Posted by: () on Thu Oct 30 09:00:18 2003

Coach C,

Thanks for the comments. My question to you would be that if we don't teach hips before shoulders then what do we teach?? Hips before hands, i guess. I understand what you are saying, and I think I made it relatively clear in my initial post that I was being persnickety, but I was just trying to make clear thateven though they are all (knee, hips, shoulders)rotating at the same time that one does fire a split second before the others in a ground-up fashion. I don't consider the lead knee to be my trigger thought in the swing, but for me, if I were to think to let them all go at the same time then I would swing too much from the shoulders. I would try to initiate them through active cognition which is not what we want in hitting. We use a que..for me it is the hips. The reason I was placing an importance on the front knee is that if there is not a slight bend in it and it is not allowed to rotate then you are unable to fire your hips as smoothly and efficiently as you should be able to. If my thinking is to let everything go in unison, then I try to activate the shoulders, and it is my belief that you should never try to activate the shoulders in the swing, and that is why I consider that "go in unison" to be a dangerous statement. If everything is done from the knee/hips on up, then your shoulders will come naturally and those beautiful hands will soon follow too - very quickly I might add.

Your initial statement "When you throw a ball it's a ground up movement as well, but do you think turn the front knee, crank hips, follow shoulders, then arm and then hand?" insenuates that since I think from the ground-up then i must think about every little step in between. This is not the case in hitting or throwing (although my throwing could definitely use some help). We try to eliminate thinking. We try to find one thing that frees us up so we don't have to think about all the others. That is why I think from ground-up in hitting...because that one thing frees me from thinking about every little detail in the swing.

Thanks
andy
Col 3:23


As a professional ballplayer (AA/AAA level), I spend a great deal of time working on my swing and studying. As I've begun to familiarize myself with the site, I have found a lot of things that I strongly agree with and only a few that I don't seem to grasp/like (don't know which one yet). However, I am fairly certain as I've studied the major league swing and my own swing, that the knee, hips, and shoulders do not go through the zone at the same time as what stated in the following: "Rotating around a stationary axis (neck and spine) is a "ground-up" movement where the knees, hips and shoulders all rotate in unison".
> >
> > To me, hitting begins from the ground up. The soft front knee begins to turn which initiates the hip turn (around the axis) and the shoulder turn begins after that which releases the hands in an explosive, circular path towards the hitting zone. I know I'm splitting hairs here but the concept that all fly in unision just doesn't fly with me.
>
>
> When you throw a ball it's a ground up movement as well, but do you think turn the front knee, crank hips, follow shoulders, then arm and then hand? I say this because I believe the lower body serves as a platform in which to turn the torso. Drop and drive, or crank the hips will often times disconnect the upper half from the lower half. It's critical to feel the connection of the lower half to the upper half, which makes it a ground up movement, but only because the lower body is fighting to maintain balance. However, what kills many a hitter is the loose linkage between the lower half and the upper half. This is why fly in unison can be an excellent que. Video will always show hips before shoulders in pitching or in hitting, but I wouldn't want to teach it that way, because it's likely to lead to pulling off the ball, and poor balance.
>
> What are your thoughts on bat lag?
>
> Coach C