Uppercut Swing

[tom.guerry]

BM-

Glad to see you took my humerus advice and it looks like you've learned that the back scap stays loaded as a platform for the back arm.

And you're getting your torque earlier, you've still got a ways to go there.

You still need to understand how to turn the bat very early without unhinging the lead wrist.

Best of luck.

After you master that, then you can learn the national team swing from Oleary.

 

[BoardMember]

Damage Control!...........

Don't flatter yourself Tom. I've never taken your advise about anything regarding hitting or throwing.......But I see your "boys" are finally catching up with mine.........

I've seen the only fruit your "hands on" work has produced........Volleyball was a much better choice..........

As you know, the education is what's most important........

I think you should take Dave's lead and drop the thowing analogys like a lead pipe.......

You see Tom, that was the proverbial nail in your "throwing coffin"......

Not good for you at all........

BM-

Glad to see you took my humerus advice and it looks like you've learned that the back scap stays loaded as a platform for the back arm.

And you're getting your torque earlier, you've still got a ways to go there.

You still need to understand how to turn the bat very early without unhinging the lead wrist.

Best of luck.

After you master that, then you can learn the national team swing from Oleary.

 

[rudy 001]

I saw the post (#108) which included the batting practice swing of Jessica Mendoza.

After watching it, I was wondering what "the experts on this forum" think she is doing right or wrong.

What are the comments concerning her swing?

It seems like even though she "no strides", she is still getting her back leg loaded and at the appropriate time she gets a weight transfer. Also it seems her upper body is pretty muched synchronized to what her lower body is doing. Her swing is not perfect, but it seems like she is doing some good things.

What are the apparent flaws? And if you were the Olympic coach what would you do to make her swing better? What would be the first thing you would tell her to do? What would be the first drill or batting practice swing you would make her do in the cage?

Any comments???

 

[Mark H]

Sorry to intrude on the debate, but I have a funny story relating to the OP and the uppercut swing.

I am huge on mechanics and sometimes have to fight back from "helping" parents/players with their swing. .

Oh yeah. We refer to it as helpaholics. If you have the urge to help a kid who needs it but doesn't want it, call one of us and we'll talk you through it.

 

[Mark H]

skeppie -

here is a safe credentialed guy MarkH likes. I think his stuff would keep your ego healthy:

Team USA Softball Hitting Instruction - Baseball Fever

You are such a funny guy. How are those lessons with Connor coming along?

 

[Mark H]

"Perhaps" it worked? Again, nice one, Mark. This kid I had coached since she was 8 y.o. - you know, program development and all. Great kid, great athlete, great student, and her swing was messed up, especially after Dad "fixed" some things. As I said, as a coach you deal with each kid as an individual. For you to sit there and pompously say "well I don't recommend it in general", well, I guess I have to consider the source.

Maybe the kid you mentioned never hitting above 0.200 again just couldn't get it. Maybe what the coach said had nothing to do with her drop off. Maybe you are guessing.

Mike

Maybe you are adding details to justify telling a kid her swing was bad when her dad said it was good. In general, no, that wouldn't be something I'd recommend. In general I'd suggest working through the dad in a case like that.

 

[tom.guerry]

BM -

You are a crack up.

Maybe you and skeppie can have a healthy ego contest.

No more soup for you guys as out ol buddy Ray Porco likes to say.

RUDY-

These are both nice swings. Nothing I see needs to change, but these are drill/practice swings, so the question is how are they doing live. What pitches are they doing well with vs not so weell.

In terms of pattern, this is the MLB pattern which they have developed over the years with Rittman who is a bb guy and Candrea who has lots of stuff out now follwing Slaught.

Candrea is very big on the "live and independent hands" which is the MLB pattern where there is a well segmented/sequenced swing including good "lag" (aceleration of hand link in chain) and "addition".

Note this is ENTIRELY different from the PCR/tilt and turn/alligator arms hook handpath swing that candrea descibes as the "gate swing".

So if you want to make the national team as a power hitter, even though Candrea has retired, they are still looking for the MLB/live and independent hands pattern.

 

[Mark H]

Rudy,

To answer a serious question, it's always shaky to draw conclusions from something you haven't watched in slo mo and it's always shaky to draw conclusions from bp swings. As I said, I've seen Mendoza look better in game swings. Much better as I recall. Having said that, it looks to me, from a brief glance at this particular clip, she leaves her hands behind as she starts to rotate and then her swing plane is way out of plane with her shoulder rotation plane. You never know what someone is doing in a bp swing. Maybe she was just goofing around. Maybe someone told her to try something. I wouldn't draw conclusions on JM or Finch or anyone else till I'd seen numerous non-fooled game swings.

 

[Mark H]

BM -
Note this is ENTIRELY different from the PCR/tilt and turn/alligator arms hook handpath swing that candrea descibes as the "gate swing".

Note to those without an agenda. There is so much wrong with this sentence it's difficult to know where to start.

Don't let me interrupt the conversation Boardmember. Ya'll carry on where you were.

 

[Wellphyt]

Rudy:

Regarding Mendoza, we need to be careful not to read too much into a hitter's practice swing. I have her game swing on my DVR and it's much better than what I see in this clip.

However in the interest of discussion I will play along. The big thing she is doing wrong is she is not getting enough weight forward in her toe touch. When a hitter does this they tend to collaspe the back side and you get the dreaded sit and spin. Collasping the back side is just about as bad as lunging.

Surprisingly, Mendoza doesn't collapse the backside that badly...she is a phenomenal athlete. A less experienced hitter would likely collaspe much worse.

There is a correct way to get proper weight shift forward in a no-stride. What Mendoza is doing is IMO not it.

If you go to mikeepsteinhitting.com check out the game swing baseball clip of the Fleck kid (wow). Then check out the swings of some the hitters performing batting practice. Two different looks.

Sometimes hitters in batting practice are just working on specific parts of their swing. Sometimes they are just getting loose. You never know.