Posted by: george stanley (saint_george13@yahoo.com) on Wed Apr 30 15:11:01 2008

> Need your help on correcting a swing flaw with one of our players.
>
> Lefty batter, her bottom hand (left )is palm up but her lead hand looks like she's trying a back hand tennis swing. The back of hand is facing the pitcher and her palm is facing the catcher.
>
> Any drills come to mind that will help her ?
>
> Thanks, Coach Steve.


HELLO COACH STEVE!

the first thing i read has me greatly confused.. if the hitter you are talking about is actually a lefty, then her power hand (LEFT)should be on the TOP.. that is, above her right hand on the bat.. you refer to her as being a LEFTY with bottom hand (LEFT) as being palm up.. so according to what you have described, SHE IS HITTING CROSS-HANDED?!?!?! that alone will cause enough problems. i hope you have made an error in describing what is going on!!!

assuming you got the part correct where she is LH.. makes no difference , really. regardless of which handed you are..
VERY IMPORTANT: YOUR HANDS SHOULD BE AS CLOSE TO BEING IN THE SAME SWING PLANE AS POSSIBLE... within a few degrees. even at the MLB level, i see hitters such as aaron rowand who have their hands at an angle to each other, in rowand's case about 135 degrees.. what this does is causes your hands to fight each other during the swing.. one hand is in the optimum swing plane.. but the other hand is at an angle, thus deploying the bat at a different angle, thus diminishing your batspeed.
imagine the flat surface plane of your palms.. for a LH, put your left hand palm up.. then put your RH palm down, touching the bottom edge of your LH baby finger to the top edge of your RH index finger.
the bottom side (heel) of your LH should also be touching the inside area between your RH index finger & thumb.. now put the bat in between your hands.. now the palms of both hands are in the same same plane, so when you swing the bat the hands and arms are all in the same plane.. very similar to a chopping stroke as though you are chopping down a tree with an axe..
the planes of both hands/palms are all in the same plane. in this manner the batspeed will be at its optimum, because the swing is at its most efficient in terms of having both hands driving the bat in the same plane..
be interested to know how it goes!
best of luck to you and your student!