Posted by: JCAZ (luckyjcox@gmail.com) on Thu Jun 28 10:27:14 2012

Hi guys! I just wanted to add a couple videos to this discussion.
The first is a triple pulled down the right field line by a lefty on
my sons team. You can see how he drops his backside to start his
swing, elbow and hands. Now this is a low pitch, but this is his
typical swing. He is creating a huge hole in his swing and getting no
bat acceleration from flipping his top hand back to the catcher.
http://youtu.be/LSgKT2SazZs

This is a video of my son. Notice the little hand cocking motion as
he strides. His hands stay up and back as his toe touches down.
Adding this one thing has really helped his swing. It keeps his hands
in motion and in a good place to start his swing. Now this is by no
means a perfect swing, but we are headed in the right direction here.
We are also currently adding this to my younger sons swing as he tends
to drop his back side and over swings because he is not creating that
bat acceleration early in the swing.
http://youtu.be/S5PRK4y6Ppo

Here is another one on a hanging curve ball. He is a little out front
on this one but still manages to drill it as he kept his hands up and
back enough.
http://youtu.be/YH1imRMtXqM
Please excuse the camera work.

If you can break that habit of dropping that backside, it really helps
things. Daily swings on a tee with wiffle balls in the garage helps
instill things.

He stills seems to stop his shoulder rotation at times, but things are
getting better.


> > Joe,
> > I feel for you and your daughter. My son who is 17 also is doing
the
> same thing now, barring the lead arm in the middle of the swing.
> Getting same results you mentioned, weak ground balls to infield.
The
> rest of the swing looks good (lower body). Years past he was a great
> hitter with some power. This year his hitting has been terrible.
Still
> makes contact but not good contact.
> >
> > One thing you mentioned about her hands starting out lower now
than
> in past years, makes me wonder if it may be part of the cause of her
> problem. My son who used to start his swing with his hands level
with
> or above the shoulder is now lowering them to armpit height before
> initiating the swing. I have been trying to get him to keep them up
> but no luck in several months of trying.
> >
> > At the beginning of the year he had other problems we had to work
> out and were able to eventually. But soon as we get one thing fixed
> another comes up. Can't understand how he could have such a good
swing
> years prior and this year everything started out screwewd up.
> >
> > Its hard to watch him go from a .500 or better hitter with a few
> home runs every year to batting probably sub .200 with no long balls
> at all.
> >
> > I hope someone can chime in here as to why these kids started
> lowering their hands before swing initiation and why the arm barring
> during the swing.
>
> Hi all! I have been preaching to my oldest(16) about barring his
arm
> prior to the initiation of the swing for over a year now. It never
> really took until about a month ago. He had been experiencing a lot
> of what this discussion is talking about. His lead elbow would
remain
> low and his hands would run linear out to the ball causing a flat to
> downward swing plane. This would cause a lot of grounders and pop
> ups.
>
> He had always said he just didn't feel comfortable starting with the
> barred arm. So one night I showed him how almost all good hitters
bar
> that arm early in their swing. Showed him Hamilton and others. So
he
> believed it, now we just had to get him comfortable.
>
> We put in a very simple, small hand cocking motion to keep his hands
> high and to get his swing started. Basically he is just tipping the
> bat head towards the pitcher an inch or two to get his swing going.
> His back elbow raises just a bit as this happens. Prior to that he
is
> pre-setting his hands and barred arm prior to a very short toe
plant.
>
> He is a believer now. Nobody can throw it by him and he has power
to
> all fields. His confidence is sky high. He went from an average
300
> hitter to hitting 685 over the last month with a 1333 slugging
average
> with ZERO strikeouts. From the 8th hole to the 3 or 4 hitter. He
did
> some tee work to get things timed out, but he turned it around very
> quickly. It has been a very rewarding thing to watch.
>
> Here is a funny story.....
> A former MLB scout had seen my son play at a game and invited him to
> come practice with his 18u tournament team. My son is pounding the
> ball in BP and this guy is trying to change his swing back to
> linear.....are you kidding me??? Have you seen Hamilton? Harper?
etc,
> etc, etc. Maybe that's why he is a former MLB scout.
>
> There is a lot of resistance to barring the arm out there, but the
> results speak for them selves. Just make sure it is done early and
> your top hand is flipping back to the catcher as the front shoulder
> starts to pull.
>
> Best of luck!