Bat Speed -- Baseball Hitting Forum

Posted by: Coach C () on Wed May 7 07:47:15 2003

I'm in a bit of a rut right now to the point that I'm "just missing" way too many pitches. I've taken a look at my swing on video tape and have noted that from a crouched postion I'm "popping" my body upwards which then leads to an uppercut swing on pitches low in the strike zone. I've tried to stand more vertically in order to eliminate the popping and uppercut but it hasn't seemed to help. Anyone have any trick stances, drills, or anything that might alleviate the popping and uppercut?

My ideas on this rarely get much support on this site, but your problem is something I see all the time. The legs must support you and not drive with power. Popping knee joints, collapsing knees, snapping hips, lateral hip slide or knees sliding are symptoms of instability in the lower body, not to mention missing balls. The power comes from the torso rotating around the lower half.

The reason many people struggle is because they turn the lower half (knees, feet, hips) first, which will only pull you off the ball or collapse you, not to mention create disconnect with the arms. By stabalizing the legs we create the marriage of the arms and torso, there by developing batspeed prior to impact.

If I give anyone a bat, they can swing it anyway they want to and develop bat speed and through the use of improper mechanics develop more and more batspeed. Batspeed itself is not the key, but batspeed before contact is. This is what many fail on.

I remember two kids I once coached, one swung an 80 mph bat, the other swung it at 73 mph. The first kid, when he made contact would pull everything and hit about .200, the other kid hit to all fields and never hit below .600. The .600 kid could just mash. Now it is true that the .200 kid could hit a long way, but he had a developed his hitting area a foot in front of home plate. The .600 kid hit balls inside the front foot. The key was that the .600 kid stabalized his lower body and hit with his feet on the ground.

Get a heavy bag, stand to the side with firm legs, and put the hitting area of the bag even with the head. Learn to hit that bag from the side and not out in front. What you will discover is that the torso and arms will drive the lower body. In this drill lock your knee joints, to prevent sway and never allow the feet to come off the ground. Once you develop the core strength and then remove the bag, you will begin to realize that the rear heal will be pulled up, but the rotating upper torso. By doing this drill you will be programming yor swing to create batspeed before contact, which is all that matters. One other note: when hitting the bag have the barrel hit the bag even with the hands, don't get the hands ahead of the barrel at contact.

Good Luck,

Coach C

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> I'm in a bit of a rut right now to the point that I'm "just missing" way too many pitches.  I've taken a look at my swing on video tape and have noted that from a crouched postion I'm "popping" my body upwards which then leads to an uppercut swing on pitches low in the strike zone.  I've tried to stand more vertically in order to eliminate the popping and uppercut but it hasn't seemed to help.  Anyone have any trick stances, drills, or anything that might alleviate the popping and uppercut?
> 
> 
> My ideas on this rarely get much support on this site, but your problem is something I see all the time.  The legs must support you and not drive with power.  Popping knee joints, collapsing knees, snapping hips, lateral hip slide or knees sliding are symptoms of instability in the lower body, not to mention missing balls.  The power comes from the torso rotating around the lower half.  
> 
> The reason many people struggle is because they turn the lower half (knees, feet, hips) first, which will only pull you off the ball or collapse you, not to mention create disconnect with the arms.  By stabalizing the legs we create the marriage of the arms and torso, there by developing batspeed prior to impact.  
> 
> If I give anyone a bat, they can swing it anyway they want to and develop bat speed and through the use of improper mechanics develop more and more batspeed.  Batspeed itself is not the key, but batspeed before contact is.  This is what many fail on.
> 
> I remember two kids I once coached, one swung an 80 mph bat, the other swung it at 73 mph.  The first kid, when he made contact would pull everything and hit about .200, the other kid hit to all fields and never hit below .600.  The .600 kid could just mash.  Now it is true that the .200 kid could hit a long way, but he had a developed his hitting area a foot in front of home plate.  The .600 kid hit balls inside the front foot.  The key was that the .600 kid stabalized his lower body and hit with his feet on the ground.
> 
> Get a heavy bag, stand to the side with firm legs, and put the hitting area of the bag even with the head.  Learn to hit that bag from the side and not out in front.  What you will discover is that the torso and arms will drive the lower body.  In this drill lock your knee joints, to prevent sway and never allow the feet to come off the ground.  Once you develop the core strength and then remove the bag, you will begin to realize that the rear heal will be pulled up, but the rotating upper torso.  By doing this drill you will be programming yor swing to create batspeed before contact, which is all that matters.  One other note: when hitting the bag have the barrel hit the bag even with the hands, don't get the hands ahead of the barrel at contact.
> 
> Good Luck,
> 
> Coach C

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