Posted by: Torque (roscoethewestie@comcast.net) on Wed Apr 1 06:53:45 2009

> > > > My son plays select baseball at a high level but has a terrible habit of stepping out of the box when he swings, despite coaching, lessons, "tips", etc. Its just a BAD HABIT. What can we do? We are desparate for help.
> > >
> > > Does he step out of the box or just step open? A lot of MLB players step with an open stance.
> >
> > Buy a 4 foot long 2x12 from Home Depot (probably less than $10). Have him stand on this and hit. I only see elite/select players at the batting cages we use. One of the elite coaches uses this method and he had his players off the 2x12. They were stepping forward because they have to.
> >
> > If this doesn't work try having him close his stance a little so when he opens up he doesn't step in the bucket so much.
>
> He steps out of the box when he lunges trying to get outside pitches. I'm sure it is partly because he is afraid to strike out, not realizing that many of the best hitters also strike out alot. That is a great idea about the 2x12. What do you mean "step in the bucket"?


Stepping into the bucket is stepping away from the pitch which is what I thought your son was doing. You say he lunges into the ball? Lungers tend to drift into the pitch and allow their axis of rotation to continue to drift forward when they really need to plant their front foot and begin their rotation. I'd do the 2x12 and hit a bag with a bat as demonstrated on this website. The hitting video and hitting bag on this site really are very good at explaining and demonstrating. Most of the time a hitter will see a video and it will help them. They can study it at their speed, analyze it and digest it better than having someone give them the 20 second run down when they have the bat in their hand.

The axis of rotation is the imaginary vertical line from the nose to the crotch to the ground. The axis should not continue to drift into the pitch as the hitter is rotating. The front foot should plant driving the front hip back while the rear leg drives the rear hip forward. The 2x12 will help him get used to stepping straight but if he is lunging he will also have to address his drifting axis of rotation. Major league hitters get fooled some and drift into the pitch occasionally so it isn't a perfect process but one which should be minimized to improve the odds of success.

Also study the top hand and bottom hand torque on this site because they have to get the bat head around and keep the hands from drifting forward. This will make sure he has the correct hand path.