Posted by: Graylon (g_dunc@hotmail.com) on Wed Jan 9 22:25:39 2008

> > > > Hi coaches
> > > >
> > > > Just my opinion but if you are late to the ball you might think about
> > > > using your top hand a little more.I know most coaches cringe when you
> > > > mention top hand.Give it a try by putting your hitter on his back knee and have them use only their top hand in a soft toss drill.It
> > > > sounds like your hitter is trying to inside out every pitch.That is
> > > > a great two strike approach,but when i get my pitch early in the count
> > > > i want to get my hips open and get my front shoulder back as my front knee firms up.That will have the bat head pointing at the second
> > > > baseman at contact for aright hand hitter.I had a little left hand
> > > > hitter in high school,who hit 460 and he hit middle left he was in the
> > > > top 15 in orange county he led the team in all categories except home
> > > > runs he didn't hit any.He was 135 pounds maybe.
> > > > good luck coaches
> > > >
> > > > Bob
> > > >
> > >
> > > hey bob!!
> > >
> > > very good insight!!! far too many hitters AND coaches forget the primary designation.. either you are RIGHT handed or LEFT handed... THAT DESIGNATION INDICATES WHICH IS YOUR POWER HAND!!!THAT MEANS THAT HAND IS MORE POWERFUL THAN THE OTHER HAND!! THAT MEANS YOU SHOULD RELY ON THAT POWER HAND TO PROVIDE MOST OF THE POWER!!! HELLO?!?!?
> > > i have my students wrap their power hands onto the bat with duct tape & then hit off a tee or soft toss.. this gets them in the mindset that they must not EVER turn loose of the bat until they have gone all the way sround.. this also makes them understand they must be accelerating from the moment they launch & continue to exert maximum force all the way thru the swing.. this gets the hitter to understand that he can generate far more power by pushing off his back leg, torqueing his lower body,& keeping his power hand in tight to his torso.. the hitter must realize & utilize the strongest parts of his body- the leg, the hip & the arm on the power side.. i believe this is key to generating maximum batspeed, to keep your hands in tight..this will generate far greater batspeed & power than implementing a too wide, too open stance & buggywhipping with just the arms & shoulders only..
> > > any number of hitters & coaches will tell you you can generate more power with your arms extended, but that is simply not true..
> > > to those people i say try this:
> > > sit on a barstool that spins... now have someone spin you around... now extend your arms like you are on the cross. what happens? YOU SLOW DOWN!! now put your hands on your belt buckle... YOU SPEED UP AGAIN!! proof positive that extending your arms will slow your batspeed.. there are situations where you are adjusting or going after a bad pitch out of the zone, & you feel the need to extend your arms... but once you do, you diminish your batspeed.. so try to keep yourself out of those situations where you swing at a pitch with diminished batspeed.. that is the pitcher's pitch.. & you shouldn't be helping the pitcher to get you out... he's not helping you, so don't you be helping him.
> > >
> > >
> > >
> > >
> > > get my bat head pointing at the second baseman at contact.For a right hand hitter.If your going to open up your front foot you will need to move your back foot closer to the plate.But
> > > > know your hitter find out what their capable of.
> > > > have them use only their top hand in soft toss
> >
> > George,
> > I hope you watched the video jack posted. It looks like to me both hitters who are great have pre pitch movement and a so called hitch before the ball is coming. I guess those buggy whippers can sure hit the ball a long way. Explain to me why these hitters can hit like that but the rest of shouldn't try to mimic these same mechanics that produce home runs and batting titles.
>
>
> hey mikee!
> PRE pitch motion is okay with me... it's the POST-pitch motion which i believe must be ONLY TOWARD the ball...what i cannot seem to get into your one-track mind is - yes, that style works on certain pitches in certain spots... like the area mid-thigh high on the inner half.. but the tradeoff is on pitches in other spots, you are not going to get there in time..you hit YOUR pitch hard, but you miss a far greater number in other spots. the end result is more HR's, but an inferior BA...
> FIRST of all,, i don't know how you can lump ken griffey in with the buggywhippers...KEN GRIFFEY IS NOT A BUGGYWHIPPER... SORRY!!!much as you would like to have him on your side, HE'S ON MY SQUAD!!! HE IS ONE OF MY HITTERS, NOT YOURS.I LOVE KEN GRIFFEY.. HE DOES MANY MANY OF THOSE THINGS I WANT MY HITTERS TO DO.. he does most everything right!!his stance is excellent... short base,closed up stance with his hands back.. if he had 2 numbers, they would BOTH be showing to the pitcher, & most important.. HANDS IN TIGHT TO THE BODY..great!! these are things i teach & encourage... have you not actually been reading what i write, or (as i suspect) just get halfway thru my thread & go off on how misguided i am??...my only criticism is he has his hands too low, which makes hime vulnerable to pitches up in the zone..his drawback is not as pronounced as others, simply because he has such a closed stance, he doesn't have much room to drawback.. on the other hand, because of his closed stance & in-tight hands close to this torso, he generates SUCH GREAT batspeed, which overcomes his low hands on high pitches..AT TIMES, but not all the time.. but no dropping the hands, no circle hitch...minimal at worst.. i believe ken griffey was the best player of his era when he was with the mariners, & before he got hurt.. there was none better period.
> BARRY BONDS overcomes the buggywhipping aspects of his swing in part because he has a fairly short fairly straightaway stance, & a short stride to the ball... add to that the fact he has his hands back & in tight, (not to mention anything of the hot suppers he's been eating)which even though he is buggywhipping, NOT AS PRONOUNCED as most others... most observers are unaware that the aspect by which both he & griffey draw most of their batspeed is the fact they IMPLEMENT LOWER BODY TORQUE, & LAUNCH FROM A VERY TIGHT POSITION, WITH THE HANDS VERY CLOSE TO THE TORSO.. this is the key to extreme batspeed.. these guys are both poster children for the opposite of too wide, too open stances with no lower body torque & swinging with just the extended arms & shoulders alone.. they both generate power from the back side hip... they both understand there is more power to be generated from the lower body than the upper.BARRY is more of a mixed bag hitter, as he does buggywhip, but does NOT implement the other aspects which slow the bat such as a very wide or extremely open stance. or his hands & arms extended out away from his body.. add to that the fact THE SMARTEST THING HE DOES IS GET UP ON THE PLATE, WHICH IS WHERE THE ACTION IS, & WHERE THEY CALL THE BALLS & STRIKES. to be within easy striking distance of a good pitch without having to reach or drop your power hand off the bat & turn into a backhanded tennis player, or bending your back to reach a pitch on the black because you are not positioned correctly is something i don't hear coaches talking about much... yet it is of extreme importance, regardless of what you say about the stance & its location being of no importance... it does in fact matter very much..
> sorry, but buggywhippers produce HR's, but do not produce batting titles..
>
> if your mindset is to mimic whoever you think you can mimic.. by all means!!! how's that working for you, by the way? when are they measuring you for the your MLB uniform, & what number did they give you? congratulations!! god love you!!
> on the other hand, if you want to take a course in logic & try to understand the laws of physics which govern this endeavor in mechanical physics, & realize & eliminate those aspects of the stance & swing which diminish your batspeed, & cause you to hit the down/in pitch to the exclusion of the vast majority of pitches which YOU WILL BE LATE LATE LATE LATE TO, & miss countless pitches you should be driving, instead of popping up, fouling off, or missing completely, THEN you might succeed.. until then you will merely be talking about it, unfortunately.
> EVERYONE out there: you should try it your way, by ALL means... because ultimately you are the captain of your own ship, & if you listen to anyone else, then you will end up pointing the finger at that person as the reason you are not improving.. HOWEVER.. once you have figured out that whatever you are doing is not working well enough, then you must understand what it is that you must change to improve.. to that end i encourage people to :
> 2. identify the error or weakness that is causing you to be late.
> 2. conceive of a change that will off set the actions you were taking that made you late, thus getting you to more pitches on time..
> 3. have a mindset whereby you analyze every aspect of both your stance & swing.. & identify & eliminate those actions which contravene the logical laws of physics & diminish your bat speed.. only then will you begin to improve.
> you've tried it your way, you've tried it that guy's way, now try another way which is goal specific to the problem you have.
> best of luck to all!

Geoege,

When did you get your MLB jersey?

You say that they will always be late or will only be able to hit certain pitches. I have a student who is 15 now but when he was 14 he played on a 19u travel team. He is only 5'1" and weighed 105lbs and not super athletic, he's one of those kids who gets over looked because he really doesn't do anything spectacular, he just makes all the routine plays. The point is he ended up as the lead off hitter and had a BA of .605 with 4 triples and 11 doubles, so you know what I'll keep doing what I do and you keep doing what you do. He'll keep "buggywhiping".

Graylon