When instructing to throw the Barrel is follow through a no Teach?

[parttimecatcher]

Question for you swing doctors. When I attempt to throw the barrel I seem to lose the feeling of hitting through the ball or extension. Is extension a no teach or I am I missing something. Also can someone explain turning the barrel to me. When I read the threads with accompanying video I dont see it.

Thanks

Part Time Catcher

 

[FiveFrameSwing]

Extension is not a no-teach for everyone.

For some you have to give an objective of the whipping of the wrists and hands.

 

[rdbass]

Try the reverse hand drill. This helps with the feeling of extension.
Reverse Hand Swing 2010 02 14 14 00 24 - YouTube

 

[FiveFrameSwing]

Some hand/wrist based cues that you may find helpful .....

Ted Williams: I don’t try to set any records with the swing of my arms and shoulders. It’s the hands and wrists to go all the way with.

Ted Williams: The power is applied before the wrists break.

Ted Williams: My hands and forearms supply bat direction.

Barry Bonds: Get the top hand through.

Barry Bonds: It’s easy, all you have to do is throw the bat head.

Chris Yeager: Finish the top hand.

HYP: The top hand should chase the flight of the ball.

Martin Chuck: Get your swingers working properly. [in reference to the process of the wrists hinging and unhinging.]

A few other quotes that I forget the source of ...

Feeling of snapping the bat once the hands get past the lead shoulder.

Unhinge to extension.

Feeling of snapping the top hand wrist and elbow at the same time.

Your hips rotate, but your swing goes straight out in a linear direction.

Feeling of whipping it through and not forcing it through. [in reference to the wrists.]

 

[SBFAMILY]

FFS has a good point. Many young girls roll the wrists, so you must address this. That is why we do the reverse hand drill, just to give them the feeling of correct extension.

 

[FiveFrameSwing]

What you see here ... the bat being thrown through contact, is a drill I used this past week. I had a few hitters that were surprised on how they were chucking the barrel towards the pull-side dugout initially ... and with a little work they were able to reproduce what you see above.

 

[redhotcoach]

The Doc has been probably the lead advocate of throwing the barrel.

 

[FiveFrameSwing]

Yeager: "If you can get kids to use their hands properly, it will backwards chain … it will train the body to funnel energy through the hands. Learn to hit it with your hands, not the body."

Yeager ... Pronation in Batting - YouTube

 

[Wellphyt]

Question for you swing doctors. When I attempt to throw the barrel I seem to lose the feeling of hitting through the ball or extension. Is extension a no teach or I am I missing something. Also can someone explain turning the barrel to me. When I read the threads with accompanying video I dont see it.

Thanks

Part Time Catcher

It should be a no teach. Extension is a by-product of a well synced and technically correct throwing motion. Do players with good throwing mechanics get extension when throwing a ball? Does an infielder or outfielder think about getting extension when they throw the ball? When I throw a ball, it's impossible for me to NOT get extension of my throwing arm. It should work the same way when throwing a bat.

Why doesn't it work for everyone when hitting? Because the same underlying mechanics to throw a ball correctly don't get duplicated when throwing a bat. I've been doing evaluations for a 16u travel team. Out of the eight girls that I've looked at, seven don't throw overhand correctly. I know girls in 18u that don't throw overhand correctly.

Extension occurs after contact. If extension doesn't occur naturally, then something is seriously wrong further upstream. I would argue that the problem can be traced all the way back to how the back arm loads. A simple concept that I teach the kids is; "What Loads...Unloads".

I don't personally know any hitting instructor or FP coach in my area that understands the concept that the slotting action of the back elbow is actually a loading action, rather than an unloading action. This basic underlying action occurs naturally when we throw overhand, but gets coached out of kids or overlooked entirely in hitting.

On a side note; early wrist roll is due to the hips not clearing properly, which is related to the back arm action.

"....the hips set the swing in motion and lead the way. If they are restricted, if you don't open them wide enough, the wrists will roll prematurely. They won't stay in that good strong position long enough to make proper contact."
--Ted Williams

 

[RayR]

Geez, isn't that what I have been saying for the last year or so? This Yeager guys sounds like a smart dude...

Yeager: "If you can get kids to use their hands properly, it will backwards chain … it will train the body to funnel energy through the hands. Learn to hit it with your hands, not the body."

Yeager ... Pronation in Batting - YouTube