Posted by: Jerry Ridder (jerryridder@excite.com) on Wed Oct 13 11:56:03 2004

Jack, since we live in the midwest our season has been over for about a month. Since that time I have been working with my 13yr.old son on the bag and focusing on tht and visualizing the chp. Yesterday we went live for the first time in the cage. The results were mixed at best ( way to many pop-ups ) He just didn't feel like he had the time to sweep the bat back on plane to contact. Does he need to start plt earlier ? The problem I've had with teaching plt to kids is they are not comfortable sweeping back without knowing where the pitch is going.
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> > >>>I found this site about 2 months ago, found it extremely enlightening, and ordered the DVD. My son just turned 13 and is playing on the 90 foot field for the first time this fall. He and his travel team were very successful as 12's, making to the Cal Ripken World Series in Aberdeen MD, but I felt that he was not getting everything he could out of his 5"1", 95 LB frame. He had always used linear mechanics but we switched to rotational mechanics for a test during fall ball. I must say, even though his swing is still far from perfect, that he his hitting the ball with authority. Just last Saturday, he hit a 3 RBI double that flew an estimated 250 ft and rolled to the 330 ft fence. His THT is still a work in progress, but the CHP and BHT are helping to put the ball out there. He is getting far better use of his legs and torso. PLT is still a problem because I do not fully understand what is involved, but further DVD study should fix that and he is using a 20-30 degree shoulder rotation to get into launch position. Bottom line is that his swing is smooth and fluid and he is using his big muscle groups for power instead of his hands and wrists to accelarate the bat. Your concern about popups may lie in the use of a cage for batting practice. Remember that the pitches are now coming from 60 feet and most 13 year old's pitches, even pitching at 60 miles per hour, take more than a second to reach the plate. Most batting cages in our area are shorter in distance so the reaction time is off. How does your son look off the tee? Is he in the correct position when contacting the bag? Is he bringing his trailing elbow to his side to generate THT and get the bat on the swing plane quickly? Are you sure he is not going linear right at the end of the swing? Have you worked with the soft toss drill as shown on the DVD? There are lots of things to remember in rotational mechanics, but once your son masters it, the sky is the limit.
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> Tom, Live pitching is being used.
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> Jerry, thanks for the info. We have watched the DVD numerous times and I believe we have the concept. You are correct in that I am throwing from a shorter distance but not overly hard. working off the bag has been great because time is on your side and the mechanics don't lie. I have also done soft toss into the bag. We took a month off from live just to focus and correct any mistakes and to correct his muscle memory. The bigger muscles are definetly being used. We have also been working on tht and trying to avoid dropping the back elbow to the side to early to avoid wrist bind. From what I can see it just looks like he is trying to do to much to late. I wish I had a visual cue that would help him relax and do things ealier and slower until its go time.

>> I'm sorry. I thought you were using a pitching machine in a batting cage. My son also generated a lot of popups and fly balls the first few weeks of this experiment. I found that he was doing the following things: starting his trigger (inward lead leg knee tuck) too soon, that he was pushing his hands away from his shoulder rather then back on pre-launch, and that he was extending his top arm during rotation in an attempt to get the bat head into the hitting zone sooner. By correcting these faults he is actually getting the bat head into the pitch plane sooner in the swing and making contact with a fat part of the ball better. We have not had an issue with wrist bind by applying THT too soon. He has his elbow at his side by the time he is about 20 degrees into his shoulder/hip rotation and does not bind. I have not taken a video of his new swing yet, but these are observations I am making while he is hitting off a pitching machine. I still think your son may be going linear just before contact.

I hope this information helps.

Jerry