Help With Swing

[julray]

This is my first post, so please forgive me if i don't know all the rules of the forum. I need help with my daughters swing. I believe her front leg is not straight enough on contact and it is causing her upper body to leak forward too much, of course it might be the other way round as well, upper body sliding forward causing her her front leg to bend. Can somebody please take a look at my video and kindly provide your analysis and thoughts. Sorry for the shaky camera man, . Please feel free to offer any other swing improvements as well.

https://youtu.be/qxEsUI8NukM

Cheers

 

[Eric F]

First of all...welcome to DFP! Enjoy the ride

There are a number of issues going on with her swing. One of them, as you pointed out, is the action of the front leg and the forward lean of her body. IMO, this is largely due to a misunderstanding of the proper way to power the swing. She is trying to push everything forward into the ball from "go".

One thing to look at is the action in her rear hip compared with top-level hitters. Her hip joint remains flexed, where the rear hip joint should extend...

Be aware of how the muscles of the back come into play to create hip extension, how that affects the position of the head, and how it assists with whipping (not pushing) the bat.

All that said, the single best place to start is to work on understanding the proper sequence (timing and order of actions) involved with a good swing. Currently, her sequence is WAY out of whack from where is should be. There has been TONS of discussion about sequence. Getting her sequence sorted out will help set the foundation for building proper swing mechanics.

A lot of people have found helpful information in this video...

 

[julray]

Thanks a bunch, I think the video will help out a lot. The frustrating thing is she never ever had an issue with her hip flexing. It's only when we tried to eliminate squishing the bug from her back foot that we are seeing this happen. I think she overcompensated by throwing her top body forward to prevent sitting back on her back foot or squishing the bug. I do believe if we can get the bend in the front knee resolved, her hip will potentially flex properly again. Of course I need to work on her sequence as well. Like you said "She is trying to push everything forward into the ball from "go"". She has always been complimented about her bat speed and I think because of this other mechanics have been ignored.

Thanks again for your insight!

 

[SamRam]

Julray,

I agree with Eric on all his points. There is a lot of good information out here definitely. There are a couple of classic mistakes that your daughter is making and unfortunately a lot of it may have been taught to her. Here a couple that I notice and address with my hitters from the on set:

Swing Path - it looks like she is trying to "stay on top of the ball" which I hate hearing from a coach. We want to it line drives to the fence and you can't do that hitting on top of the ball. Get some lift on the ball a swing thought I want my hitters to have. She also is casting her swing, again she may be trying to "take the knob to the ball" which leads to casting. Kids are literal when they hear instructions, so this visual only makes since when you show them or her hitting coach, hands are actually traveling inside the ball.

Stance - "Elbow up" is another common thing you hear. I don't like a player starting elbow up, especially a young hitter, because they will have to drop their hands too severely to start the swing. The elbow will come up, but let it happen naturally in her load. I like a good strong V starting position.

Leg Sequence - I think adjusting her swing plane will help correct getting over her front side. But she didn't seem to be using any leg drive.

Here are couple of instructors that I follow - Justin Stone - Elite (mentioned by Eric), Bobby Tewksbury, Matt Lisle. All have great information on the swing!!

Hope this helps and good luck!

 

[julray]

Julray,

I agree with Eric on all his points. There is a lot of good information out here definitely. There are a couple of classic mistakes that your daughter is making and unfortunately a lot of it may have been taught to her. Here a couple that I notice and address with my hitters from the on set:

Swing Path - it looks like she is trying to "stay on top of the ball" which I hate hearing from a coach. We want to it line drives to the fence and you can't do that hitting on top of the ball. Get some lift on the ball a swing thought I want my hitters to have. She also is casting her swing, again she may be trying to "take the knob to the ball" which leads to casting. Kids are literal when they hear instructions, so this visual only makes since when you show them or her hitting coach, hands are actually traveling inside the ball.

Stance - "Elbow up" is another common thing you hear. I don't like a player starting elbow up, especially a young hitter, because they will have to drop their hands too severely to start the swing. The elbow will come up, but let it happen naturally in her load. I like a good strong V starting position.

Leg Sequence - I think adjusting her swing plane will help correct getting over her front side. But she didn't seem to be using any leg drive.

Here are couple of instructors that I follow - Justin Stone - Elite (mentioned by Eric), Bobby Tewksbury, Matt Lisle. All have great information on the swing!!

Hope this helps and good luck!

Thanks Sam. Can you please clarify if the swing path would be a little different in baseball than softball? The path of the pitch is a different angle, adapting the swing path that you are referring to would make it tough for her when hitting a ball with a slight incline path let alone a rise ball.. wouldn't it? Her bat would be on the same plane as ball for only a very short period of time?

She uses a no stride/ step approach in her load, is that what you mean by no leg drive?

Thanks again

 

[Eric F]

The mechanics of the baseball swing and softball swing are the same. The barrel path is slightly different through impact. In softball, the barrel path should be slightly upward. In baseball, it will be a little more upward than softball.

Don't worry too much about riseballs. Mike White (coach of the Oregon Ducks) has an approach to riseballs that I like - don't swing at 'em! Especially in the younger ages (such as your DD), if a pitch is still travelling upward when it reaches the batter, it's going to be out of the strike zone...by a lot.

 

[SamRam]

You're welcome!!

Yes, Eric is right. The swings are the same. I know that there are differences in the pitch angle, but we can adjust bat angle and swing plane regardless of where the ball is in the zone. I want my girls to be able to hit a ball regardless of where it is in the zone, that is why we work on bat head control so much.

I don't mind a no stride/step approach, but she is getting over her front side, which is taking away a lot of power. That is what I meant by leg drive.

 

[julray]

Thanks to you both and I understand that the swings are the same, I just wanted to make sure that bat angle is adjusted to the angle of the pitch, steeper in baseball than softball normally (unless it's slow pitch ). Thank you for clarifying!. And my biggest concern is the fact she is getting over her front side. I want the front side to be stiff so she can harness all the power and momentum. Previously she was doing this, but she was not transferring her weight from her back foot to her front and she was squishing the bug. In resolving one bad habit I fear we have created a much worse one. Am I correct in thinking that once the hips and mid section start to turn the front leg should be stiff? Can you recommend a good drill to prevent the hips from sliding forward and rotating around a stiff front leg?

 

[Eric F]

We want to see the front leg straightening as the hitter is coming to impact. Reference the clips posted above.