Hey there...beautiful swing from your daughter here.... I have been a hitting coach on the boys side for almost 10 years now.... and I was taught by a MLB coach in New York that the front leg should be firmed up at contact and the consequence for a bent front leg would result in a tremendous amount of Power... those were his exact words..... Is there a coach that works in softball that can give a good rebutal to why most girls are taught the bent leg theory??? I love being a student in the art of hitting and I know there are numerous types of swings but it is interesting to me on how far apart the MLB and the softball world are on this subject and Linear vs Rotation and then 50 50 between those two.... I see 3 different types of swings primarily being taught today.... and its fun to iron out all the pro's and the con's....
Three types of swing
- Thread starter EliteSwing
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I don't believe you "firm up your front leg" in baseball or softball. On most good power swings (not all swings) your front leg straightens (firms up) as your rear hip (away from pitcher) rotates towards the pitcher and the lead hip rotates away from the pitcher. Most girls are not taught the bent leg theory. Like baseball players hitting or throwing softball players land on a leg with some flex. The firm front leg is not something you do but something that happens as a result of the swing.
The front leg should pretty much firm up without a whole lot of conscious thought, but it DOES firm up. It must, to block the forward momentum and keep the head centered, and push the front hip out.
It's really sad to see what is taught to female fastpitch players. It guarantees they will never hit with power.
I played baseball up through high school and as an adult I played men's fastpitch for 15 years, and I used the same swing in both sports. The belief that the softball swing must be different is nonsense, and most college coaches are beginning to realize that, and are teaching the MLB swing more now.
- Jan 25, 2011
- 2,280
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There is nothing being tought on here,like what you are saying.Eliteswing and jbooth if you look at what 99% of the posters on here say,they don't teach anything different then what a MLB hitter does,I wonder why you seem to believe,that they teach some thing different.My dd doesnt use a bent leg at all.She is trying to model after Pujols and Megan Bush ,Megan played for the Florida Gators,for you baseball guys,she graduated last year.
- Oct 14, 2008
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The front knee firms or locks at contact due to the rotation of the rear hip trying to rotate around the front leg, as we rotate back in behind the ball. Some will say its firm not locked, some will say its right after contact not before. Dont really care if you look at at almost any power swing where the pitch is close to the middle plate the front lower half is knee above and behind the front foot.. to me that means firm or locked, anything less means a collapsed front side and the upper half will fall over the bottom half creating a lunge or reach.
Tim
Tim
FiveFrameSwing
Banned
IMO the post wasn't meant to be overly helpful, but more an advertisement for a particular website. I may be wrong .... that was just how I interpreted the post.
"the rotation of the rear hip trying to rotate around the front leg"
rear hip should be trying to rotate with rear hip joint as pivot point, front foot as base.
trying to rotate around the front leg creates late acceleration out front forcing early committment/long swing.
rear hip should be trying to rotate with rear hip joint as pivot point, front foot as base.
trying to rotate around the front leg creates late acceleration out front forcing early committment/long swing.
I'm not talking about people who post here, I'm talking about kids who come to me for lessons. Many of them are taught absolutely ridiculous mechanics. Stuff like; swing down like chopping wood, push the hands toward the ball, step onto the front foot, then squish the bug with the back one. Hands go down then finish high like a golfer.
All stuff that guarantees failure.
That just may be so. I know I was a little nervous giving input at all when a persons name is EliteSwing and they operate a website called EliteSwing.com. That pretty much sets the standard.
