Posted by: Matt Schirm (coachschirm@hotmail.com) on Fri Mar 16 19:46:49 2007

It is difficult to accurately analyze swing mechanics at full speed. Through my coaching experiences I have learned that what we believe that we see in full speed may not be what is actually occurring. Nevertheless, I have three observations from your son's swing at full speed:

1. It appears that he holds the handle of the bat in the palm of his top hand. I recommend that he hold the bat across the bottoms of his fingers on his top hand. This will promote powerful wrist flexion and rotation through contact.

2. His body motions look pretty good throughout the swing.

3. It appears that he moves his hands away from his back shoulder too early during his shoulder rotation. Because this is a full speed clip, I am not 100% sure about this, but I believe this may be the case. I recommend that hitters hold their hands close to their back shoulder during the rotation of their shoulders until their chest faces where they should hit the ball (depending on the location of the pitched ball). Then they should drive their top hand powerfully (imagine throwing a punch), straight toward where they should hit the ball to accelerate the bat barrel to and through contact.

These recommendations come from my interpretations of Dr. Mike Marshall's Theory on Batting Mechanics (see drmikemarshall.com).