Practical Hitting Drills Progression & Checklist

[FiveFrameSwing]

FINALLY!! Someone used the phrase 'turn the barrel' and actually described what the hell the phrase means! Whether or not this is generally agreed upon DH, praise to you for explaining this, rather succinctly, in plain ole english. There are many of us on here who gave up on getting any real explanation of 'turn the barrel' long ago when it became apparent that the only way to describe what the phrase means is by showing a gif of a player and saying "See. Turn the barrel." You are the first to make any sense of that phrase IMO. Thanks again for letting the secret out!

Vdubya .... there is no secret. What there is .... is your struggle to learn this concept.

What he explained was that there was a 90-degree change in the direction of the barrel between 'launch' and 'contact'.

If the destination is approximately palm-up/palm-down at 'contact', from a typical orientation at 'launch', then there will be a 90-degree change in the orientation of the barrel regardless of the barrel path taken,

That 90-degree change of the barrel's surface is not what is meant by "turn the barrel".

Turn the barrel has to do with the swing arc. In the GIF below take note of the barrel tip and the reverse-C shape.

The phrase "turn the barrel" applies to the "bat path" ..... and the secret if you will, is that the path of the barrel is influenced by the pressures delivered via the hands.

 

[FiveFrameSwing]

I wonder if hitting wiffle balls with a tennis racket (using the frame of the racket) would work for this. Considering that the ProHammer is about $120.

Heck ... you can take an implement such as the "insider bat" and teach the concept. When I used to use that instrument the kids I worked with referred to it as the "swivel stick".

 

[iMlearning]

Interesting!

Would the players who use this grip tend to slide that top hand to the bottom on as they turn the barrel into the point of contact?

There is a training bat that does that

 

[go4um]

Like RHC said in another post (which I like) 'turn the barrel' to the ball.

Who is this player?

 

[FiveFrameSwing]

Two thoughts I had when reading through today's replies:
I explained the meaning of turning the barrel to the girls by showing them the Pro Hammer. When you hold the Pro Hammer in your stance, the hitting surface is facing 90 degrees away from the pitcher. Obviously it has to turn 90 degrees into the path of the pitch at the start of a swing. Turning your hands from "palm forward and palm back" in the stance to "palm up and palm down" at contact is turning the barrel. Doing it as quickly as possible separates the hitters from poor to good to great. This explanation worked with the girls.

Second - the split grip drill. We use it to feel the turning of the barrel and it helps the batter to turn the barrel more quickly. The girls like the way it feels, but they also feel like a split grip decreases their power. From my own experimenting, I agree. So - we talk about using a little bit of split grip with 2 strikes. Not as much as Lotief teaches, but 1 to 2 fingers worth. The girls like it, and it does make them better contact hitters. We use the split grip in practice so they are well used to it.

The 90-degree orientation that you observed is not what is meant by "turning the barrel".

If the hands grip the barrel, and you look at two specific points that you refer to as a 'start' and 'finish' (e.g., 'launch' & 'contact'), then the orientation difference between the 'start' and 'finish' will be the same difference regardless of path of the barrel that was taken. One could 'drag the barrel' or 'turn the barrel', which would be two completely different barrel paths, and yet still have the same orientation difference between the 'start' and 'finish'.

It is the actions taken between the 'start' and 'finish' that determine if the barrel was turned.

Makes me wonder if there may be an interpretation issue wrt what is meant by "turning the barrel".

The notion of “turning the barrel” is about the barrel path … as in “arc the barrel”.

 

[FiveFrameSwing]

Someone that "turns the barrel" (substitute "arc the barrel" if that is more to your liking) will display this Reverse-C shape when the barrel head is traced.

Someone that "drags the barrel" will typically not send the barrel on such a swing arc ... most notably is the missing/impacted rearward path of the arc at what should be the capture of barrel transition.

You can observe the head of the barrel (opposite the knob of the barrel) to learn if the barrel is being turned (i.e., sent along its swing arc).

A force perpendicular to the length of the barrel will result in sending the barrel along a swing arc ... as in "turning the barrel". At the capture of transition the barrel arc will have a rearward path. That is, a barrel "turned forward" is "turned along an arc", and an arc will have a rearward component.

A stall in hand pressure, or a lack of such an orthogonal type force, during the same period when the barrel is typically turned (i.e., sent on an arc), can have the barrel head simply dropping or lowering ... as was the case for the 'bat drag' example shown earlier.

 

[Doug Romrell]

Reverse "C" shape? Not when you look at these clips. You must mean from the batters perspective.

Some coaches don't at all like this "C" path of the barrel, and they argue that it gets to the ball too slow. I DO like this "C" path of the barrel for many reasons.

 

[rdbass]

Who is this player?

Haley Nix,HR

 

[FiveFrameSwing]

Reverse "C" shape? Not when you look at these clips. You must mean from the batters perspective.

Some coaches don't at all like this "C" path of the barrel, and they argue that it gets to the ball too slow. I DO like this "C" path of the barrel for many reasons.

Yes, from the batter's perspective.

 

[Westwind]

I wonder if hitting wiffle balls with a tennis racket (using the frame of the racket) would work for this. Considering that the ProHammer is about $120.

Coogans Bluff, DD just attended a camp with Pat Murphy and one of the drills was wiffle ball front toss hit with what she described as oversize ping pong paddle.

The Pro-Hammers don't get too much love here but I have the fastpitch model -11 and a 34" -3 baseball model which we use sparingly. I like it but I like to have one gadget station per hitting session instead of just bats. Weird like that I guess.