more video to analyze

[Chris O'Leary]

And Chris - check the attitude. You know I am not endorsing a locked knee swing...

Maybe not, but that's the biggest of her problems and where I would start first because that feeds into the swing plane issues.

 

[Mark H]

Where did I gush over her swing? I said the new swings had the same barrel action - meaning no improvement IMO.

Here is a hitter that I coached. Is this swing elite? Of course not, but she hit 200 points higher going from this swing :

to what you see in this game clip working mostly on swing plane drills.

These swings were taken about 3 months apart. IMO, swing plane drills get the biggest bang for your buck. Clean up the barrel path and the body needs to change what it does.

BTW, I think its contradictive to say that a youth career is short and then advise against attacking the flaw that is preventing her from achieving some success at the plate.

And Chris - check the attitude. You know I am not endorsing a locked knee swing...

Having this kid end up like the after swing here is what I'm hoping to avoid. This swing is good compared to the first one but still not much for three months work.

 

[RayR]

Having this kid end up like the after swing here is what I'm hoping to avoid. This swing is good compared to the first one but still not much for three months work.

A little catty, huh? You're hoping to avoid helping a player hit 370 and lead her team in doubles and triples as a soph? Even hit her first HR. I know she had fun - wouldn't want to play for you...

JC, et al:

I not saying the lower body is not important. I think I mentioned twice to emulate Bustos. I believe I said to look up Hitter's post on an exercise to find a balanced, athletic position. In fact, I would everything Hitter has posted - good stuff and easy to implement.

But, from personal experience I would not recommend to get bogged down in posture/lower body drills when the barrel action needs a lot of work. If a player drags the bat working on rotating the hips from a good posture does not eliminate bat drag. It doesn't - no matter what others say.

IMO, you get this because no matter how much you drill rotating the hips first - they see the ball and drop the barrel to get on their version of plane.

 

[JC heir]

Thanks for all the input- the still photosof DD are especially helpful. I am not very computer literate. (maybe not even english literateLOL) Anyway the video of the elite hitters will help a lot (Bustos, Pujols, etc.) I think it will be easier to teach her the swing from ceeing it than all the high tech talking I can do.

 

[Mark H]

A little catty, huh?

No, no, no. NOT AT ALL!. I'm just brutally honest with a parent because I know how brief a youth career is. I would a WHOLE lot rather hurt a parent's feelings than sugar coat my opinion and have the kid go another three to six months thinking they are swinging well.

You're hoping to avoid helping a player hit 370 and lead her team in doubles and triples as a soph? Even hit her first HR. I know she had fun - wouldn't want to play for you...

I'm glad she had fun. And it really is all about that. But both swings are really poor mechanically. Makes a person wonder what this athlete could do with good mechanics. OTOH, I've always said, if a kid is hitting as well as they want to at the highest level they aspire to, let'em hit. I do see a good athlete here that should be able to play in college so I'm looking at it from that point of view. I tend to assume everyone wants to be as good as they can be. Sometimes I need to throttle that paradigm back. This kid and the kid this thread was started about, have a HUGE upside compared to how they are swinging now.

I should add, #12's barrel action is poor as well. There isn't any camp who would be pleased with this swing imo.

 

[Mark H]

Anyway the video of the elite hitters will help a lot (Bustos, Pujols, etc.) I think it will be easier to teach her the swing from seeing it than all the high tech talking I can do.

Amen brother. Amen.

 

[RayR]

No, no, no. NOT AT ALL!. I'm just brutally honest with a parent because I know how brief a youth career is. I would a WHOLE lot rather hurt a parent's feelings than sugar coat my opinion and have the kid go another three to six months thinking they are swinging well.




I'm glad she had fun. And it really is all about that. But both swings are really poor mechanically. Makes a person wonder what this athlete could do with good mechanics. OTOH, I've always said, if a kid is hitting as well as they want to at the highest level they aspire to, let'em hit. I do see a good athlete here that should be able to play in college so I'm looking at it from that point of view. I tend to assume everyone wants to be as good as they can be. Sometimes I need to throttle that paradigm back. This kid and the kid this thread was started about, have a HUGE upside compared to how they are swinging now.

I should add, #12's barrel action is poor as well. There isn't any camp who would be pleased with this swing imo.

Mark, I am NOT concerned with what the "camps" think. Used to be, but that is dead end. I do agree it is good entertainment, though

I may have a different goal for the kids I coach. I have players with horrible mechanics and I choose to attack something that will help them produce at the HS level. If they have college aspirations then they need to commit - most if not all don't want to commit. Elite players don't need our help. These kids do.


I know it's not a mechanically sound swing. And I agree she could play in college, but that is not her goal. Plays 3 sports (volleyball #1) and in National Honor Society. But, as production goes with the time spent on the swing I would take 9 of her.

We all have these great aspirations for our children and players, but reality is that the elite players by HS age are already the model. This kid came in as freshman with that cage swing and no production. Could hit the lob ball only. Don't see too much of that outside LL so helping her get to be a productive hitter in HS is a result I will take every time.

Here is another player I need to improve quickly otherwise she will be DH'd for the next 2 seasons. She hit under .200 with a ton of strikeouts. All I see is big loop in her swing and we need to attack that. And I can only work with her during the HS season per our state rules...

 

[Chris O'Leary]

My biggest concern with these two is their swing planes (and that fact that it looks like their swings are level to the ground). Notice how the bat deflects upward at or right after the POC. This might be an example of rolling the wrists too soon or that might be a symptom of something else.

This might make sense with a riseball, but a better strategy might be to lay off the pitch and wait for a lower one you can square up with a better swing.

 

[Chris O'Leary]

FWIW, here's a gif of the OP...

Aside from the drag, she doesn't move badly once she gets going (IOW she's not hopeless), but her set-up needs a lot of work as a start.

 

[RayR]

My biggest concern with these two is their swing planes (and that fact that it looks like their swings are level to the ground). Notice how the bat deflects upward at or right after the POC. This might be an example of rolling the wrists too soon or that might be a symptom of something else.

This might make sense with a riseball, but a better strategy might be to lay off the pitch and wait for a lower one you can square up with a better swing.

#12 laced that pitch up the middle. Why would she lay off?

The other player is dumping the barrel during the swing - her wrists are breaking down as her hands drop. Other coaches think her eyes are bad because she looks OK enough to hit a ball once in a while. We will fix that as I am sure she has no idea she is doing it.

Here is another player from last winter. Played as a freshman for me this past season and hit 300. What do you think we worked on?

I don't think people give enough credit to how even a small change to barrel path will help big time. It doesn't have to be perfect to see improvements in hitting the ball.