What to do about old-school cues?

[dominik]

Who in the hell would teach hitting ground balls!? Ground balls produce the lowest batting average and OBP! The coach needs to go.

Hey guys I'm bored so I signed up with another message board (I'm on BBF too).

In my experience most coaches know what a good swing Looks like and they recognize when they see it. They don't prefer a swing that goes down. What happens is that they see different things than what actually happens. For example every Coach in MLB will love Cabreras swing but they actually see him Swinging down and pushing the knob.

That happens even with many MLB Players themselves, they actually feel like they swing down even if they don't but that does not mean they don't recognize a pro swing and prefer a guy who actually swings down.

If you Show a "swing down" guy a swing of a real chopper he will still see that that swing is flawed but probably will find another Explanation for the swing failing.

Most People know a good swing when they see it (even a non knowledgeable Person sees that griffey has a pretty swing), they just differ on how to get there.

So chances are if you have a truely high Level swing that gets results the Coach will like it and he will actually see the things he teaches in it despite something different Happening.

 

[obbay]

.So chances are if you have a truely high Level swing that gets results the Coach will like it and he will actually see the things he teaches in it despite something different Happening.

Everyone loves a good swing but you are right, they don't always agree on how to get there. Last weekend one of those coaches was at the fence behind the bench and saw a player he knows pop up for an out. He immediately blamed it on her "uppercut swing" and "hitting off the front foot" when in reality that batters problem is she chronically makes poor contact, getting under the ball (and sometimes she does have too much of an uppercut swing) Then when a player on the other team hit an IF pop up , I couldn't help but say out loud to no one in particular," she must've been hitting off her front foot with an uppercut, but wait...that swing was level and she was sitting on her back foot. How does that happen????"

 

[dominik]

I agree. As Long you rake those coaches won't do much damage but when it Comes to making corrections those coaches of course often do damage. Those coaches don't improve the bad hitters (blame it on lack of Talent), don't ruin the really good hitters (and take credit for them getting better due to reps, natural growth and experience) and thus get by.

 

[CoogansBluff]

As Long you rake those coaches won't do much damage ...

Therein lies half the problem. What if you're not raking at any given moment? You're in a slump?

Or what if you just moved up to a level that is very challenging for your experience level? If you hit ''only'' .225 at PGF Nationals, is it necessarily the swing's fault?

If kids could just hit .450 at will, their problems would be solved.

 

[JAD]

If players are paying for private hitting lessons I think TB coaches should leave their mechanics to the paid instructors. If the results are not what everyone was hoping for, then suggest to the parents that they try something new.

 

[Mr T]

A lot of good responses. Liked Cannonball's teaching how to respond to instruction. With some cues a hitter could try to translate to a more productive idea. In some cases the coach is seeing something.

"Get your front foot down earlier". Coach may in fact be seeing you are late. Get your swing started on time. Get your front foot up earlier with proper tempo and balance, and you will have a better chance of getting your front foot down on time whether it's a fastball or changeup.

"You're dipping", "keep your back shoulder up", "level swing", etc.. You may in fact be dumping the barrel. Again, this can be a timing issue, if you are loading late and rushing, you will losing posture (spine) which the coach sees as a back shoulder issue. Could be lack of proper sequence of lower body action, basically hip not clearing which also can lead to losing posture which leads to dumping the barrel.

"Get extended" --> Again are you on time with proper lower body action, if not and you are casting the coach might be seeing that you are getting sawed off because of late bat speed and long barrel path.

All this technical stuff is something hitters can think about at practice, friendlies, and maybe even pool play games. But personally on elimination days don't prefer hitters thinking about mechanics too much and hopefully coaches are bombarding them with mechanical cues any way.

 

[dominik]

If players are paying for private hitting lessons I think TB coaches should leave their mechanics to the paid instructors. If the results are not what everyone was hoping for, then suggest to the parents that they try something new.

I agree but once you get to School or college ball that won't work anymore, you can't tell a D1 Coach he is wrong about hitting mechanics. not an easy Situation if you have an old School college Coach (which most are).

 

[JAD]

I agree but once you get to School or college ball that won't work anymore, you can't tell a D1 Coach he is wrong about hitting mechanics. not an easy Situation if you have an old School college Coach (which most are).

Once you get to college all bets are off since the coach is essentially paying your DD with a scholarship. If a college coach is teaching poor mechanics it is going to show in the results on the field, and college coaches are paid to win, so their livelihood depends on it.

 

[dominik]

Who in the hell would teach hitting ground balls!? Ground balls produce the lowest batting average and OBP! The coach needs to go.

There are many high level coaches teaching horrible mechanics and still having success. Even many MLB players state in interviews that they swing down.


Still the best players swing like they do, they probably have learned to interpret those cues differently without even realizing.

Mark mcgwire had said pretty horrible things on hitting and he was a hitting coach for the Dodgers and the Cardinals.

 

[dominik]

Who in the hell would teach hitting ground balls!? Ground balls produce the lowest batting average and OBP! The coach needs to go.

The twins have taught Buxton to hit grounder to second (it probably did ruin him).