Stride Vs No Stride

[bigblue]

Hello All:

My daughter has been taught to hit with no stride. She hits the ball hard and well. Should i be teaching her to stride or not screw with it ?

I was wondering if a stride would add no power or is it just for timing to get her hands back or not ? I would love to hear about this topic......

Thanks
Bigblue

 

[Mark H]

Either is fine. Some elite hitters in both fp and bb hit no stride. She can play with striding if she wants to and let her no stride swing be her fall back basic swing she always knows how to revert to if she struggles or she can keep the no stride forever.

 

[Chris O'Leary]

I used to be a big believer in the stride/power relationship. However, this year a baseball client cut his stride and leg kick way down to improve his consistency and it also increased his power (He hit a 500 footer in a winter league game). That convinced me that power is more about correctly timing and sequencing things than it is about the stride.

 

[Cannonball]

Mark, as you know, for my child, this is what we do for a "fall back swing." My dd strides but when we have to get back to basic,s she has a no stride approach until we fix whatever is the problem.

 

[HittingGuru]

I used to be a big believer in the stride/power relationship. However, this year a baseball client cut his stride and leg kick way down to improve his consistency and it also increased his power (He hit a 500 footer in a winter league game). That convinced me that power is more about correctly timing and sequencing things than it is about the stride.

This is so true. Stride has more negatives than it does positves.

Early flow or bleed of stored energy.
Head movement
also leads to unconnection on offspeed pitches.

 

[bigblue]

Thanks guys for the input.we will continue to no stride unless she feels the need to play try a stride..Great to get some good feedback.
Bigblue

 

[ssarge]

Early flow or bleed of stored energy.
Head movement
also leads to unconnection on offspeed pitches.

I'll be a bit of a contrarian, here.

Let me start by stating that I agree that either stride or no-stride can work well. I have taught both, my own daughter has done both, and I am confortable with either, both on a short-term and a long-term basis.

That said, I DON'T find going back-and-forth simple. I find it takes time to dial-in to either. Could just be me, though.

While I can appreciate the potential negatives associated with a stride, I would also note that the vast majority of the world's best hitters (MLB) emply one. I don't think that can be ignored, and I believe there is a reason.

I think there is potentially a SMALL power gain to be had, but by small, I mean maybe 5-10%. Probably not enough of a reason to use a stride in and of itself.

A more important reason is probably the ability to USE the stride as a timing mechanism. Rather than "unconnection on off-speed pitches," I think that a properly utilized stride ENHANCES connection on off-speed pitches. In fact, I can't think of any mechanism that does it better.


As for head movement, I would note this: If head movement is consistent, it probably doesn't affect motor skills negatively. I remember a couple studies posted at Setpro that documented this. If the movement is consistent, the brain soon takes it into account and motor skills are unaffected. VARIABLE head movement IS a problem. But I don't see anything in a stride that necessarily leads to ANY head movement, much less variable head movement. Not that it couldn't - anything done incorrectly will work less than optimally. Got to do it right.

In my experience, MOST female hitters benefit - at least incrementally - from a correctly implemented stride. Some additional power, better timing consistency, stronger impetus to launch the swing (don't get "frozen" by unexpected pitches). The later point is big, and the necessity for it often doesn't arise until the hitter matriculates to face REALLY good pitching. Which happens towards the end of the 10 year (or so) career of the typical elite female hitter. Change is harder once a hitter is that experienced, so that increases the risk of non-adoption at a younger age. Not a HUGE point, but it is true.

That said, I often start no-stride. But I don't wait too long to implement the stride (assuming that is a part of the long-range plan for the individual hitter). Waiting TOO long - but then adding it anyway - adds to the complexity.

A final point - there are definitely college coaches who would prefer to see the hitter stride. It is a factor in their evaluation. Not sure I've heard of it going the other way often, if ever.

Best regards,

Scott

 

[ssarge]

However, this year a baseball client cut his stride and leg kick way down to improve his consistency and it also increased his power (He hit a 500 footer in a winter league game). That convinced me that power is more about correctly timing and sequencing things than it is about the stride.

Chris:

hard to argue with this.

My GUT sense is that a stride probably adds somewhere in the vicinity of 5-10% for MOST hitters. I don;t think that is enough to worry about for the typical female hitter, who can learn to mhit a ball 200 feet with no stride, and for that matter, can hit a ball 200 feet off a Tee (a regular hitting drill for my daughter's college team). I would NOT use power as a primary argument of whether to employ a stride for a female hitter.

But 5-10% is maybe 30 feet for an MLB guy, and the difference between the front of the warning track and uncatchable at that level is the difference between making $2M (10-12 HRs per season) and making $8-15mil (30+ HRs per season).

I think it is problematic to get the SAME momentum into rotation without a stride. May be doable for some, may even be easier for some, I don;t know. But I suspect most are able to do it easier WITH a stride.

That said, ANY hitter is better off with an efficient, mechanically sound no-stride approach than with an inefficient swing which employs a stride.

My $.02, anyway, and from my perspective this is a question that definitely allows for strong points to be made on both sides of the table.

Best,

Scott

 

[Hitter]

Chris:

hard to argue with this.

My GUT sense is that a stride probably adds somewhere in the vicinity of 5-10% for MOST hitters. I don;t think that is enough to worry about for the typical female hitter, who can learn to mhit a ball 200 feet with no stride, and for that matter, can hit a ball 200 feet off a Tee (a regular hitting drill for my daughter's college team). I would NOT use power as a primary argument of whether to employ a stride for a female hitter.

But 5-10% is maybe 30 feet for an MLB guy, and the difference between the front of the warning track and uncatchable at that level is the difference between making $2M (10-12 HRs per season) and making $8-15mil (30+ HRs per season).

I think it is problematic to get the SAME momentum into rotation without a stride. May be doable for some, may even be easier for some, I don;t know. But I suspect most are able to do it easier WITH a stride.

That said, ANY hitter is better off with an efficient, mechanically sound no-stride approach than with an inefficient swing which employs a stride.

My $.02, anyway, and from my perspective this is a question that definitely allows for strong points to be made on both sides of the table.

Best,

Scott

Sarge

I agree with you...would you throw without gaining a sense of momentum as to the body loading inside the back leg and stepping forward and the hand coming out of the glove ball down and elbow up and then coming over to complete the swing of the arm? Probably not! Why would you just take the ball out of your glove and straight back and not step to throw?

The loading we teach is a simple knee cock with the weight focused inside the back leg and the stride allows us to time the pitcher better and build the momentum by landing on the inside edge of the lead foot or eversion so the hips never stop moving until we decide to swing.

I see especially with the female no strider's, they lean backwards to shift their weight or a combination of a hip sway forward then backwards and the head is moving. In my opinion the no stride exists because of a lack of knowledge of how to load the weight inside the back leg and the flex of the front knee...same as throwing which is why we teach that first.

Depending on each persons athleticism this will be little or slight movements. Now take into account we deal in general with kids at the point of learning and are not quite at the elite level yet and maybe during college they would want to try it however I have to get them to the point the college coach is interested.

Why would you move your hands rearward or separate as this would surely cause more movement of the body and complicate the swing mechanics even more and the no stride is keeping it simple. I am being facetious. I was talking to John Tschida in Oct. I think and we talked about weight shift and throwing using martial arts techniques we use for throwing. I found out he is a martial arts instructor and teaches his fighters to balance and transfer their weight with their hands behind their back to become more aware of their lower body. He asked me to try it with throwing and hitting. With out proper balance it can not be done and it was interesting watching our students trying this.

Our students learn to move under their bodies using a drill we term face the fire and it is explained as the head is a camera and the eyes are the lenses so when we stride on a flexed front knee their is no jarring of the head....slow to load, soft to step on a flexed front knee. All of our students stride to some degree and their is variation however they all stride.

Thanks Howard

 

[ssarge]

Now take into account we deal in general with kids at the point of learning and are not quite at the elite level yet and maybe during college they would want to try it however I have to get them to the point the college coach is interested.

Couldn't agree more, Howard. That is the right approach, and that is the right goal, IMO.

Not because playing in college is the end-all and be-all. But simply because if the player wants to elongate her career beyond 5-6 years, this is about the only way to do it. Realistically, there are few avenues for continuing play after age 18 rather than college. Or maybe playing 3-4 tournaments a year onm a 23U team, but even making one of those teams is tough without college experience.

Best regards,

Scott