Posted by: Graylon (g_dunc@hotmail.com) on Mon Sep 10 12:53:46 2007

> > > When should a batter initially start his movement towards the pitcher?
> > >
> > > My son is hitting weak fly and ground balls and it seems that his stride foot is not landing early enough though the hitting sequence. I asked him when does he start his initial movement towards the pitcher and he couldn't really answer the question. So I have instructed him to try and have his stride foot land when the pitchers throwing hand breaks from the glove.
> > >
> > > Is this to early? He seems to be doing better and is making good contact. But he has complained that it seems that he is waiting to long for the ball to arrive. Isn't that a good thing since it seems that he has no problem picking up the pitch?
> > >
> > > Thanks
> > > Mike
> >
> > Mike,
> >
> > I read your message and I thought I would give you my opinion. I'm a hitting instructor and have been coaching for 20 years. I have taught different ways of hitting (linear, rotational, and a little of both)in my early years because I didn't frankly know what worked best. After years of breaking down swing after swing I realized that rotational hitting is by far the best way to teach. Now to give my opinion on your question. If your sons foot is landing when the pitcher breaks his hands he is dead in the water until the ball gets in the hitting zone. In other words he has to stay still for to long. He loses his rhythm and timing. If the front foot gets down to early he will be prone to lunging forward. When the front foot lands he needs to go.
> >
> > His front foot might be landing late, but I would guess that's not the problem. I would say that he is probably "throwing" the knob of the bat forward, which is causing the barrel to drag and accounts for the weak fly balls (probably to the opposite field). This will also, account for the weak grounders because when the barrel drags his brain is telling him to speed up the barrel and he rolls his top hand over to get the barrel in the hitting zone and he tops the ball causing a weak grounder. I hope this helped.
>
> Thanks, I have some video of his hitting that I'll try to look for it.
>
> How would you correct that fault? He used to swing a 33 inch bat but then it seemed that he wasn't getting around on the ball so we went back to the 32 inch. It helped for sometime but he still doesn't generate the power that he used to. He's 14, 5'8" at about 150 lb.
>
> Would returning back to the 33 in. force him to get the barrel out in front? I have the Bat Action hitting machine which we use a lot and the basic hitting tee.
>
> Thanks for your help.
>
> Mike

Mike,

I'll try to help answer your question the best I can with out actually seeing your son hit. My son is 15 5'2" and 105lbs. so you can see that he is very small for his age. He works very hard on appling the rotational mechanics he learned from me and Jacks system. He currently swings a 32in. 29oz. bat and his current batting avg. is .570 on an 18U team and he hits with decent power(he hasn't left the yard yet but he has hit the fence). I'm not telling you this to brag about my son(well maybe a little, I'm very proud of him) I'm telling you this so you will know that rotational mechanics will help any hitter.

Back to your question. Your sons hitting probably improved when he went to the smaller bat because of his mechanics. In my last answer I mentioned that he was probably throwing the knob at the ball. Changing to a smaller bat allowed him to force the barrel down easier. Our wrists and forearms can only do so much. I personally don't see why he couldn't swing the bigger bat, with the proper mechanics, and gain bat speed. I guess what I'm saying is the bat size is not the problem, either bat is fine, whichever bat he is comfortable with.

Things that helped my son;
Every coach he had besides me would tell him to keep his front shoulder closed and drive with his back side. The problem with that is you end up lunging forward onto your front leg and you are just pushing the bat toward the pitcher(no bat speed)

Remedy: get your son to pull with his front side at the same rate of speed as he pushes around with his back side. His front hip and shoulder should be pulled back in a circular path towards the catcher.

A drill I do with my son is the one hand drill. I have a one hand bat but you can use a small little league bat for the drill. Have your son get in his batting stance with just his bottom hand on the bat and have him swing the bat with his arm as straight as he can get it, with an emphasis on pulling around with the front shoulder towards the catcher. He needs to make sure that he rotates his hips and shoulders around a stationary axis(his spine). He needs to be relaxed. Note: his upper body will lean out over the plate which is fine we don't want him straight up and down. Notice the path of the barrel it will be in a circular path, first back towards the catcher and then around into the hitting zone. The bat should stay on a the same plain as the lead arm. It is this relaxed motion we want to obtain when hitting. Next soft toss some balls to him and let him hit with just the lead arm. The hand of the lead arm should not be trying to minipulate the angle of the bat.

Next drill:

Soft toss to your son with him using both hands on his bat. Always start with dry swings first, then move to soft toss. As he loads back have him pull his top hands thumb towards his back shoulder, elbow up, and try to keep it there as he starts to initiate his swing. As his front foot lands you will see his back elbow start to drop and the barrel will start to loop back towards the catcher. His hips should start their rotation and then his shoulders should also start rotation slightly behind his hips. If he is pulling around with his front shoulder and keeping his thumb on his back shoulder you will see the bat accelerate around to the catcher and then around through the hitting zone. Have him go slow at first, maybe with a lighter bat, so he can see what it fells like to let the bat go through this circular path.

Just remember if you rotate around your spine you will generate a lot of effortless bat speed. The bat weighs to much for us to control with our wrists(especially when we are swinging it) so the bat will go where it wants to. So get your front shoulder and arm on the same plain as the ball. Rotate around the stationary axis and help the natural path of the bat to generate maximum bat speed and see how much harder your son will hit the ball.

I hope I didn't ramble and that I wasn't to confusing. It is hard to explain using only words.

Good luck,
Graylon