What Worked Last Night

[RayR]

I am sure that those of that work with our daughters or give lessons can appreciate that on any day - different things pop up into the swing (bad) or some different swing thought or drill gets a good result.

Last night - one of my students responded to this queue: Make the back elbow pick up the hands.

This required her to think about where her elbow was starting (she had been taught to start her elbow down (think of a narrow A). Her hands would slide back to load and her elbow would be ahead of the hands.

She made the adjustment to start the elbows in what we were calling a wide A so that the rear elbow was behind the hands. Any load move she was to think that the hands and elbow were connected (but without rotating her shoulder back) and upon swinging her thought was that as the back elbow comes down it picks up the hands.

This was helping her tie in the action of the clock we were using for connection.

For a RH hitter (top view) the rear shoulder starts at 12:00 (or even 1:00 if there is a slight inward turn). Up until about the rear shoulder getting to 10:00 - 10:30 the hands should be in the same position relative to the rear shoulder. Then the hands release as we are swinging a big hammer to contact.

These thoughts were getting the front elbow up into the correct plane and according to her Dad (who was throwing front toss for me) she was hitting better then she ever had.

Needless to say we were all happy last night!!

 

[Wellphyt]

Did your student voluntarily go from a narrow "A" to a wide "A", or did you have to coax her a little? The reason I ask is because the narrow "A" seems to be what most of the girls in my area have been taught, and they are resistant to change. I agree that the narrow "A" setup increases the odds of bat drag.

When I work with players I try my best to work with their current handset, however I find the narrow "A" virtually a lost cause. Very hard to get them to do what I need them to do from this setup.

 

[RayR]

Well,

No, I had to constantly remind her "Wide A" - Amazing that she would hit a ball on the screws with a Wide A set up and if I don't say anything before the next pitch we are back to a narrow A. You are in GA and I am CT and we both deal with a narrow A set up - perhaps we can round up these coaches and teachers and shoot them? OK, maybe not shoot them - maybe we just pin their eyes open and force them to watch hours of hitters with a better set up...

 

[FiveFrameSwing]

Thanks for sharing that MTS.

Yeager has a drill where as the hitter shifts (strides) they reach back to throw (he emphasizes the top hand in this drill), and has the hitter think in terms of pulling the top hand out of a glove with the rear upper arm (humerus), and elbow, to bring the hand back.

Basically resembles taking the top hand out of the glove as in the photo below.

 

[RayR]

I start each hitting session with some throwing. One drill we do is pretending they are the SS making a quick throw to 2B. I roll a ball to them. As they swing the ball up to their throwing shoulder (hand on ball on glove - swinging both arms over and up) they drop the rear knee to the ground. In one quick motion they make the "snap" throw. If done right the rear elbow will look like Watley's.

Thanks for sharing that MTS.

Yeager has a drill where as the hitter shifts (strides) they reach back to throw (he emphasizes the top hand in this drill), and has the hitter think in terms of pulling the top hand out of a glove with the rear upper arm (humerus), and elbow, to bring the hand back.

Basically resembles taking the top hand out of the glove as in the photo below.

 

[FiveFrameSwing]

Sounds 'smart' MTS.

I like to capture the "Coil-Stretch" sequence from what you are describing ... ... I have started many hitting sessions this way as well.

George Knudson (in describing the golf swing): "On the backswing, feel the ground under your feet, as we shift weight under the governance of balance, our hands remain passive. The right elbow folds on the backswing as long as the hands are passive, with the head moving as it will."

Note the comment of "passive hands" during the 'backswing' (i.e., 'coil').

Also note the comment on the right elbow folding ... IMO, it is important to establish what Wooten refers to as a Power-V ... a tight pinched rear forearm-to-bicep relationship ... as early as the load.

 

[Ken Krause]

I like this explanation. Keeping the proper relationship between the back elbow and the hands can be challenging for many young hitters. Think I'll give this a try with a couple I know who are having that same issue.

 

[RichK]

Did your student voluntarily go from a narrow "A" to a wide "A", or did you have to coax her a little? The reason I ask is because the narrow "A" seems to be what most of the girls in my area have been taught, and they are resistant to change. I agree that the narrow "A" setup increases the odds of bat drag.

how narrow is too narrow? how wide is too wide -- ie, cue of getting back elbow up (chicken wing)

I'm particularly curious about what a "narrow A" looks like in your minds...tks.

 

[RayR]

how narrow is too narrow? how wide is too wide -- ie, cue of getting back elbow up (chicken wing)

I'm particularly curious about what a "narrow A" looks like in your minds...tks.

I guess there is no perfect width, but anytime the elbow is under the hands at set up (and there is noticeble bat drag in the swing) I would spread the elbows apart.

I still like the hands above both elbows, but also pretty evenly spaced between the elbow. This gives some room to load without counter rotating the shoulder (as opposed to the rear elbow starting even or above the hands)

There should be some space between the rear elbow and rib cage

 

[RayR]

From the left side