Posted by: Major Dan (markj89@charter.net) on Mon Mar 26 12:13:05 2001

jack, tom, et al.....my son plays jc baseball....in his stance, he is in somewhat of a coiled position....as his stride foot goes forward his hands go back to a point over the back foot and the shoulder turns back to a point where it is facing the shortstop (he hits left handed)....problem: at this instant of commitment to the pitch he does NOT HAVE THE TIME to turn the shoulder back in (perpendicular to the pitcher)...the ball is THERE and the only way he can contact the ball is quickly drawing in the arms (yes, there goes the circular hand path!!!)and barely but not squarely getting the bat on the ball.........if you can make sense of the problem, this is the question: when you have a 90 mph fastball headed your way, even if you strt your stride a little earlier, can you REALLY train your self to FIRST reposition the front shoulder BEFORE swinging?.....please don't tell me that it will happen automatically (repositioning the front shoulder)because it has not been happening....respectfully, grc.....
> >
> > grc -
> > I just noticed in your other post that your son throws right, bats left and hits opposite field.
> > RQL and I had a number of discussions in threads last fall (here and at setpro I think) about this type of hitter.
> > The essense of it is: right side throwers are right side dominant. When they bat lefty, they are front side dominant, their back side doesn't play a large enough role. Consequently the bat is late. The front side pulls through, the back side is lazy. And they can't feel it because it is their non-dominant side.
> > My son is like that. We spent all fall doing one-handed top-hand swings, medicine ball drills, pulling balls off a Tee, etc. all to get the back side to feel what it is its supposed to do. By February, I noticed he was pulling the ball hard, sitting back on his back foot and putting everything up in the air! too much back side. We've got him back more in the middle - line drives up the middle now. but with both front and back half participating together.
> > This syndrome is common - 60-80% of righty/lefties are like this, but not all. Your son has the symptoms. I suspect the long swing is due to the front side needing a long time to get the bat going since the back side isn't helping enough.
> > I can explain more if this is not clear. But I do know how to fix this.>
> >
> > major dan...i too had previous conversations with rql on this matter...i didn't realize there was yet another person (you) who actually understands the special problems a throw righ/bat left has...yes, your analysis is right on the nose....and i too am trying to figure out how to fix the problem...respectfully, grc....

grc -
Try this. get a small, light bat (my son was 12 yrs old, 5', 90 lbs and we used his younger brother's 26" 22oz bat). A 28" or 29" LL bat might do the trick for your son)
Soft toss to your son. He should swing one-handed, left handed. (top hand). As he swings, his wrist will snap/break when the bat barrel releases. With one hand, this always happens unless you lock your entire body and arm).
Notice where his wrist breaks in relation to his stance (position) and his hip turn (timing).
The first time we did it, the break happened by the inside of his back foot /back hip (behind center of rotation) and during the first half of the hip turn. In other words his hand flew out/cast/went outside the ball almost right away. This does not happen in his normal two-handed swing and never did.
RQL suggested Tee work, setting up the ball inside and forward, to force contact out in front. If the snap/break doesn't move forward, try this. We did it several times to 'find' the right combination of hip turn and top hand work. Whatever works....

We spent a lot of reps working on one-handed soft toss until he could turn his hips through and pull the ball. The break/snap moved to near the end of the hip turn and out toward the inside of the front foot - the same area as his two-handed swing.
Once he could do that, we would first do one-handed soft toss, then two-handed, alternating if he lost the feel, working on doing his normal swing but pulling the ball and feeling the back side joining in the swing.
It is critical to work on feeling the back side working - awareness.
From this point, graduate to pitching machines or easy BP.
Never be afraid to go back and physically review from the beginning if he loses the feeling. THe more times over that path, the better remembered until he can find his own way back.

At some point, I stopped working on this with my son as he could self correct. As I said before, I caught him sitting back and pretending to be Matt Stairs . His back side had taken over. Easily fixed and actually a good sign.

Where your son is older and at a higher level of competition, this could be more difficult to integrate, especially during a season. We started last September, after the main season was over.
Hope this helps. Feel free to post or contact me if questions come up.
It is worth fixing. The first time he catches a hanger and rockets it into right center, the benefit will be very obvious - much harder to defense the hitter who can hit to all fields, especially if he is very comfortable going the other way on tough pitches.