Posture

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May 12, 2016
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Thought this was an excellent video on posture and how it can affect bat path and casting

 
Apr 2, 2015
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Woodstock, man
I'm sorry but that's nonsense. You don't need to tilt 'in order to cover the plate'. Anyone can reach the outside part of the plate even if they are standing straight up.

The elbow is tucked near the hip at contact. The hip isn't part of the bending over/tilt process.

The bat is 32-34". The forearms are 10" long. Then the plate is 17 inches, the inside of the line is another approx 10".

Again, that's pure nonsense. Now, I'm not saying you don't need to tilt. But his reasoning is wrong.

You 'tilt' because that's the path of the optimal coil, uncoil of the torso. The shoulders don't spin level, the front shoulder goes down first during the coil inward. Then the rear shoulder goes down during the uncoil - resulting in a tilt. The shoulder action helps to lever the hips close and open.
 
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May 12, 2016
4,338
113
I'm sorry but that's nonsense. You don't need to tilt 'in order to cover the plate'. Anyone can reach the outside part of the plate even if they are standing straight up.

The elbow is tucked near the hip at contact. The hip isn't part of the bending over/tilt process.

The bat is 32-34". The forearms are 10" long. Then the plate is 17 inches, the inside of the line is another approx 10".

Again, that's pure nonsense. Now, I'm not saying you don't need to tilt. But his reasoning is wrong.

You 'tilt' because that's the path of the optimal coil, uncoil of the torso. The shoulders don't spin level, the front shoulder goes down first during the coil inward. Then the rear shoulder goes down during the uncoil - resulting in a tilt. The shoulder action helps to lever the hips close and open.
That's not what I got from it at all. IMO what he was implying was remaining in your posture to optimally cover the plate and adjust. He demonstrated a hitter in their posture and then coming out of their posture. He demonstrated how they could still cover the plate doing this but it would affect their bat path (cutting across the ball. which he demoed with a live pitch)



and they wouldn't be able to adjust as well. I do not believe he was implying it's impossible to cover the plate while coming out of posture, it's just not as effective. He stated "the only way to cover the outside part of the plate without posture is to gain length(which he refers to as casting)" .. makes all the sense in the world to me
 
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Apr 2, 2015
1,198
113
Woodstock, man
He stated "the only way to cover the outside part of the plate without posture is to gain length(which he refers to as casting)" .. makes all the sense in the world to me

Here he is at 1:56 demoing how you cant cover the plate if you stand up.
14809


I gave you the math. His premise is nonsense. Here he is proving the opposite of his premise - showing you dont need to 'cast'. His back elbow is next to his torso and the bat is 10 inches beyond the plate. Work with a hitting stick for a few minutes and you will see this is true.

Again, you will end up tilting if you coil/uncoil properly. You don't need to worry about trying to tilt, per se. You need to actively try to coil/uncoil properly, and the result will be a tilt. A huge difference.
 
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May 12, 2016
4,338
113
Here he is at 1:56 demoing how you cant cover the plate if you stand up.
View attachment 14808

I gave you the math. His premise is nonsense. Here he is proving the opposite of his premise - showing you dont need to 'cast'. His back elbow is next to his torso and the bat is many inches beyond the plate. Work with a hitting stick for a few minutes and you will see this is true.

Again, you will end up tilting if you coil/uncoil properly. You don't need to worry about trying to tilt, per se. You need to actively try to coil/uncoil properly, and the result will be a tilt. A huge difference.
He obviously doesn't believe by standing tall it's impossible to reach an outside pitch. Good lord, talk about being literal!! lol. He's talking about how to efficiently cover the plate which he made clear in the 2nd video I posted.

When hunting deer with a bow I should try to shoot no further away than 30 yards for an optimal shot. If I was an instructor I might say you need to get inside 30 yards for a kill shot. I guess since you are such a literal person you would take that as "it's impossible to shoot and kill a deer from > 30 yards", even though I've shown through demonstration that it can be done. Sounds kind of silly to get hung up on one comment...

My DD comes out of her posture, stands tall during the swing sometimes.. I find this video very useful and it will be helpful as well
 
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Nov 16, 2017
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Tilt doesn't get the bat to the ball on an outside pitch. Contact location does (deeper contact point for outside). Tilt is used to get your bat on plane while keeping your arms and elbows in proper connection. Tilt should match the pitch height. Contact point matches pitch location. You wouldn't tilt on an armpit high outside pitch.
 
May 12, 2016
4,338
113
Tilt doesn't get the bat to the ball on an outside pitch. Contact location does (deeper contact point for outside). Tilt is used to get your bat on plane while keeping your arms and elbows in proper connection. Tilt should match the pitch height. Contact point matches pitch location. You wouldn't tilt on an armpit high outside pitch.
So you believe same tilt on an inside pitch at the knees vs an outside pitch at the knees??
 
Nov 16, 2017
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It may vary slightly, with a greater tilt toward the inside pitch, which if anything backs up tilt shouldn't be taught as the method to "get to" outside pitches. Tilt should be about bat path or plane/shoulder plane. We also should not mix up small amounts of adjustability with more fundamental actions.

This pitch is way up in the zone. She has basically zero tilt and hits this ball out. Notice her elbow positions, perfect. Use this position as a starting point. As the pitch location lowers, everything stays the same except posture. The lower the pitch the the more chest over and butt out. If done properly a ball on the bottom edge of the zone should produce a bat angle of 25-30 degrees.

14836
 
May 12, 2016
4,338
113
It may vary slightly, with a greater tilt toward the inside pitch, which if anything backs up tilt shouldn't be taught as the method to "get to" outside pitches. Tilt should be about bat path or plane/shoulder plane. We also should not mix up small amounts of adjustability with more fundamental actions.

This pitch is way up in the zone. She has basically zero tilt and hits this ball out. Notice her elbow positions, perfect. Use this position as a starting point. As the pitch location lowers, everything stays the same except posture. The lower the pitch the the more chest over and butt out. If done properly a ball on the bottom edge of the zone should produce a bat angle of 25-30 degrees.

View attachment 14836
James of course a ball up in the zone is going to have very little tilt .. 0 tilt. But as the ball gets lower in the zone tilt becomes is much different outside vs inside pitch. Bat path and plane/shoulder plane will be established by how much you tilt.. correct? How do you hit a low outside pitch by standing tall? You don't unless you drop the barrel, and then you have other issues. You tilt.. which establishes the correct shoulder plane
 
Nov 16, 2017
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That is where we disagree. I I don't think tilt is much different between outside and inside. I thought the premise of the first video posted was that the instructor said tilt was how you "cover" the outside of the plate.

If you use basically the same tilt but you hit an inside pitch out front and an outside pitch over the plate you can keep basically the same tilt.

You don't hit a low outside pitch by standing tall and you don't hit a low inside pitch by standing tall. However, you will tilt pretty much the same amount but you will catch the outside pitch deeper and over the plate and take it oppo and you will catch the inside pitch out front and take it pull side.

Once again I just think teaching tilt as plate coverage is a bad teach. I keep it simple with my kids. Tilt = pitch height and contact location = pitch location(inner, middle, outer 3rd). Are there small amounts of adjustability in that, sure, but these general rules will lead to success.
 

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