Bat Speed -- Baseball Hitting Forum

Posted by: Torque (roscoethewestie@comcast.net) on Sun Jan 18 07:01:15 2009

> Can I post a clip here of my son after his first lesson with me? I don't have youtube or any other host, just a wmv file.
>
> I can't stop him from spinning at and after contact. Need some help.

Without knowing how long he has been swinging it is tough to say why he would spin. If he hasn't been swinging more than a year I would guess he may have a fear of falling so he compensates by spinning. He may have a balance problem. He could have a flexibility problem. He could have a mechanical problem. You can have him practice swinging on rougher concrete like a driveway and make sure his lead heal is on the ground. It is hard to continue spinning on concrete and tennis shoes if the lead heal and front of the foot are touching the ground. If he has a mechanical problem my guess is his hands either finish too low and they should finish at or near the shoulders or he is not getting his hips through first and is bringing arms and hips through at about the same time, both of which can cause you to be off balance so you compensate by continuing to spin. He may think he hits the ball harder by continuing to spin. With younger kids they will over compensate for their lack of strength and try to generate more power which can lead to mechanical issues. The goal is to slowly reign him in because his power intentions may be good. Troubleshooting is a fun part of the journey. Start from the ground up when analyzing his swing. I've found with hitters, if I start from the feet up and analyze all the way up to the head I am more successful. I also look at a number of swings because I want to see what the hitter is consistently doing wrong or needs to work on. An occasional glitch is normal but the goal is consistency. As you practice viewing swings you get much more efficient at recognizing. It takes a tremendous amount of practice and slow changes to develop a swing and power. It looks easy but there is so much your muscles and nerves are doing on what eventually becomes autopilot when hitting a baseball. Personally, I think it takes 2 to 5 years to teach a child to swing and they become good at it. Then it can take another 2-5 years to teach plate discipline, hitting different locations, working pitchers, and hitting different pitches.

Have him hit a punching bag with his bat too. Can't spin through that.

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> > Can I post a clip here of my son after his first lesson with me? I don't have youtube or any other host, just a wmv file.
> > 
> > I can't stop him from spinning at and after contact. Need some help.
> 
> Without knowing how long he has been swinging it is tough to say why he would spin.  If he hasn't been swinging more than a year I would guess he may have a fear of falling so he compensates by spinning.  He may have a balance problem.  He could have a flexibility problem.  He could have a mechanical problem.  You can have him practice swinging on rougher concrete like a driveway and make sure his lead heal is on the ground.  It is hard to continue spinning on concrete and tennis shoes if the lead heal and front of the foot are touching the ground.  If he has a mechanical problem my guess is his hands either finish too low and they should finish at or near the shoulders or he is not getting his hips through first and is bringing arms and hips through at about the same time, both of which can cause you to be off balance so you compensate by continuing to spin.  He may think he hits the ball harder by continuing to spin.  With younger kids they will over compensate for their lack of strength and try to generate more power which can lead to mechanical issues.  The goal is to slowly reign him in because his power intentions may be good. Troubleshooting is a fun part of the journey.  Start from the ground up when analyzing his swing.  I've found with hitters, if I start from the feet up and analyze all the way up to the head I am more successful.  I also look at a number of swings because I want to see what the hitter is consistently doing wrong or needs to work on.  An occasional glitch is normal but the goal is consistency.  As you practice viewing swings you get much more efficient at recognizing.  It takes a tremendous amount of practice and slow changes to develop a swing and power.  It looks easy but there is so much your muscles and nerves are doing on what eventually becomes autopilot when hitting a baseball.  Personally, I think it takes 2 to 5 years to teach a child to swing and they become good at it.  Then it can take another 2-5 years to teach plate discipline, hitting different locations, working pitchers, and hitting different pitches. 
> 
> Have him hit a punching bag with his bat too.  Can't spin through that.

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