Bat Speed -- Baseball Hitting Forum

Posted by: jalal leach (jdleachy@bmp18.com) on Fri Sep 30 21:48:14 2005

> Hi, I have a question on power hitting and the hands/bat position. I saw a video of Pujols hitting a homerun and it was quite clear that he brought his bat down below the ball to get on the same plane before contact (was a chest/stomach high fastball.) But I keep hearing how important it is to bring the hand in a straight, short and inside path to the ball to keep the swing as fast and compact as possible (and you may not be able to level you swing in time.) My question is, can you do both?
>
> Like in Pujols' case, did he aim his hands to a point below the ball or did he aim his hands straight for the ball and just angle the bat with his hands so the bat head was below the ball. Some instructors mention just hit down at the ball and just before contact your bat will naturally square up to the ball (and timing is critical). They said don't angle the bat down because you lose speed. But getting the bat square at the last second instead of leveling off before seems dicey.
>
> So I am really confused how to coach my son on this.
>
> Thanks all! :)
>
> P.S. My son has been taught rotational hitting.

I don't know much about rotational hitting, but try to keep it simple. You only have a blip of second to decide if you are going to swing or not. We use to say about hitting. Think long, think wrong.

I don't know how old your son is, but talk to him on his level. One thing I use with younger kids to teach them to keep their hands inside the ball is when the ball is coming in pretend you want to take a picture of it (the ball) with the knob of the bat. This is a simple visual that they can implement right away and it will teach them to keep their hands inside the baseball.

Big words like rotational can be very confusing for a young player. I have a lot of other phrase and things I use that work well for all the kids I instruct as well.

Not to be self-serving, but If you are ever in Sacramento bring him to me and I'll show you.

Hope this answers your question somewhat. Don't try to make your son hit like Albert Pujols. There's only one Albert Pujols. Question for you does Albert Pujols hit like someone else you've seen in the past. NO!

Have your son create his own style and the better-off he will be as a hitter.

Jalal leach

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> > Hi, I have a question on power hitting and the hands/bat position.  I saw a video of Pujols hitting a homerun and it was quite clear that he brought his bat down below the ball to get on the same plane before contact (was a chest/stomach high fastball.) But I keep hearing how important it is to bring the hand in a straight, short and inside path to the ball to keep the swing as fast and compact as possible (and you may not be able to level you swing in time.)  My question is, can you do both?
> > 
> > Like in Pujols' case, did he aim his hands to a point below the ball or did he aim his hands straight for the ball and just angle the bat with his hands so the bat head was below the ball.  Some instructors mention just hit down at the ball and just before contact your bat will naturally square up to the ball (and timing is critical).  They said don't angle the bat down because you lose speed.  But getting the bat square at the last second instead of leveling off before seems dicey.
> > 
> > So I am really confused how to coach my son on this.
> > 
> > Thanks all! :)
> > 
> > P.S.  My son has been taught rotational hitting.
> 
> I don't know much about rotational hitting, but try to keep it simple. You only have a blip of second to decide if you are going to swing or not. We use to say about hitting. Think long, think wrong.
> 
> I don't know how old your son is, but talk to him on his level. One thing I use with younger kids to teach them to keep their hands inside the ball is when the ball is coming in pretend you want to take a picture of it (the ball) with the knob of the bat. This is a simple visual that they can implement right away and it will teach them to keep their hands inside the baseball.
> 
>  Big words like rotational can be very confusing for a young player. I have a lot of other phrase and things I use that work well for all the kids I instruct as well.
> 
> Not to be self-serving, but If you are ever in Sacramento bring him to me and I'll show you.
> 
> Hope this answers your question somewhat. Don't try to make your son hit like Albert Pujols. There's only one Albert Pujols. Question for you does Albert Pujols hit like someone else you've seen in the past. NO!
> 
> Have your son create his own style and the better-off he will be as a hitter.
> 
> Jalal leach

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