Hitting style - holding bat out in stance

[Dan-O]

Why do all of the extra movement if it doesn't add anything to the swing?

Ask Jim Furyk. Or Gary Sheffield.


I've heard that short-term memory only lasts 3 seconds or something. Are they trying to get their general contact point in their short-term memory for the swing?
(This actually happens a lot in disc golf; most top-level players "point" to their line before their swing.)

 

[Eric F]

My DD's TB coach (10U) plays a lot of short-game tactics, and all the girls are becoming fairly proficient at bunts, slaps, and power-slaps. My DD still gets caught being a little late with the pull-back sometimes, but she's getting better. Here's a "power-slap" hit from a tournament game a few weeks ago...

 

[Rocketech1]

Ask Jim Furyk. Or Gary Sheffield.


I've heard that short-term memory only lasts 3 seconds or something. Are they trying to get their general contact point in their short-term memory for the swing?
(This actually happens a lot in disc golf; most top-level players "point" to their line before their swing.)

Dan-O, I'm just trying to understand the rationale behind having your whole bat forward 3 feet from the normal starting launch position with the bat and hands back. You mention Jim Furyk and Gary Sheffield but both of these athletes start with the driver and bat in a good starting position. A better analogy would be if golfer Furyk started with his club head 2 feet in front of his teed up golf ball and started his swing from there. And IMO, Sheffield's bat waving is more stylistic than anything, but he always gets into a good load/unloaded position once the pitcher goes into his wind-up and releases the ball. Same with Furyk. He has a loopy backswing, but when his swing comes forward he takes a good inside route to the ball and makes great, solid contact almost every time.

These moves by these two athletes are very individualistic to them, and them only. For example, you wouldn't want every pro golfer to mimic Jim's unorthodox swing, which is basically what teams like Florida as saying to their batters, everyone needs to do it so they must think there is some science behind this technique? Similar to ULL making all (most?) batters use a split grip. This seems to make more sense to me in the fact that you might have a little better bat control using a split grip and since there is plenty of power in those bats, you probably are not sacrificing too much power to use a split grip.

Again, if there is logical explanation why batters should lay their bat across home plate, I would recommend this technique in a heart beat but I just have not heard a compelling argument for it yet.

I'm not going to address your short-term memory argument because I frankly don't understand your point with that one?

 

[straightleg]

What you are describing is a form of "forward press".

Just as a good "back swing" leads to a healthy "forward swing", a good "forward press" leads to a healthy "back swing".

Basically, it's one of the quicker ways to teach a kid to swing with a proper sequence.

On occasion, when I have a kid that struggles to swing with a healthy sequence I'll have them do this, and more often than not they suddenly are swinging with a healthy sequence. Where there was prior no 'overlap', there is now 'overlap' without effort. From here it is simply a matter of getting the kid to realize what they just achieved and then to transfer this into their normal swing.

Sequence is hard for some girls and this might get them to overlap...I agree


I don't teach this in the swing because most are late to the ball who do it.
It would be beneficial in teaching some one sequence in a lesson...



SL

 

[Rocketech1]

What you said here, I really like...
Sequence is hard for some girls and this might get them to overlap...I agree



SL

Do only the hands press forward, or does the whole bat need to also be forward pressed?

 

[canyonjoe]

They just won 2 National titles. Maybe they would have won without doing it, but they believe it helps. I'm pretty sure even if they had the science
to prove that it helps they aren't looking to give it out.

 

[straightleg]

Do only the hands press forward, or does the whole bat need to also be forward pressed?

I think anything that gets them forward and back would work as long as you start the stride as the hands are going back. That stretch would help achieve the overlap or the same... simply getting the hips to lead the upper half.



SL

 

[Dan-O]

I'm not going to address your short-term memory argument because I frankly don't understand your point with that one?

Imagine you're hitting a ball on a tee. What's the first thing you do? Put the bat right up to the ball, right? Then pull back and swing. You give your body a quick reminder of where you want it to get to.

 

[Rocketech1]

Imagine you're hitting a ball on a tee. What's the first thing you do? Put the bat right up to the ball, right? Then pull back and swing. You give your body a quick reminder of where you want it to get to.

Your talking muscle memory here right?

 

[Dan-O]

Your talking muscle memory here right?

I think of muscle memory as "how" to swing the bat. This is "where" to swing the bat.