are the first two pics I saw from 2020 and 2021 for Harrison. Maybe he tried something for one game, or a certain count. But this is his typical game grip.
2021-0814-harrison.PNG2021-0814-harrison2.PNG



Hands apart is a bad idea. Why give 5 inches of bat length to the pitcher??
 
Apr 27, 2020
83
18
Ty Cobb hitting in an actual game, looked like this. Just like every other MLB hitter.
View attachment 23556

Here are the first two pics I saw from 2020 and 2021 for Harrison. Maybe he tried something for one game, or a certain count. But this is his game swing.
View attachment 23557View attachment 23558

Make sure you are looking at game swings.

Hands apart is a bad idea.
Not advocating everyone change to this style at all, but it's not a bad idea if one was to try it.

Its no different than pitching styles, it depends on the player preference just like any other grip style EX: Pinky wrap, choke, traditional...
There actually are a lot of baseball coaches that incorporate the split grip into their drills.
The picture of Harrison with the split grip I posted is a game photo. Many players including MLB players actually will change grip depending on the pitcher, count or situation thus why there are many various photos of the same hitter using different grips.

As stated above Team Japan did just win Gold by beating the best pitchers in the world for the second time with many of their players using the split grip for most AB including their best overall hitter.
Team Japan struck out the least of any team in the tournament, put the ball in play that made the defense work while hitting the most HR (6) and scoring the tournament best +15 or 35 runs.
In contrast Team USA team with more traditional swing and grip was fourth in the tournament in many offensive categories including Runs scored, (They also lead the tournament by hitting into the most DP) Team USA also lead the tournament in runners LOB.
With this said its not for everyone but if a player has success (like many of the Asian players) with a split grip why would you change...
 

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