"Hands to the ball" help

[NorthMS]

I've talked to some hitters that say this is a bad que because it can lead one to stop using the lower half of the body.

I have a coach that has offered to help with practice and one of the drills he does is hitting the ball off a tee with the knob of the bat.

For my DD, we are spending a lot of time getting her to use her lower body more. I would think this drill would hurt those efforts.

I would like to hear the opinions of some of the coaches here. I always want to be open minded, so I'm looking for opinions.

Thanks in advance.

 

[Wellphyt]

The "hands to Ball" and "Knob to the Ball" queues are two of my least favorite. I prefer to teach a good hand flattening move, followed by a que of "throw the hands" or "throw the barrel" as the hands come around the corner. IMO, "barrel to the ball" creates a better mental image than "hands to the ball".

Do we really hit the ball with the knob, or do we hit the ball with the barrel? Get the hands flat correctly, i.e. establish connection; and throw the barrel at the ball. That's what the helicopter drill teaches.

 

[NorthMS]

The "hands to Ball" and "Knob to the Ball" queues are two of my least favorite. I prefer to teach a good hand flattening move, followed by a que of "throw the hands" or "throw the barrel" as the hands come around the corner. IMO, "barrel to the ball" creates a better mental image than "hands to the ball".

Do we really hit the ball with the knob, or do we hit the ball with the barrel? Get the hands flat correctly, i.e. establish connection; and throw the barrel at the ball. That's what the helicopter drill teaches.

That's what I was thinking. If we teach, hands to the ball, how do they react to outside pitches?

 

[KevinC]

I've been rethinking this recently as well. In most of the swings in the model swings thread the hands are above the barrel at contact regardless of how high the pitch is in the zone. Is this part of what makes the difference between a ground ball and line drive?

Is the helicopter drill where you swing and try to throw the bat as far as you can?

 

[Wellphyt]

In the helicopter drill you do throw the bat through the air, but not necessarily as far as you can. Just a normal swing. I use it more to give the kids a better idea of what it feels like to throw the barrel or throw the hands. It also blends perfectly with my thoughts on getting the hands flat. If the player does not perform a good first move with their hands/arms, the bat will pin-wheel through the air rather than act like a helicopter blade. Two totally different swing planes.

Ken Griffey Jr. once said that batters need to always know what their barrel is doing. I spend a good bit of time helping kids understand how their wrist and arm actions affect the barrel. Every little wrist or elbow angle alteration, or hand movement, affects the barrel behind them. I'll have them do goofy things with their wrist, elbows and hands, and then have them turn around and look at the barrel so they get an idea of cause and effect.

 

[SBFAMILY]

Agree with the above posts. Terrible Que. It promotes casting and if you understand the Big Zone that Mike and Sue demo in right view pro, you cannot keep the bat in the big zone .

 

[Wellphyt]

Believe it or not, hands-to-the-ball probably results in more pop-ups than ground balls because the player ends up intersecting the ball rather than hitting the ball on the same plane as the pitch.

 

[straightleg]

Hands to the ball give you a circular swing. If you want to hit it hard then load straight back and go straight through the ball
BIG ZONE
If you fire your back hip first while your hands are back you will hit it hard.

Work on the lower have first. Get rid of the arm swingers.
95% of kids I start with are arm swingers



Straightleg

 

[rdbass]

I agree. My DD is and all arm swinger.We've been working on coiling/uncoiling and not squishing the bug.Starting to coil/uncoil better but still squishing the bug sometimes.I believe hard for me to understand and more so harder for my DD to grasp.DD been working on using the hips more.Last night at her game DD last at bat hits a nice line drive over the 3rd basemans head into LF.After the inning DD came up to me and said how was that dad?We will continue to read and learn.

 

[softballphreak]

I agree. My DD is and all arm swinger.We've been working on coiling/uncoiling and not squishing the bug.Starting to coil/uncoil better but still squishing the bug sometimes.I believe hard for me to understand and more so harder for my DD to grasp.DD been working on using the hips more.Last night at her game DD last at bat hits a nice line drive over the 3rd basemans head into LF.After the inning DD came up to me and said how was that dad?We will continue to read and learn.

Get some game/practice video of her to look at together. Pick it apart together.