Posted by: Jack Mankin (MrBatspeed@aol.com) on Wed Jul 4 08:48:10 2007

>>> All year long me players ages 11-12 have swung the bat late. They strike out or foul off balls the opposite way because they try to hit the ball over the plate instead of in front of it. I have gone back to soft toss, using the tee and batting cage. They do extremly well in the cage but when it commes down to the game they swing late everytime. It has to be the way I am coaching for the whole team to do this. Any advice. <<<

Hi Kenneth

Welcome to the site. – When a batter is continually swinging late or hitting foul balls to the right side it means the bat-head is trailing too far behind the hands at contact. The batter may get the hands out in front of the plate but the bat-head is dragging behind in the contact zone. This is due more to their swing mechanics than timing. The mechanics taught by most coaches has the batter quickly extending the hands (A to B) toward the pitcher. This linear theory relies on a whipping action that is supposed to occur as the hands near full extension.

However, a whipping action of the bat-head (pendulum or flailing effect) only occurs when the hands are accelerated in a circular path (like swinging a ball on a string). With a straight extension of the hands, the bat-head just trails behind the hands and the batter must then try to bring the bat-head around by driving their top-hand past their bottom-hand (torque). This type of mechanics requires strong arms to attain even moderate bat-head acceleration, and that is why batters using these mechanics have limited power (especially to the opposite field) even with very light bats.

Kenneth, I would suggest your players would better attain their batting potential practicing rotational transfer principles. Rotational mechanics use the larger muscles of their legs and torso to fling the hands into a circular path. They would then be swinging the bat-head around instead of trying to muscle it with their arms.

** Brian illustrating the CHP in an overhead view of the swing using our Motion Analysis Software.
www.batspeed.com/media/John_CHP.wmv

Jack Mankin