Swing down?

[FiveFrameSwing]

FFS, can you help explain the thinking behind Chamberlain's clip. Her "not want" seems to get the barrel in a good spot and in the zone for a long time while her "want" seems like pushing her hands forward and a "V" swing path, similar to this Epstein clip:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OjlrLwq7qM0

I'm not sure I get what Chamberlain is advocating....it seems like a cue that could cause problems.

TKS.

RichK, what Lauren shows is confusing. It isn’t fully in-line with conventional wisdom.

She demonstrates what many of us would consider to be a ‘good swing’ and states that this is not what she wants. She follows up with a ‘swing down’ swing and tells us that this is what she wants.

The reason you give for not liking this is that you wish to have the barrel on-plane with the ball for a prolonged period of time.

I am not one that advocates “staying on plane with the ball for a prolonged period of time”. Instead, I believe that the focus should be on having educated hands, … hands that follow a good hand path, and that know when/how to release, is what is responsible for squaring the ball. It is the ‘release/launch’ that squares the ball … which is why folks would be wise to understand Howe’s description of the swing … IMO.

IMO there should not be an attempt to have a prolonged period of time in which the bat/ball are on-plane in hopes that doing so will take care of errors in being early/late. To me, squaring the ball consistently is about having educated hands. It is not a mistake that sequence charts show peak barrel speed occurring just an instant prior to impact ... good hitters are releasing into impact, and peak speed is associated with the release.

Back to what Lauren is teaching. IMO Lauren is teaching ‘swing down’ …. And she is teaching ‘swing down’ in a manner that has the barrel still lowering into and through impact. That is different than a ‘swing down’ mentality that focuses on the down portion of the swing, knowing that in a “swing”, that what is swung ‘down’ will also be swung ‘up’ … which is the essence of a ‘swing’.

There are multiple ways to view ‘swing down’. Some folks view ‘swing down’ in a manner that simply has them focusing on the down-swing component of what many of us would view as a ‘good swing’. Others view ‘swing down’ as having the barrel head continuing to move downwards through impact … and that IMO is what Lauren is advocating here.

If someone has the video of the first Oklahoma game on Youtube, then I’ll download it and cut up segments of what looks to me to be what Lauren is demonstrating.

 

[RichK]

>>IMO there should not be an attempt to have a prolonged period of time in which the bat/ball are on-plane in hopes that doing so will take care of errors in being early/late.o me, squaring the ball consistently is about having educated hands.

This is interesting. I think it is an artifact of teaching contact position on tee swings, right? And then when a live pitch comes at a batter they don't really "pass through" outside/deep, middle/middle, inside/outfront so much as their body gets their (educated) hands to the right location more dynamically. (Does that make it a bad cue? Not necessarily, IMO, similar to how swing down can be a good training cue if used properly).

The fact that you had to parse Chamberlain's "simple" cue so much to make it make sense means to me it's not a great cue -- it can be misinterpreted and mis-used way too easily.

 

[FiveFrameSwing]

Lauren's comparison of what she doesn't want, relative to what she does want, likely caused more harm than good.

 

[rdbass]

Some where Chamberlain was taught to 'swing down' to the ball. I'm guessing swing down and create back spin.

 

[FiveFrameSwing]

Some where Chamberlain was taught to 'swing down' to the ball. I'm guessing swing down and create back spin.

Earlier in the thread the following comment was made .....

They are definitely attacking from the top but by no means are they swinging down.

If someone posts a Youtube link to Oklahoma's first game then I'll cut up multiple video segments showing this type of 'swing-down' swing.

 

[Lenski]

When Chamberlain's not lunging.........

 

[FiveFrameSwing]

I may be incorrect, but my interpretation of the instruction that Lauren is giving seems to be that of a swing-down mentality. She is pretty straight forward regarding what she does not want and what she does want. Lunge or no lunge ... she recorded on video her support for swinging down.

 

[TDS]

What's wrong with the swinging down (Not chopping down across the ball) mentality?? Show me a hitter that doesn't whip/blur the barrel down towards the ball. It's not like the barrel works downward gradually and then accelerates (blurs) up through the ball.

 

[FiveFrameSwing]

TDS, what we see Harper doing here is primarily a frontal plane movement ... ... ... not a sagittal plane movement.

In other words, he's working on a 'drill' to gain a 'feel'.

So what is Harper really working on?

Here's the video of Harper's batting warmup without the missing frames.

If you look closely you will see that Harper is being soft-tossed a ball and that he is taking the knob of the bat to the soft-tossed ball.

If you think about it, in order to take the knob of the bat to where the ball is being pitched, Harper must follow the direction that many pros give of keeping the barrel up. Otherwise it wouldn't be the 'knob' that is making contact with the ball, but his hand ... and that isn't what he wants. Basically as Lauren instructs ... Keep the barrel above the ball ... pretend to have a weight on your hands ... and pull down.

What we see here ....

Is not largely different than what we see here ....

Nor is it largely different than what we see here ....

 

[FiveFrameSwing]

This 'barrel pump' gives the feel of the hands/wrists loading into the 'along'/'long-through'.

As I watched the super regional tournaments this weekend I saw many batters working on gaining this feel between pitches.

It is a fairly common feel that many MLB pros work on as well.