Posted by: Joe A. () on Sat Sep 15 09:22:53 2001

I have video taped my son's swing and studied it. It appears that at the point the bat impacts the ball, his shoulders have fully turned (opened) and are square to the pitcher. As a result, it seems that it is hard for him to keep his head down over the plate. The video frame usually shows his head facing the pitcher and perhaps one eye straining to watch the ball hit the bat. Are there any drills that he can do that will help him time his shoulder turn and thus more easily keep his head on the ball and both eyes in the hitting area.
> Thanks, Patrick Schneemann

Patrick,

If you read what is taught on this site you will have the problem you describe. It will also cause you to hit the ball with diminished power.

Your son maybe turning his shoulders and hips at the same time. This is hard to see on a full swing with the nake eye. If you can get a slow motion tape you can see if his hips and shoulders start turning at the same time or if the hips are moving first.

You can also tell if he is doing it when he does not swing. What I mean by that is when he actually starts his swing like he is going after the pitch but changes his mind and holds up. When he does this his motion will stop early in the swing and you should see if the plane of his shoulders and hips are open to the same degree. If, at this early point, his hips are open more then the shoulders then this is probably not the problem.

Something you mentioned also caught my attention. There is a common mistake made by many "experts" about "pulling the head out." They make this mistake because they look at the batters head position just after contact and see the batter facing the pitcher. They think that the batter turned his head off the ball. Their answer to this is to "keep your head on the ball" or "keep your head in." This is useless advice.

The batter starts out facing the pitcher. Many batters never turn their head to follow the ball to the hitting area. Their head remains turned to the pitcher. The problem is not that they "pull their head off the ball." The problem is that the head was never on the ball. Check this out on your son.

Good luck. And don't take too much advice from people who learn the game listening to tv announceres.

Joe A.