How To Improve Bat Speed & Increase Power Using Drills Like Lou Gehrig

Learn how to improve bat speed and increase hitting power using baseball or softball drills to look like Lou Gehrig on YouTube.

Here Is A Predictable Swing Method That Helped Lou Gehrig Hit For Both Power & Average…

 

 

Lou Gehrig quote

You coaches (and Lou Gehrig or “vintage swing” fans) are in for a treat.  I wanted to REVISIT a video I published on YouTube on Jun 11, 2013 for SwingSmarter.com, that broke down the swing of Lou Gehrig,

And compared his swing to the Olympic World Record Holder of the Hammer Throw Yuriy Sedykh, from the Soviet Union, who threw 86.74 m (284 ft 634 in) at the 1986 European Athletics Championships in Stuttgart, West Germany on 30 August…according to Wikipedia.

Specifically in the video, I compare the following human movement principles between the two explosive athletes:

I’ve gone into these at length in the linked to HPL posts, so you can click on those to get up to speed.  But, what I wanted to do in this post was add a couple things I’ve stumbled on since doing the Lou Gehrig video in 2013.  I want you to look out for the following things in the ‘no-shirt’ swing section of the above Lou Gehrig video:

  • Lou Gehrig’s top hand finger pressure (bottom three fingers),
  • Watch for Lou Gehrig’s ’rounded upper back’ (I call this the hunched posture),
  • Check out Gehrig’s head position at impact (notice how he’s strictly adhering to the One Joint Rule, unlike Bryce Harper and Andrew McCutchen)

And lastly, notice how World Record holding Hammer Thrower Yuriy Sedykh uses his head to guide his body just before the throw.

Does the Head Follow the Body or the Other Way Around?

What Yuriy is doing during his throw is VERY similar to how competitive freestyle Motocross bikers get their body to do what they want it to do, while flying through mid-air:

 

 

  • When they do a back-flip, they initiate by rocking their head back…
  • When they do a front flip, they initiate by tucking their chin to their chest…and
  • When they do a twist, they initiate by looking in the direction they want to go.

What are you Seeing in Lou Gehrig’s Swing that Allows him to Hit for both Power and Average?

Increase Your Bat Speed & Power with Online Hitting Lessons Swing Science Program For Baseball

Discover an online hitting lessons swing science program for baseball and softball players.  Learn where to find a remote hitting instruction coach to teach kids how to increase bat speed and power.

Batting Cages May Be Dangerous To Repeatable Power

 

 

Batting Cages May Be Dangerous To Repeatable Power

“Testimonial” from Kyle – Stephen’s dad – the same night (he’s in white, I’m in blue)

I know you what you’re thinking, “Okay, so what’s wrong with hitting at the batting cages?”

We’ll get to that, but before we do, let me set the stage for what I’m about to share with you.  A glimpse into an online hitting lesson I gave to my hitter Stephen at The Feedback Lab.

I was granted permission from Kyle (Stephen’s dad), to share his 12-year-old son’s latest online hitting session with me.  They’re out of New Jersey…

 

What Was To Be Corrected

  • Hiding his hands from the pitcher
  • “Downhill” shoulder angle pre-turn, and
  • Maintaining 90-degree back leg angle during turn and finish.

Stephen 2-Months Later…

In the above video, I mentioned the difference between comparing a swing off the tee versus at the batting cages.  It’s not really an apples to apples comparison, BUT if they can repeat what we’re trying to get them to do off a tee, then the feeling to repeat it is there.  Here’s what his analysis showed:

  • Great downhill shoulder angle,
  • Much better with hiding his hands from the pitcher (could polish a little here), and
  • Much better body angle on his finish.

 

3-Points Worth Noting…

  1. Dad had mentioned to me, in the past 2-months, that they’ve been testing hand, butt, and hamstring tension, which might have also had an effect on Stephen’s outcomes.
  2. Stephen will be working on a better barrel launch angle using variance training mentioned in the above video.  Pay attention to the Bat Angle Experiment I referenced in the video.
  3. I give feedback based on Tony LaRussa’s “Pat & Pop Method”.  First give a “pat” on the back (what they did or are doing well), then reveal the “pop” (what they’ll be working to improve their swing).

Coaches, this is critical!!  Athletes don’t just need to be broken down all the time.  Build them up first, then offer up the constructive criticism.

 

The Danger in Batting Cages

And I’m not talking about Happy Gilmore style…

 

Someone smart once said:

“Practice like you play, so you play like you practice.”

Most coaches have their players do what’s referred to as “massed practice” versus “training ugly” at the batting cages.  For example, if you needed work on hitting off speed and breaking pitches, a massed practice would look like the following scenario…a pitcher throws each hitter:

  • 15 fastballs, then
  • 15 curve-balls, and
  • Lastly 15 change-ups…

But this isn’t what it’s like in the game.  The hitter rarely knows, with 100% certainty, which pitch, speed, and location they’re getting.  So practice MUST reflect this dynamic in training.  And hitting at the batting cages limits the amount of variance we can work into our practice.

I do a few things with my more advanced hitters (mechanically speaking), to mix things up:

We may not practice all these at once.  Coaches, our objective with our hitters is to move them to the verge of “meltdown” with variance.  Then bring them back.  Then rebuild.  The other thing is, during batting practice, the tendency is to take rounds of 10, 20, and 30+ to get a hitter’s timing and rhythm down.  This IS NOT good.  This is marathon training.  Hitting is more like sprint training.  Rounds of 3-6 swings is more like it – with 30+ seconds to rest between rounds.

I hope this helps!

Fixes for Low Half Stride Load Swing Technique Drills in Baseball and Softball

Learn how to fix the lower half stride load swing technique including drills for baseball and softball players.

Alex Gordon Swing Analysis Experiment: Top Out Bat Speed By Striding Closed?

 

Question: Does Striding Front Leg Closed Increase OR Decrease Bat Speed?

I was taught my whole playing career to stride front foot closed.  Using the Zepp (Labs) Baseball app, I wanted to use the Scientific Method to analyze whether striding with the front leg closed will have a positive or negative effect on bat speed.

Background Research

Here are a couple posts to further your understanding of spinal engine mechanics, as we move to discover what effect striding with a closed front leg will ultimately have on bat speed…

Also, CLICK HERE to watch this video from ZenoLink’s Chris Welch on stride principles.

Hypothesis

Based primarily on my research and study of Dr. Serge Gracovetsky’s book The Spinal Engine, I believe landing with an open front leg – like Alex Gordon – will result in increased bat speed and farther batted ball distance.  Landing closed with the front leg – like Kansas City Royals catcher Salvador Perez (who popped out to end the 2014 World Series) – will result in an inefficiency to hitting inside and high pitches.  And will allow other compensations to occur such as rolling over, pulling the head, and the front shoulder flying open.

Alex Gordon: Striding Open/Closed Experiment

Equipment Used:

  • Zepp Baseball app,
  • ATEC Tuffy Batting Tee,
  • Bownet,
  • Rawlings Official NCAA Baseballs,
  • Two yellow dimple baseballs (feedback markers),
  • Flip Video Camera and Tripod, and
  • 33 inch, 30 ounce Pinnacle Bamboo bat.

Setup:

  • Yellow dimple ball feedback markers = my bat length, plus two baseballs
  • Distance from plate = end of the bat touching inside corner of plate, and knob of bat touching my mid-thigh
  • Tee was set one baseball’s length behind the front feedback marker, and tee height was about mid-thigh
  • Forward momentum was eliminated in this experiment, and I hit from a 1-2 second pause at landing
  • First 100 baseballs hit I was striding with a CLOSED front leg
  • Last 100 baseballs hit I was striding with an OPEN front leg
  • There was about 15-30 minute break between both Alex Gordon & Salvador Perez Experiments

Data Collected (Zepp Baseball App):

Alex Gordon: Top Out Bat Speed By Striding Open?

First 100 balls (striding CLOSED), last 100 balls (striding OPEN)

Data Analysis & Conclusion

Observations from the Zepp Baseball app screen capture above:

  • Striding OPEN added 1-mph of bat speed on average
  • Interestingly, striding CLOSED added 0.024 “Time To Impact” on average

Not much change there…but the devil’s in the details…

Alex Gordon Closed/Open Stride Experiment

Breakdown of Alex Gordon Striding Closed Experiment (swings & bat speed)

  • Striding CLOSED shifted bat speed downstream into the [< 69] to [70-74-mph] ranges
  • Striding OPEN shifted bat speed upstream into the [75-79] to [80+ mph] ranges
  • Striding CLOSED top out bat speed was 81-mph…80-mph (once) and 81-mph (twice)
  • Striding OPEN top out bat speed was 83-mph…80-mph (6-times), 81-mph (3-times), 82-mph (3-times), & 83-mph (once)

 

Notes

Alex Gordon: Top Out Bat Speed By Striding Closed?

Salvador Perez never had a chance striding closed against Madison Bumgarner photo courtesy: MLB.com

  • Striding open with the front leg definitely increased top out bat speed (83-mph v. 81-mph).
  • There was a better chance to maintain higher bat speeds with striding open.
  • During the Alex Gordon Experiment, when striding front leg open, my front foot was at a 45-70 degree angle.
  • I also felt that I had an easier time accelerating the barrel down (towards catcher’s glove) when my stride leg was open, which helped keep my bat speed more consistent.  I felt like I had to pull across my body (or chop down) striding with a closed front leg, which made my bat speed more erratic during the first part of the Experiment.
  • I purposely eliminated forward momentum from the Experiment because I wanted to isolate how much striding closed took away from bat speed.  In addition, I wanted to preserve accuracy in execution with the two different mechanical scenarios.

 

The Bottom Line?

Spinal engine mechanics drive all human movement, according to Dr. Serge Gracovetsky.  When we do things to hinder efficient spinal engine mechanics, reciprocal inhibition takes over depressing a hitter’s ability to maintain higher bat speeds over longer periods.  In addition, striding with a closed front leg will cause a hitter to be inefficient getting to inside and higher pitches.  A great number of coaches teach hitters to stride with the “front foot closed”.  This is the very reason the following compensations occur that these coaches waste their time trying to correct!!

  • Front shoulder flying open,
  • Head pulling out, and
  • A shorter hand and barrel path to the ball, resulting in the
  • Barrel having limited time on the plane of the pitch, which increases mis-hits and strikeouts.

This is why I think Salvador Perez had a hard time handling Madison Bumgarner.  MadBum kept busting him up and in.  Because Salvador Perez strides closed I believe this stunted his chances of knocking in Alex Gordon from third at the end of the game.

See Ball Better & Improve Your Swing! | Watch Mike Trout's Swing Breakdown

Discover how to see the ball better with batting examples from this Mike Trout swing analysis.  Learn keep eye on the ball drills and head position in and still baseball or softball hitting tips for kids.

Mike Trout Video: Why Consistency Won’t Improve

 

 

Mike Trout: 3 Reasons Why Consistency Won't Improve

Posted to Hitting Performance Lab’s Facebook page…

…This three-part video series will analyze how to optimize vision, tracking, and timing.  This Part-1 video, featuring Mike Trout, will be unwrapping how the best mechanics in the world mean nothing without proper vision.  In this game, we live and die by how consistent we are.

In this post, we’ll go over:

  • Physically impossible to keep eyes on the ball,
  • How much and when head movement is okay, and
  • Building consistency with vision.

CLICK HERE for an interesting academic study on six elite female shot putters.  Results found head movement during rotation can influence the movements of the limbs and trunk.

Physically Impossible to Keep Eyes on the Ball

In a study by A. Terry Bahill, titled “Baseball Players Cannot Keep Their Eyes on the Ball”, his findings say this:

“We have shown that no one could keep his eye continuously on the ball as it flies from the pitcher to the plate.  For our professional athlete, the ball was always more than 2-degrees off his fovea before it came within 5-ft of the plate.  However, when the ball is off your fovea, you can still see with peripheral vision.  However, with peripheral vision, the ball would only appear as a white blur, you would not see details.”

The finding that was most interesting in the study, using University students as a control for the study, was:

“Most of our student subjects tracked the ball with either head movements alone or eye movements alone, but not both…After the ball crossed the plate, the students usually made large eye or head movements, whereas the gaze of the professional athlete was quite steady…The stance of our professional athlete was very repeatable.  At the beginning of the pitch, his head position was the same (within 1-degree) for each of the three experimental pitches we recorded.  When he was looking at the ball in the beginning of the experiment, his eyes were rotated 22-degrees to the left; his head was rotated left 65-degrees (yaw), was bowed down 23-degrees (pitch), and was tilted right 12-degrees (roll).”

The professional hitter in the study was right handed.

What’s interesting with hitters like Mike Trout, is that they have to use a bit of head and eye movement when tracking the incoming pitch.  Not one or the other. However, nobody on earth, EVER, has been proven to keep both eyes on a pitched ball continuously to home plate.

In the study, A. Terry Bahill said, in order to do that, the ball would have to be traveling at around 25-mph, in which case, it would NEVER reach home plate in softball or baseball.

 

How Much and When Head Movement is Okay

Olympic throwers move their heads forward (including Javelin, Discus, and Hammer).  Lacrosse players do too.  And so do Pitchers!

For a hitter like Mike Trout, forward head movement, dropping the “eye-line”,  are okay…until landing.  I say, get head movement out of the way early.  Mike Trout does strikeout quite a bit, which may be attributed to the dropping eye line.

The hitter told to “Sit back”, keeps the head still early, but moves it after the landing position and during the Final Turn.  This is not good for improving consistency.

 

Building Vision Consistency like Mike Trout

How-to improve consistency with vision:

  • Understand the swing is a “snapping towel” (forward first, then back),
  • Keep head in-line with spine,
  • Use the study finding parameters above, to know how much head and eye movement keeps consistency, and
  • Maintain a moderate swing tempo and relax the jaw (not over-swinging).

CLICK HERE for the Josh Hamilton Part-2 Video: Coaches Don’t Tell You This (About Timing)…

Faster Bat Speed Hitting Training Drills For Youth Baseball & Softball Power | Ted Williams & Matt Kemp Swing Analysis Breakdown

Learn how to get faster bat speed with these hitting training drills for more youth baseball and softball power.  Discover the increase bat speed secret in this Ted Williams and Matt Kemp swing analysis breakdown.

Matt Kemp: Unique Ted Williams Power Secret

 

 

Imagine if I asked you to take a ride in my 2-year-old son’s favorite sports car and ultimate luxury vehicle, the Lamborghini Aventador…cherry red.

Costs about $400K, has 720 horse-power, and goes zero to sixty-mph in 2.8 seconds.  I’m drooling just thinking about it.  What if I also told you it had no brakes.  The manufacturer just “forgot” to install them.  If you know I have a lead foot, then would you still want a ride?

I tell my hitters that someone like Matt Kemp or Ted Williams are using both rotational and anti-rotational systems during the swing.

Think of them as acceleration and braking systems, and both are important to a friction-free swing.  Our focus today will be optimizing these systems during the stroke.  We’re going to highlight:

  • The science of accelerating & braking systems,
  • Matt Kemp & Ted Williams (who has the more efficient braking system?)
  • How to tune-up your acceleration & braking system.

The Science of Accelerating & Braking Systems

Thomas Myers in his book Anatomy Trains talks about 9 different fascial lines found throughout the body that inter-weave and inter-relate during human movement.  We’ll be highlighting one in particular called the Functional Lines (pictured right).  CLICK HERE for a brief background on springy fascia.

Thomas Myers says that Functional Lines mainly come into play in the following athletic events:

  • Shot Put, Javelin, Discus, and Hammer Throws,
  • Tennis,
  • Golf, and of course
  • For hitters like Matt Kemp & Ted Williams

Thomas Myers says,

“These lines enable us to give extra power and precision to the movements of the limbs by lengthening their lever arm through linking them across the body to the opposite limb in the other girdle.”

Imagine a big “X” painted on your chest and back, connecting the right shoulder to the left hip, and vice versa.  Thomas Myers refers to them as Front Functional Lines (FFL) & Back Functional Lines (BFL).  He uses a couple different examples to illustrate the braking system in action:

“Pitching a baseball or bowling a cricket are perfect ways to engage these lines: the wind-up involves a shortening of the BFL and a stretching of the FFL, while the pitch itself reverses that process, shortening the FFL and stretching the BFL.  In the final act, the BFL acts as a brake to keep the strong contraction along the FFL and the momentum of the arm from going too far and damaging joints involved in the movement.”

You still following me?  It’s okay if not.  We’ll simplify in the next section…

 

Matt Kemp & Ted Williams (who has the more effective braking system?)

I want to compare Matt Kemp to Ted Williams because they have similar body types, according to Baseball-Reference.com:

Simplifying the acceleration/braking systems, we can just follow the front shoulder to see who is being more efficient with their Functional Lines.  Consider Ted Williams:

Ted Williams front shoulder path

Follow yellow arrows tracking Ted Williams’s front (right) shoulder path…photo left to right: 1) Down, 2) Up, and 3) Down again.

Now, check out the difference with Matt Kemp:

Matt Kemp front shoulder path

Follow yellow arrows tracking Matt Kemp’s front (left) shoulder path…photo left to right: 1) Slightly Down, 2) Up, and 3) Up again.

That’s right, Matt Kemp finishes with his left shoulder up!  Not convinced?   Check out the photo of his finish at the beginning of this post.  He’s not being very efficient with his braking system.  Matt Kemp is leaving repeatable power on the table (which is scary!)…to polish, he’d have to:

  • Get more downhill shoulder angle before landing,
  • Show more of his numbers to the pitcher, and
  • Focus on finishing “barrel down” with his top hand release.

 

 How-to Tune-Up Your Acceleration & Braking Systems

There are a couple quick exercises and stretches that Thomas Myers recommends to tune-up both Functional Lines:

  1. Engage BFL (Alternating Supermans) – 2 sets X 12 reps each side.  Focus on moving the body as a whole.  Arm and leg are to be lifted at exactly same time.  Head stays in line with spine.  Don’t arch head back like in video.
  2. Engage FFL (Alternating Supermans) – same as #1, but do Alternating Supermans on your back.
  3. Stretch BFL (Triangle Yoga Pose) – Hold position on each side for a deep breath count of 5-10.
  4. Stretch FFL (1/2 Kneeling Hip Flexor Stretch w/ Rotation) – hold position on each side for about 60-seconds.  Keep the abs and “down knee” glute contracted during stretch.

Do the above four 1-2 times daily for 3-weeks.

Discover the best online youth hitting coaching blog for baseball and softball analysis, instruction, and private lessons program. Why the best? Because we apply human movement principles validated by science to hitting a ball.

Discover the best online youth hitting coaching blog for baseball and softball analysis, instruction, and private lessons program.  Why the best? Because we apply human movement principles validated by science to hitting a ball.

How To Get Hitters To Buy Into The System

 

 

In this video, we answer the following reader question:

“How Do You Get Kids To Buy Into These Movements When Every Hitting Instructor In The Area Is Teaching Robotic, Sequential Hitting Positions?”

We’ll go over:

  • Hypnosis: GOOD or BAD?
  • Internal v. external cues, and
  • Listing successful case studies…

But before we get into these, some housecleaning, and the elephant in the room…any new hitting movement a hitter learns, regardless of the content, will look robotic and mechanical, until they’ve put enough repetitions in.  For kids to ‘buy into’ the process, they must understand this.  For instance, if I taught a hitter to reverse their hands on the bat (ex. right handed batter – right hand on bottom, left hand on top), it would feel real awkward at first, but after 66 days of constant practice, it would feel comfortable.

Imagine what it would be like if you experimented with switching up how to steer a bike:

 

 

The initial learning process for young hitters may look, sound, and/or feel like this.  I tell my hitters that we take one step back, to take two forward when learning a new hitting mechanic.  Arnold Schwarzenegger outlines his path to making the unreal, REAL, in his book Total Recall:

  1.  Goals,
  2. Steps, and
  3. Reps.

Whether Arnold was talking about how he won Mr. Olympia, prepping for a movie like Terminator 2, or being Governor of California, he stuck to these three objectives.  Setting specific GOALS, with a timeline, and focusing on the things that athlete can control are crucial.

Where girls softball hitting tips start to get fuzzy is whether these hitters are being shown the right STEPS to get there.  Or as Tony Robbins calls it, the most effective ‘pathway to power’.  In other words, are they focused on learning the right things?  What are the ‘right’ things?

Are the hitting movements they’re learning following human movement principles that are validated by science?

When the right things are being taught, doubts seldom rise in the minds of my hitters.  PLEASE NOTE: we’re NOT talking about girls softball hitting tips philosophy or theory here.  Our hitters MUST live and die by a better and more secure hitting standard.  Validation through REAL science.  NOT pseudo science that is subjective, versus being objective.

And lastly, are hitters focused on doing those things right (efficiency – putting in the REPS).  Now, let’s dive into the main content of this girls softball hitting tips post…

 

Hypnosis: GOOD or BAD?

Hitters MUST NOT work with instructors that are teaching ineffective mechanics, technique that’s unsupported by science.  PERIOD.  Or they’re wasting their time and their parent’s money.

If we rule out the instructor, then most likely their school coach will be reinforcing ineffective hitting hypnosis.  How do we get kids to buy into the system?  What are some girls softball hitting tips and tactics to deal with this kind of scenario?

Give the hitter a heads up

They MUST know what they’ll be hearing at practice, and how it may be different than what an effective instructor is teaching, and most likely COMPLETELY backwards!!

Also, passively listening to the BAD hypnosis over time will manifest physically, even if the hitter knows it’s bad.  The more we hear the same message over and over, it’s only a matter of time before what’s subconscious, becomes conscious.  The fix?

The hitter MUST consciously hear what the coach is saying, and actively compartmentalize that information as ineffective in their brain.  Where there’s awareness, there’s power of control.

The ‘bobblehead nod’

Use this when coach is telling you to:

  • Swing down on the ball,
  • Chop down on the ball, or
  • Knob to the ball…

Then you nod your head up and down, saying “Yes Coach”.  And when they leave your presence, go back to what an effective swing path should look like.

Preach Science, NOT hitting theories

Other ways to reinforce GOOD hypnosis is to preach how the movements they’re learning are validated by human movement science.  Promote curious experimentation with specific hitting movements.  Cite hitting experiments.  Encourage hitters to try it the wrong way, then the right way, and have them compare their visual, auditory and/or feel feedback after 5 swings.

Inspire your hitters to seek out specific hitters on YouTube like McCutchen, Pedroia, Sadaharu Oh, Hank Aaron, Bautista, and Donaldson, and encourage them to look for what it is you’re teaching them.

You can also do movement tests like Dr. Kelly Starrett’s One-Joint Rule from one of the links above.

Internal v. External Cues

There seem to be two groups of coaches online…ones who believe effective teaching is using 100% external cues…and the other? Using 100% internal cues!  Both are wrong.  It’s a blend.  Just like the swing is either rotational or linear…it’s a blend.  Just like superior athletes are either born with it or work at it…this too is a blend.  And if someone tells you otherwise, they’re lying to you.  And probably not teaching the game on a consistent basis.

That being said, sticky coaching cues are key to getting kids to buy into the system.

When you sink the blade of an ax into a block of wood, are you thinking about keeping your right arm at X-degree angle, or slotting your back elbow?

No.

You’re thinking of taking that handled ‘blade thing’ in your hand, and splitting that ‘wooden thing’, sitting on a platform in front of your feet, in half.

Talking about  limb angles and back elbows slotting as girls softball hitting tips are internal cues…and can, with the right coaching cues, be effective.

But not quite as effective as external cues such as:

  • ‘Get shorter’ at landing or ‘stay shorter’ throughout the turn,
  • ‘Let the barrel chase the ball’ after impact,
  • ‘Hit the bottom half of the ball’, or
  • ‘Skip the barrel across the lake’.

I like to use external cues to kill 2, 3, or 4 birds with one stone.  I call it the “lazy” coaches way to success, again, I use these myself.  However, if I need to target specific movements and external isn’t working, I go internal.  This does require knowledge about human movement validated by science, which I’ve found some coaches don’t want to take the time to learn.  Additionally, it can depend entirely on the hitter and their learning style.  CLICK HERE to read what science says about this in a post I did titled, “What Every Coach MUST Know About Giving Feedback To Hitters…”

 

Girls Softball Hitting Tips – Listing Successful Case Studies…

Girls Softball Hitting Tips: Liam Wolf

Liam Wolf is one of my 11u hitters. Photo courtesy: his parents.

Successful case studies are the lifeblood of getting your hitters to buy into the system.  These can be your own, or borrowed from someone else.

These are powerful for young hitters.

Remember the time when your kids were learning how to swim?

Did they learn better watching adults swim OR when they saw kids their own age or slightly younger/older swimming?

Here is a current list of my case studies I often bring up to my hitters:

  1. 98-lb 11yo hitting the ball 300-feet, multiple times
  2. 95-pounder hitting their first dinger over 270-feet? (this is actually the brother of the above hitter but 2 years younger)
  3. 115-lb 11yo not only hitting the ball 300-feet multiple times, but hitting over 40 homers in one season…to ALL fields
  4. 66-lb 11yo hitting the ball over 180-feet, AND
  5. a 115-lb 13yo hitting the ball 330-feet (this one I borrowed from a hitting instructor in my area that teaches the same things as I do)…

Here’s video footage of #1 above (which was hit on a field in Manteca where the fences were set at 330-feet):

 

 

And I have many more, but these are the easiest to rattle off without having to give too much context.  If you don’t have any, then feel free to borrow mine, just please give credit where credit is do.

To recap…

Girls softball hitting tips to get your kids to buy into the system:

  • They MUST hear GOOD hitting hypnosis,
  • They MUST hear sticky coaching cues, and
  • They MUST hear this stuff working with hitters close to their age.
Hitting Training For Baseball & Softball Swing Trainers | Hitting Performance Lab

Discover how to fix bat drag with these hitting drills.  Learn 3 tips to avoiding bat drag for baseball and softball beginners.

Never Suffer From Bat Drag Again

Here are the TOP-3 blog posts in 2014 on fixing bat drag, based on my Google Analytic Metrics, that are still relevant today!  The top-3 were:

Hitting Training For Baseball & Softball Swing Trainers | Hitting Performance Lab

One of my High School hitters Keenan, using the Swing Blaster to ADD more barrel on the plane of the pitch (swings are synced).

  1. Baseball Training Aids: Long Slow Swing Fix?,
  2. Josh Donaldson: Stay CLOSED & Add Ball Exit Speed, and
  3. Youth Baseball Online ALERT: Hitting Fix For Bat Drag

PLEASE NOTE that along long the bat drag lines, I recently tapped into my readers’ knowledge-base with this article titled, Hitting Tips To Boost Barrel Time On Pitch-Plane, that offered up some handy gold nuggets for correcting bat drag.  There almost 30 comments!  So go check it out and get involved in the discussion.

To refresh your BEST-of 2014, let’s recap by hitching a ride in my time baseball and softball hitting machine…

Baseball Training Aids: Long Slow Swing Fix?

Speed Hitter Review

SpeedHitter promo featuring Tampa Bay Rays hitting coach Derek Shelton. Photo courtesy: Momentus Sports YouTube video

In this baseball online post, we talked about:

  • Speed Hitter baseball training aid review,
  • Barrel path science, and
  • A better alternative…

CLICK HERE for a 2-minute Swing Hitter demo video.  Momentus Sports promises the Speed Hitter will help a hitter achieve four ingredients all great hitters do (watch the video to see what they are).  When proven human movement science is applied to the Speed Hitter, it doesn’t deliver on any of the promises.

Unbeknownst to Momentus Sports, the question the Speed Hitter attempts to answer is, “When is the barrel suppose to accelerate?”  Is it at impact or before impact?  The answer is the latter, but the Speed Hitter’s focus is the former.  So, what better alternative is there?  The Swing Blaster.  Focus should be on hearing a clear audible “click” before impact, NOT at contact.

Post UPDATE: Click Here for an article on how barrel path changes based on pitch dept (e.g. middle-in versus middle-away pitch).

 

Josh Donaldson: Stay CLOSED & Add Ball Exit Speed

Josh Donaldson "staying closed" with this shoulders

Josh Donaldson “staying closed” with his shoulders at landing. Photo courtesy: MLB.com

In this baseball online video, we analyzed:

  • Josh Donaldson v. Jose Bautista metrics,
  • What “staying closed” means to spine engine mechanics, and
  • Where Josh Donaldson might be leaking force at impact.

How eerily similar Jose Bautista and Josh Donaldson’s body types AND swings are.  CLICK HERE to listen (start at the 1 min, 10 sec mark) to Josh Donaldson discuss how he modeled his swing after Jose Bautista.  This was an interview after being traded from Oakland to Toronto.  By the way, this post got some air time on Canada’s National Post!

In the above post, “staying closed” DOES NOT mean an inward turn of the hips – towards the catcher – to “load”.  It also has ZERO to do with striding with a closed front foot.  But what this baseball online BEST-of post does do, is go into the counter-rotation of the shoulders – versus the pelvis – during the fall.  Or what my hitters will tell you, “showing the pitcher their numbers.”

Upon analysis, it was interesting to note that Josh Donaldson didn’t commit his weight to his front side like Jose Bautista did.  And this led to inferior ball exit speeds and a lower average home-run distance because of an inefficiency to use Gravitational Forces.

 

Youth Baseball Online ALERT: Hitting Fix For Bat Drag

Baseball Online: Charles fixing his early arm bar

One of my local High School hitters Charles fixing an early arm bar.

In this baseball online post, we went over:

  • What is Bat Drag?
  • The science of Bat Drag (to hitting an unknown moving pitch), and
  • How-to fix Bat Drag.

Youth bat drag is causes mostly by over rotation of the upper and/or lower half.  It is NOT like what some coaches say, being caused by a dominant top hand or back arm, quite the opposite actually.  Bat drag can be caused by a weak and disconnected top hand and back arm.

This article I originally posted back in 2015, and blamed bat drag on a barred out-front arm.  I’ve since revised my position on this thanks to Perry Husband.  A barred out-front arm DOES NOT result in a long slow swing, an early barrel in the hitting zone does.  Specifically on pitches that are middle in.  For a refresher on how barrel path changes based on pitch depth, then click this post.

How To Improve Your Bat Speed & Power Hitting Mechanics with Francisco Lindor's Swing Breakdown

Discover faster bat speed drills to improve youth power hitting for baseball and softball mechanics.  Learn how in this Francisco Lindor swing breakdown…

Francisco Lindor Swing Breakdown

 

 

Hey, what’s going on? It’s Joey Myers from the Hitting Performance Lab.  In this Francisco Lindor swing breakdown video, we’re going to go over three different things…

  • The first thing we’re going to do is are going to look at his metrics according to fan graphs,
  • The next thing is the big three in the Catapult Loading System, and
  • And then the last thing we’re going to look at is when the wrist snap happens…

 

Francisco Lindor Swing Breakdown: the Metrics

Now, let’s take a look at some of the stats and give a little context to this Francisco Lindor swing breakdown. You can see he is a smaller hitter, smaller slugger, 5-foot, 11-inches, 190-pounds. He switch hits.

You can see down here in 2019, putting his power in perspective… He’s hit 32 homers in the last years prior, 38, 33. That was 2017. And the video analysis swings we’ll look at in this video are from 2017.  He’s hit about 40 doubles or so in those last three years or the last four years. 30 doubles in 2016, and hits about .284.

And if we look at his batted ball totals as in line drive percentage, ground ball percentage and fly ball percentage…line drive percentage in 2019 was just about average – 20 percent is league average – ground-ball rate is average, league average is 43%. Fly ball percentage is just slightly below average at 36.6%. Average is about 37%, but pretty close to league averages there.

The one thing that is above well above league average is his homerun to fly ball percentage, which is 17.4%. And you can see the prior year 17.3, then 14.0, then 9.9, and 13.0 are all well above average on the 9 or 9.5% of homerun to fly ball ratios as the major league average.

So let’s start with the big three in the Catapult Loading System in this Francisco Lindor swing breakdown. You have the lefty at bat over here and the righty at bat over here. Let’s give a little context to these pitches in the at bats. This is the second one over here.

We’re going to look at the pitch speed, 88-mph. Some kind of breaking ball, maybe a slider, and this one he hit for home run into the right field bleachers or right center field bleachers, over here on the right his righty at bat.

He’s a little bit out in front. We have a 79-mph, probably a slider here. That he pulls in the five and a half hole.

The Big-3: Catapult Loading System

OK, so what I referred to as the big three and the Catapult Loading System is the build more consistent power in a swing. There are three buckets. Two, our systems, the different systems we teach, that’s one of them.

The second one is the pitch plane domination system. And that’s all about how to hit more line drives and the reaction time mastery system, which is all about footwork, vision, tracking and timing.

This Francisco Lindor swing breakdown video, we’re going to be going over the first system, the power systems, the Catapult Loading System. I refer to the big three as “showing numbers”, “downward shoulder angle”, and “hiding the hands”.

What you’re going to see here, I have both of these swings synced up, on the left, the homer, on the right, the ball that he was a little bit out in front he pulled into the five and a half hole for a ground ball base hit.

“Showing Numbers”

You can see that if we rewind to the beginning. And just so you know, the camera angle in center field is slightly off center towards the left or left center. It’s in center, but slightly towards left. And that is going to show any kind of right-handed batter as showing their numbers more than the left. So just understand that this isn’t a complete apple to apples comparison, but you’ll still see the difference in their starting positions and their landing positions.

You can see here, you can’t see Francisco Lindor’s number really on the left, and you can start to make it out a little bit here on the right. Again, probably because of off centered camera in center field.

As the pitcher starts to get into the windup, gets ready to release the ball, you can start to see over here on the right … again, with our camera angle, you can see that #12, pretty clear as day at this point.

And what I want you to do is, again, with that skew with the camera, watch the pinstripe. If we put a dot in these spots, as you’ll see Lindor pull in more with the pelvis almost similar to the Javier Baez swing analysis that I did a few weeks ago, you saw Baez extremely turn that pelvis in. And my argument is that we don’t have to do that…

See here that that pinstripe you can’t see any more on the right side, but on the left side you can still see it. Again, we get a skewed camera angle, but it didn’t move quite as much on the left as it did on the right. So, this is something that Lindor actually doesn’t have to do and might be closing himself off just slightly. But nonetheless, you can see you can pretty much make out almost the full one in the two.

I used to teach showing numbers as showing both numbers are showing at least a number and a half, evolved it more to where we want to create neck pressure. If we create neck pressure, then the hitter should be showing their numbers. It’s more of an objective measure of showing numbers because every hitter is different. Their mobility in their neck is different.

In this Francisco Lindor swing breakdown, you can see his head really anchoring down for it in a tracking position and he’s moving his shoulder underneath his chin as far as he can, creating a wringing towel effect between his head and his shoulders. And he’s creating this neck pressure at the T1/C7 vertebrae in the spine, just like wringing a towel out. And he’s creating that neck pressure, which as a result will show his numbers.

And also, could be on the right side since he possibly is inward turning his pelvis a little bit more. It could be why he’s shown his numbers a little bit more besides the camera angle. So that is the first of the big three, showing numbers or creating neck pressure.

“Downhill Shoulders”

The second of the big three is the downhill or downward shoulder angle. It’s the hitter dipping their front shoulder down, creating this downhill shoulder angle that you can see with this back elbow in this Francisco Lindor swing breakdown. You can see his back elbow, if you create this line, not quite as much over here on the right, he doesn’t raise that elbow quite as much as on the left.

And granted, too… If you look at his at bats in fan graphs, he has a lot more at bats, probably 60 plus percent more on the left than he does on the right because he’s seeing probably more righties than he is lefty pitchers. So, you can see he’s probably little bit more grooved on the left anyway. And his power numbers show it. He’s got plenty of more homers on the left than he does on the right. But again, that reflects the amount of plate appearances as well.

He has this downward shoulder angle on the right. He’s not using his back elbow as much. We do use back elbow with the hitters to steer the shoulders down, but not all hitters will click with that. We’ll just tell those hitters that they seem to for telling him to raise the back shoulder at landing. Then what tends to happen is their hands start to balloon up and rise up. We don’t want the hands to get up past a certain height. We want to make sure that their hands are in it in a decent, more comfortable position around the shoulder height – back shoulder height to be able to launch from.

So, if the hitter is having a hard time by bringing that back elbow up, like you see Francisco Lindor over here on the left, then what we’ll tell the hitter to do is just lower the front shoulder.

He’s creating neck pressure, which is showing the number, this is a protraction of the front scapula for you movement nerds out there, you kinesiology nerds out there, and he is creating this downward shoulder angle so that his shoulders can actually flip.

You’ll see the front shoulder pop up in the back shoulder that’s up will go down as he gets to the swing here. You see a complete reversal of that. And we should see in the follow through, we should see a complete reversal again back to almost where his right shoulder on the left over here.

So this front one ends up, starts down, pops up, and then should end up back down again over the other shoulder. And the reverse is true. Over here on the right, we see the left shoulder start down, pops up, and then it should end up back down again, which you see here. That is a proper deceleration of the spinal engine.

“Hiding Hands”

The last piece of the big three is hiding the hands from the pitcher. So you can see the hands here from the left. You can see slightly the bottom hand on the right. And then you’re going to see those hands disappear. You’ll see them reappear back behind his head, on the right, on the left, not quite so much. You see them disappear behind his head. But again, we’re talking about a different camera angle here.

And some call this the scapula row or a rear scalp retraction for the kinesiology nerds back there.  We should see both a protraction of the front scapula, which is showing the numbers/neck pressure.

And we should also see a retraction of the rear scapula. We see both. We do not, especially in hitters like Lindor, who are 5’11”, 190 pounds. We do not see the ones that hit for power anyway. We do not see them only retracting the rear scapula and not showing their numbers, or not using neck pressure. We see both.

It is very hard for a hitter the size of Francisco Lindor to hit 30 homers a year for the last three or four years, without showing numbers and just doing the rear scapula retraction.

Not going to happen.

So those are the big three as it is to the Catapult Loading System, showing numbers, downhill shoulder angle, and hiding the hands. Now let’s check out the wrist snap…

 

Wrist Snap

A lot of young hitters, what they tend to do and there’s quite a few hitting instructors out there that are teaching this deep barrel dump and to “chicken wing” with the front elbow, 90-degree bend as it comes through impact.

The problem is, and this is what I’m seeing with both the hitting instructors and the hitters of the hitting instructors, and even in some of my hitters, as we train this out of their swing is, they create a lot of space between their front arm and their chest as they’re coming through.

You can see this was the pitch that was middle in that Francisco Lindor hit a homerun on to right. You can see how tight he keeps this barrel, and we talk about the belly button catcher’s glove

Imagine a catcher’s glove in line with the hitter’s belly button and a catcher’s glove in line with the hitters back foot. This is important when it comes to pitches middle in and middle up because we want to be knocking off those catcher’s gloves and not knocking off the real catcher’s glove was back here.

But you can see in this Francisco swing breakdown. You can see him, his barrel entering the attack zone at the back-foot catcher’s glove, he’s actually a little bit late here, he ends up speeding it up with his wrist snap.

But what you’re going to see is almost like there is a wall happening here… And he’s going to get to this wall… And his hands are going to stop moving forward.

What we see with young hitters is we’ll see these hands continue forward and they end up way out over here, chicken winging with the elbow and their arm, front arm drifting far away from their chest, which we don’t want to do if we want a proper transfer of body to barrel to ball force.

We’re going to see the best hitters will stop, their hands will stop moving forward at a certain point, which you see is right here. It’s like the hands hit a wall and we have a wall drill for this, a wall turn or a phone booth drill that we use to help the hitter out with this, plus a wrist snap position.

You see, as he releases into the back foot catcher’s glove, you’re going to see him pivot. Imagine a red laser coming out of the knob and you get a green laser coming out of the barrel of the bat. And we see at a point where he’ll flip it, he’ll flip the red laser for the green. But you see this wrist snapping. Some may call pronation.

As he gets through this ball and you’re going to see post impact … both arms get extended, full extension. Both arms. Power V. This isn’t the power V that was taught about a couple of decades ago to happen at impact, that’s not what we’re trying to do.

This is the power V that happens after impact, and with a proper transfer from body to barrel to ball we should see this passed impact.  But it uses a combination of the big three of the Catapult Loading System and the wrist snap. At one point, the knob has to stop moving forward linearly and has to let the wrist snap and pronate with the top hand.

Make sure that we’re swinging smarter by moving better … Like this video … Subscribe to our YouTube channel … and before I let you go…

Increase Bat Speed & Hit Balls Hard with This Online Hitting Lesson Program

Learn about this online baseball and softball hitting lesson program to increase bat speed.  Discover our remote swing analysis instruction coaching program teaching kiddos how to hit the ball with more power.  Check out this 9 year old Thomas case study…

To People That Want To Fix Baseball Swing Mechanics Slow Motion But Can’t Get Started

 

 

With permission from Dad, I wanted to share 9-year-old Thomas P.’s hitting journey after 12 baseball swing mechanics slow motion online video feedback sessions with me at The Feedback Lab.

We started session #1 January 18th, 2016, and finished session #12 June 2nd, 2016.  The video above is an actual Feedback Session I routinely do for my online hitting students.

I’m so proud of Thomas persevering through the struggle and frustration that comes with honing effective mechanics.

AND, the same can be said for Scot, his Dad, who’s persevered right alongside his son.  Not to mention how much Scot learned in the process…

  • How to train Thomas in these mechanics at home,
  • How to offer just the right amount of feedback, and
  • Finding out when too much is too much when it comes to learning a new skill.

In this video post, I wanted to share:

  • How far Thomas’s swing has come,
  • What he’s working on next, and
  • Some of the ‘Ah-Ha Moments’ for Thomas along the way…

The main objective of this post is to show parents what baseball swing mechanics slow motion online video feedback sessions look like at The Feedback Lab.  Not only do we accept baseball, but softball hitters as well!

PLEASE NOTE: Thomas is still on the journey, his swing isn’t perfectly clean yet.  This is only a 5-month snapshot of how far his swing has come.  Don’t judge his swing at this point in time, celebrate it!  Also, as you’ll find out, just because he moved away from a high leg kick, doesn’t mean I HATE high leg kicks.  It just wasn’t working for Thomas’s swing, timing-wise.

CLICK HERE to view and/or download Thomas’s custom “Marching Orders” PDF that I build for each of my hitters after each baseball swing mechanics slow motion feedback session.

 

How Far Thomas’s Swing has Come (in his 12 baseball swing mechanics slow motion feedback sessions)

I always like to use the ‘Pat & Pop Method’ when giving feedback to my hitters…’Pat’ is the pat on the back, and the ‘Pop’ is the pop in the mouth.

When I first started with Thomas, he had some good elements already working for him:

On the ‘Pop’ side of things, these were the mission critical things we had to begin tweaking:

  • Build stability in stance and setup,
  • Being better at swinging within the strike zone (plate discipline),
  • Calibrating solid rhythm and stride timing, and
  • Maximizing tension/compression forces within his small frame (racing back elbow bat drag).

I am confident to say that, over these past 5 months of baseball swing mechanics slow motion online video feedback sessions, Thomas has:

  • Built a more stable stance setup,
  • Developed a better sense of his strike zone (swinging at better pitches),
  • Gone away from his inconsistent leg kick timing to more of a slide step (he’s barreling the ball more often), and
  • Banished his racing back elbow bat drag (he’s been smashing the ball according to his Zepp sensor).

Here’s a quote from Dad talking about his jump in Bat Speed at Impact using the Zepp app…

“He started in mid 30’s, I would say his average is 46-47 now. He hits a very occasional speed of 50 when he puts it all together, which is seldom.”

What’s he’s Working on Next

Here are the polish points I included in Thomas’s current baseball swing mechanics slow motion video feedback session marching orders (CLICK HERE to download the PDF):

  1. Plate discipline,
  2. Being more balanced on his finish,
  3. Finger Pressure, and
  4. Letting the ‘barrel chase the ball’ post-impact.

#1 is a journey, and NEVER a destination.

With #2, it’s amazing how being ‘silent’ helps hitters be more efficient (CLICK HERE for this Breaking Muscle article on the ‘silent’ concept).

#3 because he’s still wanting to do top hand release way too early.  We’re working on keeping both hands on the bat into his finish now.  He’ll add another 2 to 4-mph of Ball Exit Speed by not letting go too early.

#4, he’s not letting his barrel naturally finish and extend on the pitch plane, which will cause him to be susceptible to missing off-speed and breaking balls.

 

Some of the ‘Ah-Ha Moments’ for Thomas Along the Way

Here are a few coaching moments I felt were turning points for Thomas (and Dad) as we moved through the baseball swing mechanics slow motion Feedback Lab online video lesson program:

  • At first, Scot (Thomas’s dad) was sending me video once per week, which I found – after about 6-weeks – wasn’t allowing Thomas enough time to practice the changes.  Once we moved to a video once every two weeks, Thomas’s swing started changing by leaps and bounds (and frequency here depends on the age, amount of practice, and level of the hitter).
  • Thomas is having a challenge to repeat his mechanics in games, so I shared this post with Scot, basically to only take 3-5 swing rounds, of which are high intensity swings, during practice sessions.
  • Shifting from having an swing outcome focus (what ball is doing off bat) versus a movement execution focus.  In the beginning, I tell my hitters I don’t care what the ball is doing off the bat…I care MORE about if they’re repeating the movements I want them to repeat.  In other words, if they swing and miss, but keep both hands on the bat through finish, with top hand finger pressure (in the case of Thomas), then that’s an “A” swing.
  • There were multiple times when both Thomas and Dad were frustrated with Thomas’s progress.  And it’s during this time when words of encouragement such as embracing the struggle, taking a day or two off from hitting, getting back to the hitting objectives in the Marching Orders, etc. are crucial.  The process gets overwhelming when we’re attempting to eat the elephant ALL AT ONCE.

I have quite a few other hitters online and off that are doing real well, and I let them know I’m VERY proud of them too, but I wanted to highlight Thomas’s story because most baseball swing mechanics slow motion video lesson cases on the bell curve look like his.  The story of ineptitude and woe…

But it DOES get better…IF the hitter puts in the work, and in the right direction.

It DOES NOT matter whether we’re talking girls v. boys, a 9yo v. a 21yo, a big hitter v. a smaller hitter.  The system works predictably.

Swing Smarter by Moving Better 😉

How To Hit Ball Better When Batting: Stop Striking Out Baseball & Softball Drills

Learn how to stop striking out with this baseball and softball drills to keep eyes on the ball, see it, and hit the ball better when batting.

Andrew McCutchen Hit Ball Better Swing Breakdown

 

 

…of the Do This For Longer Drives series, we’ll talk about:

  • Breaking the One-Joint Rule,
  • Whether Cutch is ‘kinking the hose’, and
  • How-To re-pattern the impact position.

 

Breaking the One-Joint Rule

From the book, Becoming a Supple Leopard: The Ultimate Guide to Resolving Pain, Preventing Injury, and Optimizing Athletic Performance, Dr. Kelly Starrett (KStar) says:

“The musculature [in the spine] is designed to create stiffness so that you can effectively transmit energy to the primary engines of your hips and shoulders.  If you don’t preserve trunk stiffness while moving from your hips and shoulders, you will lose power and force.    The is the basis for the one-joint rule: you should see flexion and extension movement happen at the hips and shoulders, not your spine.”

 

Is Cutch ‘Kinking the Hose’?

Just as kinking the hose while watering the lawn stops the flow of water.  Bending at the spine halts the transfer of energy at impact.  KStar says this about losing head-spine alignment:

“Hinging at one of the segments [vertebraes in the neck]…when we put a hinge across the central nervous system, the body recognizes that as a primary insult, or threat to the body, because you’re basically guillotining or kinking the nervous system.  You’ve kinked ‘the tube’, so it [force production] just drops off.”

 

How-To Re-Pattern the Impact Position

Follow this 12-week exercise progression (at least five days per week):

  • Super plank – week one: 1 set, hold for 30 secs, week two: 1 set, hold for 45 secs, week three: 2 sets, hold for 45 secs
  • Loaded super plank – week four: 2 sets, for 30 secs, week five: 2 sets, for 45 secs, week six: 2 sets, for 60 secs
  • Hip hinge with stick (patterning) – week seven: 2 sets X 12 reps, week eight: 2 sets X 15 reps, week nine: 3 sets X 12 reps
  • Loaded hip hinge (dead-lift) – week ten: 2 sets X 12 reps, week eleven: 2 sets X 15 reps, week twelve: 3 sets X 12 reps

Maintain head-spine alignment.  Perfect reps.  Use Coach’s Eye or Ubersense phone app (free) for feedback.   CLICK HERE for Part-4 for the #1 power fix…also, CLICK HERE if you missed Part-2: the faster turn.