Video on bat path

[FiveFrameSwing]

Plus he doesn't mention rise balls anywhere in his video, plus last I saw a riseball doesn't go up and just doesn't fall as fast as a fastball per video! Bustos was the best riseball pitcher I know of and since you have posted the video of her hitting a riseball for a HR. She teaches start you hands higher for a riseball and teaches this same method in her camps but she calls it the big zone.

Seems that someone is being a bit selective in terms of what they are seeing & hearing in the video. Maybe turn the volume up.

Listen to what is said at the 28sec mark ....




Also listen to what is said at 39secs.

Multiple times he refers to riseballs .... while tracing the path over the three balls on the top with his hand.

If hearing him speak of riseballs isn’t enough for you, then read the verbage on the screen at the 39sec mark …. “THIS DRILL SIMULATES RISE BALLS”.

 

[Ken Krause]

I don't know about the rest of you, but I know that what I teach in hitting has evolved over the years. Yet amazingly, even back in the day when I taught stuff I wouldn't teach now my hitters still showed improvement over where they were before I started working with them and had success where they used to fail.

Perhaps there are certain things you HAVE to get right, and the rest of it is merely better to get right - have to have v nice to have. Or maybe it's just the confidence gained by the hitter in working with someone who makes them feel like they can hit.

Good thing is, no matter whether what I taught was good or bad, none of those hitters have to give back their hits. Something to keep in mind.

 

[Greenmonsters]

..... or effective in terms of game management?

..... or simply is he an effective salesman? (..... after all he referred to this drill as "One of the best drills I think we have for developing hitters")

Doubtful that he's achieving the result of anyone actually swinging this way at riseballs during in-game swings.

I would agree; however, can you say that doing the drill, albeit exaggerated, hasn't maybe helped his hitters modify their swing (or even their concept of a swing) to be more successful hitting riseballs than before?

 

[FiveFrameSwing]

I would agree; however, can you say that doing the drill, albeit exaggerated, hasn't maybe helped his hitters modify their swing (or even their concept of a swing) to be more successful hitting riseballs than before?

You presented the question earlier as to whether or not John was an effective instructor.

First .... it is a bit unfair to blame John for being an ineffective instructor when the person interpreting his information ignores his words, ignores his gestures and ignores what he wrote. At some point the person supposedly attempting to learn has to accept responsibility and take ownership for the act of learning.

To address your question …. it’s difficult to claim that John is an effective instructor based on "just" this instruction video. Why? Because what he is instructing here isn’t used by his players. In other words, based only on this video … a video of what he states is one of the best drills for developing hitters …. that what he is instructing is not being learned. We could blame John’s hitters … we could blame John’s instruction … we could blame the usefulness of the content and its validity with respect to the Hanson Principle, which is where I tend to direct the blame. In the end, we can be happy for the success of his teams, but we can't truly credit this drill, as folks simply aren't learning this particular instruction.

Ken said it well ..... sometimes success isn't a function of what you teach ...... and sometimes what you teach isn't even being learned.

I suspect John is doing something right .... perhaps many things in fact .... but this drill isn't one of them.

Take note that John didn't perform the drill and suggest that the swing would end up differently. He truly believed that a riseball had the profile that he showed ..... and he truly believed in the notion of the barrel tracing that fantasized ball flight path. He got it wrong .... it happens .... and fortunately his hitters didn't quite learn his instruction here. Hopefully others seeing this thread will punt on the notion and spare themselves the wasted effort.

 

[TDS]

Is it possible that John got results with this drill?? Watch MLB's take there practice hacks (undeck circle).. Are some of those swings You would teach? Knowing John it must have worked or he would't be teaching it. Is it possible a drill like this could fix barrel dumping?

 

[rdbass]

Is it possible a drill like this could fix barrel dumping?

How so and with out causing another problem.

 

[FiveFrameSwing]

Is it possible that John got results with this drill?? Watch MLB's take there practice hacks (undeck circle).. Are some of those swings You would teach? Knowing John it must have worked or he would't be teaching it. Is it possible a drill like this could fix barrel dumping?

Watch what John is instructing ...... it's arm action.

Listen to what he perceives to be the flight of a riseball and his goal of having the barrel trace the path of that false perception.

It isn't like he said he was trying to do this as a drill to obtain a different result. He clearly explained his logic ... which was incorrect.

He simply got this one wrong IMO.

 

[TDS]

How so and with out causing another problem.

Well if the first move is to turn the barrel back to the catcher one is going to have a tough time adjusting to a pitch up in the zone... For me my setup allows one to hit a pitch up (tomahawk up) or down in the zone. The core/spine actions sets this up.. The stop swing I sent you is part of a series of up and down stop swings..

 

[TDS]

Watch what John is instructing ...... it's arm action.

Listen to what he perceives to be the flight of a riseball and his goal of having the barrel trace the path of that false perception.

It isn't like he said he was trying to do this as a drill to obtain a different result. He clearly explained his logic ... which was incorrect.

He simply got this one wrong IMO.

I don't like or teach that arm action... You know as well as I do the drill must have changed some girls normal swing so they would have a chance at the rise ball.

 

[rdbass]

Well if the first move is to turn the barrel back to the catcher one is going to have a tough time adjusting to a pitch up in the zone... For me my setup allows one to hit a pitch up (tomahawk up) or down in the zone. The core/spine actions sets this up.. The stop swing I sent you is part of a series of up and down stop swings..

Are you referring to John's drill (hitting a riseball)? The female hitters swing is a push swing all arms, down on the path of the ball around her body.