Posted by: skip (piks5@sbcglobal.net) on Mon Jul 9 08:02:57 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
> >
>
> Coach Kenneth. With regard to your students, you may wish to have them practice their team hitting by you pitching to them as well as having other kids pitch to them. This way they can stay used to picking up the release point. Also make sure the kids are following the ball all the way and keeping their head down when the swing.
>
> We should remember that most of the old school major batting champions swung late and use the opposite field more than the pull field. Thus the late swing in itself does not have to be a problem for all the hitters.
> > 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


What I've seen through the years is that 12-and-unders are habitually late striding and getting their foot down, which makes even a technically flawless swing kind of useless.
Most non-elite 12u's need to be continually reminded to step early enough. As long as they do this, even some of the less co-ordinated kids seem to be able to get around on 50-60 mph pitching.

Hitting starts from the bottom up. Watch their feet real carefully. If they're habitually late, they're probably stepping late. If they aren't stepping late, then move to the next step on the diagnostic flow chart, which would be the various points that Jack makes as to why the bathead isn't accelerating into the hitting zone.

skip