Discover how to hit more line drives using swing bat path mechanics science to hitting on the plane of the pitch like Joey Votto.

How To Hit More Line Drives Swing Bat Path Mechanics Science To Hitting On Plane Like Joey Votto

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Discover how to hit more line drives using swing bat path mechanics science to hitting on the plane of the pitch like Joey Votto.

Baseball Swing Slow Motion Analysis Of Joey Votto

 

 

This is Part-2 of a 3-part baseball swing slow motion analysis video series coming straight out of the Pitch-Plane Dominator online video mini-course…

Hitting Training - Pitch-Plane Dominator

Sick of struggling to reduce your hitters ground balls, swing and miss strikeouts, and non-productive weak fly balls?  This simple 4-Step online video mini-course (7-modules total) will help hitters weighing less than 100-pounds, barrel the ball more consistently.  Dramatically decrease ground balls, strikeouts, and weak fly balls (no matter the pitch location or speed) by applying human movement rules validated by science.

If you haven’t already, then CLICK the Link below to…

Get Access to The Pitch Plane Dominator Online Video Mini-Course

“If you want to be successful, find someone who has achieved the results you want and copy what they do and you’ll achieve the same results.” – Tony Robbins

I received the following reader question:

“If you could only teach one swing, whose would you teach?”

And what follows in this baseball swing slow motion analysis of Joey Votto video, is my answer, as it relates to getting the barrel on, and staying on the plane of the pitch for as long as possible.

We’ll discuss Joey Votto’s:

  • Pitch-Plane consistency metrics,
  • 2015 ESPN’s HitTracker spray chart, and
  • Mechanics as they apply to Pitch Plane Domination.

Let’s build Joey Votto’s case as the best to copy for Pitch-Plane Domination…

 

Joey Votto Pitch-Plane Consistency Metrics

According to Baseball-Reference.com, Joey Votto’s 162-game averages (over 9 years in the League) are as follows:

Baseball Swing Slow Motion Analysis: Joey Votto Metrics

Look at the “yellow” highlighted line…

Here are the Joey Votto Metrics to pay particular attention to (definitions are according to FanGraphs.com):

  • On-Base% (OBP) – measures the most important thing a batter can do at the plate: not make an out…Joey Votto: .423, League Average is: .320
  • Isolated Slugging% (ISO) – measure of a hitter’s raw power and tells you how often a player hits for extra bases…Joey Votto: .223, League Average is: .140
  • OBP + SLG (OPS) – the sum of a player’s on-base percentage and their slugging percentage…Joey Votto: .957, League Average is: .710
  • OPS+ – This statistic normalizes a player’s OPS — it adjusts for small variables that might affect OPS scores (e.g. park effects) and puts the statistic on an easy-to-understand scale…Joey Votto: 156, League Average: 100

As you can see, Joey Votto is well above average in “not making an out”,  and “raw power”.  What’s also interesting is Joey Votto’s strikeout and walk percentages (averaged over his career):

  • Strikeout% – Joey Votto: 18.6%, League Average: 18.5%, and
  • Walk% – Joey Votto: 15.9%, League Average: 8.5%.

Joey Votto 2015 ESPN’s HitTracker Spray Chart

Check out the HitTrackerOnline.com spray chart of Joey Votto’s 29 homers in 2015 (keep in mind he’s a left handed hitter):

Baseball Swing Slow Motion Analysis: Joey Votto spray chart

Joey Votto 2015 spray chart courtesy: HitTrackerOnline.com

CLICK HERE for a FanGraph.com article titled, “Joey Votto on Hitting”. It goes into how:

  • Cerebral a hitter he is about his mechanics,
  • He purposely tools his swing to limit defensive shifts, and
  • He’s given up some power (dingers in particular) to cover the Pitch-Plane more effectively.

The aforementioned link is a GREAT read.  From the above spray chart and metrics, I’d say he “NAILED IT!!”

 

Joey Votto Mechanics as They Relate to Pitch-Plane Domination

In the above 17:23-minute baseball swing slow motion analysis video of Joey Votto’s swing, we go into more detail about the following FIVE human movements rules for Pitch-Plane Domination:

  1. Front Knee bend before swing initiation, and during the Final Turn,
  2. Back Knee bend during the Final Turn,
  3. Back foot skip during the Final Turn,
  4. Barrel matching the plane of the pitch early, and
  5. Barrel ‘chasing the ball’ passed impact getting to ‘Power-V’ after impact.

As Tony Robbins said,

“If you want to be successful, find someone who has achieved the results you want and copy what they do and you’ll achieve the same results.” 

Joey Votto is your hitter to dominate the Pitch-Plane when looking at baseball swing slow motion analysis.

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

Optimal Hit More Line Drives Launch Angle For Homerun Distance Like Joey Votto For Baseball & Softball Hitters

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Discover the optimal hit more line drives launch angle for home-run distance (25-30 degrees) like Joey Votto for baseball and softball hitters, and…

Joey Votto Explains Why Coaches SHOULD NOT Be Obsessed With Launch Angles

 

 

The Josh Donaldson interview last year was awesome, but I think THIS interview with Joey Votto may be better.  It doesn’t have the same let-the-beast-out-of-cage feeling that Donaldson contributed, but I feel Votto gives us more of a glimpse into the true art of hitting.  What Votto shares confirms what my hitters have been working on this past off season…line drive barrel control.  Precision.

Look, I love teaching my hitters the process of how to increase Ball Exit Speeds and to get the ball off the ground (optimal Line Drive Launch Angles), but as Joey Votto says, it’s not the whole story.  And this is where I’ve been lying to you for a couple years.  Actually, not lying, just not sharing the whole story. 😉

Let me explain…

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My friend and professional golf instructor Lee Comeaux knows golf, and brought this idea of “precision” to my attention a few years back.  He understands springy fascia and the spinal engine, which is a PLUS.  Also, over the past few years he’s mentored his teenage daughter to hit .600 in Texas fast-pitch softball leagues.  But most importantly, he comes from a sport where precision is king.  Ask any golfer if they’re as obsessed about Ball Exit Speeds and Launch Angles like we are, and they’ll look at you as if a third eye grew in the middle of your forehead overnight.

What good is Ball Exit Speed if the ball is not going towards the hole?  And Launch Angles matter depending on the distance to the target.  And by the way, the angled club face kind of takes care of Launch Angles for golfers anyway.

Put yourself in a golf mindset for a moment.  Imagine thinking about hitting, like you would golf?  Precision.  In the above interview, Joey Votto mentions the best hitters can hit the ball where they want, when they want.   This may not be 100% true in games, but during Batting Practice most surely.  How many of your hitters can do that?  Not many of mine, but we’re working on it.

Precision.  This is not being talked about or taught in today’s baseball and softball circles.  How to control the line drive.  The height AND width of it.  Why are we so obsessed with the vertical aspect of the field and not the horizontal?  So many coaches out there believe a hitter can’t have power without sacrificing swing quality.  An increase in power doesn’t have to dampen Batting Average and/or increase a hitter’s Strikeouts.

Precision.  How to control the line drive.  It’s not easy, but it CAN be done.  Hitters CAN have a high Batting Average (even though BA isn’t a good indicator of value anymore, according to Sabermetrics), power numbers, and low strikeout totals.  And I think Joey Votto touched on what I feel is just the tip of the iceberg.  Here are the few key things to look out for in the above interview:

  • This idea of Precision. Controlling the line drive.
  • Setting hitting goals and reverse engineering purpose of the swing.
  • The idea of using a batted ball as feedback to make adjustments (not new for golfers btw).

Without further adieu, here are…

 

My Joey Votto Interview Notes on his 2018 Hitting Approach

  • About 0:20 second mark, Votto believes talking Launch Angles isn’t telling the whole story, how complete you are as a hitter, rebuts Josh Donaldson’s “ignore coach if he tells you to hit a ground-ball” comment, all fly-balls are not good fly-balls,
  • About 1:30 minute mark, Votto talks about how hitters like Donaldson, et al. can hit a ball with any trajectory to any part of the ballpark, he uses golfer with a bag of clubs metaphor, doing anything you want at anytime is the story we’re not telling, best hitters can do everything – he brings up Mike Trout (diverse array of skills),
  • About 3:00 minute mark, Eric Byrnes asked Votto how his approach has changed since coming into league in 2007, give away less pitches, anytime he takes a swing there’s intent or purpose to each swing (not being reckless), since he’s aging as a player, Votto isn’t able to make up for swing inefficiencies he could with a young athletic swing,
  • About 4:30 minute mark, Byrnes asks Votto how he is super-human with his walk to strikeout ratio when the league really doesn’t care about inflated K quantities, making a conscious effort to cut down on K’s, goals – looked to Sabermetrics to see how he could hit .340 or .350 last year and math said he had to strikeout a bit less, mentioned a few years prior his goal was to get on base half the time (OBP would = .500), chokes up, the “con” was it led to softer contact at times, ability to foul off tough pitches, buys a better pitch later in the AB, spreading out, seeing ball a little deeper,
  • About 6:50 minute mark, Votto was asked about how he has the highest batting average in his first AB, how important is starting game off with good momentum, separated each AB like it’s their own thing, focusing on one AB at a time, every single game over an entire season, sticking with plan in the long run, Jay Bruce “to hit homer, you have to miss homers”, focus on process,
  • About 8:40 minute mark, Byrnes asked Votto, “I have a 6yo boy at home, what’s the #1 thing you’d teach him about hitting?” Let the ball be your feedback.  Spending too much time on mechanics, ball is going straight in the air, ground-ball, in the air, is the ball coming off 4-seam, on a line with backspin, story about watching Albert Pujols with Cardinals on a line with backspin.
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Can A Hitter See The Ball Hit The Bat & Keep Their Eyes On The Ball During The Swing?

Can Hitter Keep Eyes On & See Ball Hit Bat While Batting? Keeping Head Still During Swing IS NOT What You Think

Discover IF a hitter can keep their eyes on the baseball or softball and see the ball hit the bat while batting.  Learn IF keeping the hitter’s head still during the swing is what you thought it was in this study…

“Baseball Players Cannot Keep Their Eyes On The Ball”: A Study By A. Terry Bahill

 

 

 

Well, we’re about ready to debunk both of these well worn coaching cues by sharing the results of a scientific study.  This study was sent to me by one of my readers (and friend) Joe Yurko…THANK YOU 😀

Here’s where you can find the full cited study: A. Terry Bahill and T. LaRitz, American Scientist, 72, 1984, pp. 249-253

I recently presented the study to my Toastmasters club as a “Technical Paper”, and we recorded it so I could share the findings with you.  Sorry, I wasn’t mic’d up, so the audio isn’t the best, but I think you’ll get the message.  CLICK HERE for the Powerpoint slides I used for the speech.

In this video presentation, we go over:

  • Statement of the problem,
  • How it was solved,
  • Data Conclusions,
  • Experiment Applications, and
  • The study’s limitations…

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In a nutshell, the study goes into debunking the two coaching phrases:

  • “Keep your eyes on the ball”, and
  • “See the ball hit the bat” (which Ted Williams said he could do “on the rare occasion”)…

The study findings will SHOCK you.

What’s more…

There was one Powerpoint slide I accidentally skipped over during the speech, and you can view the information on elusive slide #11 in the above-mentioned Powerpoint link.

The forgotten slide contains the following study findings:

  • Slowest pitch for hitter’s eye not to fall behind would be 21-mph assuming no wind and thrown at a 45-degree angle. To see the ball hit the bat? Would need an anticipatory saccade*…jump from first 1/3 of the plate to last 1/3, but you’d miss the middle 1/3 distance to plate.
  • *Saccade suppression – look at your image in mirror, look at your left eye, then look at right eye…did you see the eyes move? Process that turns off visual system during saccadic eye movements…otherwise, we would think the world is flying around us.
  • Hitter uses predictive abilities to track the ball the last 1/3 of ball flight…using peripheral vision.

I’d love to hear your comments about this below…

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Learn How To Correctly Position And Move Your Head To See The Ball Better

Correct Head Position And Movement, See Ball Better, & Keep Eye On Ball For Baseball And Softball Hitters 2023 | Keep Head Still Batting Swing Drills

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Discover correct head position, head movement, see the ball better, and how to keep your eye on the ball for baseball and softball hitters in 2023.  Learn how to keep head still with this batting swing drill.

You Too Can STOP Head Movement With The Snapping Towel Drill

 

 

 

Look, I’m not going to get into the specifics of head movement with the written part of this video post.  You can go to the following links for that:

But I WILL get into an outstanding drill that helps my hitters get rid of late head movement.  I get asked quite a bit on the ‘Socials’ about posting the “Snapping Towel Drill”.  I learned this drill from Chas Pippitt of BaseballRebellion.com, which he calls the Lean Drill.

Well, here you go!  This is one of my favorite go-to drills with most of my hitters.  It helps with lunging, which I define as when a hitter continues moving forward during the turn…NOT at stride landing.  It also helps a hitter cover more of the pitch plane with the barrel, which is why I promote it in the Pitch-Plane Dominator online video mini-course.

In the above video, we’ll discuss:

  • How the swing is a snapping towel,
  • And define Reactive Neuromuscular Training (or RNT),
  • How to BEWARE of the “C” Shape, and
  • How to setup the Snapping Towel Drill…

SCIENCE-BASED TRAINING:

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Learn not only how and what to train but also the science behind the methods.

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The following video I did awhile back, which analyzes Dustin Pedroia and David Ortiz’s swings to show the ‘snapping towel’ effect…

CLICK HERE for a post I did on how to fix stepping in the bucket using Reactive Neuromuscular Training (RNT).

The following image is Chase B., one of my hitters, that is working on fixing his Reverse ‘C’ shape (by the way, the same fault with a lefty will resemble a normal ‘C’)…
chaseb-reversec-shape

It’s not too bad, but I’ve seen worse.  Some of the things to look out for at and post impact:

  • Head floating out over “no man’s land”,
  • Over arching of the low back, and
  • The hitter complaining of low back ‘pinching’ or pain in the Up Dog Yoga Pose…

The latter can be because of tight hamstrings and hip flexors, in addition to glutes and low abdominals (psoas) not firing off.  However, please consult a Physical Therapist if there’s discomfort in the Up-Dog Pose.

What is this hitting position suppose to look like?

Check out Sierra Romero (one of my fav. fastpitch hitter’s to model)…

Sierra Romero Post Impact

Sierra Romero in a nice ‘stacked’ position, NO reverse ‘C’ here. Photo courtesy: MichiganDaily.com

Notice the stacking of her head over rib cage, and rib cage over pelvis.  In a perfect world, we’d like to see a slight slant back over the catcher with these three pieces of the body.

Think about three bricks stacked on top of each other, but being stacked slightly off center towards the left hand side (for a righty), and reverse for a lefty.

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How To Correctly Position Your Head When Batting To See the Ball Better

Correct Head Position While Batting To See Ball Better During Baseball & Softball Swing Drills

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Learn how to correctly position the head while batting to see the ball better during baseball and softball swing drills.

Baseball Hitting Mechanics: Snapping Towel

 

 

…I analyze one of my eighth graders Zack, and we uncover the #1 simple tip can overcome bad hitting technique:

  • “How to make your everyday stance your fight stance, and your fight stance your everyday stance” – Musashi, a famous Japanese Samurai swordsman
  • The Snapping Towel Effect: getting the body moving,
  • The Snapping Towel Effect: the snap back, and
  • How Zack can improve…

CLICK HERE for an MLB case study YouTube video I did on David Ortiz looking into how Big Papi used the same Snapping Towel Metaphor in the 2013 Playoffs.

I’ll be doing a lot of baseball hitting mechanics video case studies of my own hitting students.  Some where I do before and afters of their own swing.  And other times, comparing their swing to a small bopper I think is relevant to them.  I think these case studies help coaches and instructors eliminate the excuse of how young hitters can’t develop high level mechanics.

The main objective of the Hitting Performance Lab is to show we’re not arguing about linear versus rotational mechanics.  It’s that we’re discussing human movement.  It doesn’t matter whether you’re male or female.  Young or mature.  Baseball or softball.  We’re talking about how the human body is designed to efficiently move.

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How To Increase Bat Speed & Improve Hitting Power With Tee Drills for Baseball & Softball

Increase Bat Speed And Improve Hitting Power With Tee Drills For Baseball & Softball Youth

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Discover how to increase bat speed and improve hitting power with these tee drills for baseball and softball youth players as young as 8 years old.

“Blocking” Like Jose Bautista: A Baseball Hitting Drills For Bat Speed Experiment

 

 

Question: Does Landing Bent with the Front Knee & then Straightening it, Add Bat Speed?

Using the Zepp (Labs) Baseball app, I wanted to use the Scientific Method to analyze if “Blocking”, or using Ground Reaction Forces (GRF), produces a significant gain in bat speed.

 

Background Research

Check out this YouTube video from ZenoLink about “Blocking”, or GRF:

 

 

CLICK HERE for a Wikipedia article defining Ground Reaction Forces.  Quote from post:

“The use of the word reaction derives from Newton’s third law, which essentially states that if a force, called action, acts upon a body, then an equal and opposite force, called reaction, must act upon another body. The force exerted by the ground is conventionally referred to as the reaction, although, since the distinction between action and reaction is completely arbitrary, the expression ground action would be, in principle, equally acceptable.”

CLICK HERE for another baseball hitting drills for bat speed post I did about Edwin Encarnacion: A How-To “Blocking” Guide.

SCIENCE-BASED TRAINING:

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Learn not only how and what to train but also the science behind the methods.

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Hypothesis

Based on the above baseball hitting drills for bat speed research and study, I think “Bent Knee Blocking” will produce more bat speed than “Straight Knee Blocking”.  For some of you, this may be obvious.  But the data comparing the two is quite interesting to see.

 

Baseball Hitting Drills For Bat Speed Experiment: “Blocking”Baseball Hitting Drills For Bat Speed: SwingAway MVP Bryce Harper model

Equipment Used:

  • Zepp Baseball app,
  • SwingAway MVP Bryce Harper model,
  • 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.
  • SwingAway was set slightly behind the front feedback marker, and ball height was about the hip.
  • First 101 baseballs were hit with a landing leg angle of about 170-degrees.
  • Second 101 baseballs were hit with a landing leg angle of about 146-degrees.

 

Data Collected (Zepp Baseball App Screenshots):

Baseball Hitting Drills For Bat Speed: Blocking Experiment

Check out the differences in average bat speed and hand speed (red arrows)…

 

Data Analysis & Conclusion

  • 6-mph average bat speed difference between “Straight Knee Blocking” versus “Bent Knee Blocking”,
  • 2-mph average hand speed difference between “Straight Knee Blocking” versus “Bent Knee Blocking”,
  • The Average Time to Impact was about the same,
  • The average Bat Vertical Angle at Impact had a 6-degree difference, and
  • There was only 1-degree of difference between the Attack Angles.

Notes

  • I broke my swing into two steps (stopping momentum), to make sure I could accurately isolate the difference in the front knee action.
  • The “Bent Knee Blocking” 6-mph average increase  is equivalent to 24-48 feet of batted ball distance (depends on the speed of the pitch).
  • What was interesting was the huge shift in Bat Vertical Angle at Impact.  I suspect it’s because of the higher landing position, and the barrel compensated down to accommodate hitting the sweet spot.
  • Looking at the nominal increase in Attack Angle and the wide degree shift in Bat Vertical Angle at Impact, it looks like “Straight Knee Blocking” would lead to more mishits.
  • Like in this “Blocking” Experiment, baseball hitting drills for bat speed need to be put to the test.  We can’t just feel something will increase bat speed.  We must look at what the data says.

 

In Conclusion

From the Baseball Hitting Drills for Bat Speed Experiment data, we can see that “Bent Knee Blocking” produces more average bat and hand speed than “Straight Knee Blocking”.  The other thing that landing with a bent knee does (approx. 146-degrees), is shrink the strike-zone.  Or at least create an illusion that it’s shrinking, to the umpire.  I call this “Getting Shorter”.

Coupled with forward momentum, the hitter is making a “cut”, much like a wide receiver would on an “L” route.  Except instead of the wide receiver changing from the Sagittal (forward/backward) to the Frontal (sideways) Plane of motion, the hitter changes from the Frontal to Transverse (twisting) Plane of motion.  And in order to do this, the “plant leg” needs to be bent in order to transfer Ground Reaction Forces efficiently.  You’ll NEVER see an NFL wide receiver “cut” with a straight plant leg…they plant bent, then push into the ground to change directions.

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Hit Line Drives Farther With Power And Square Ball Up Instead Of Hitting Ground Balls For Baseball

3 Tips To Hit Line Drives Farther With Power And Square Ball Up Instead Of Hitting Ground Balls For Baseball, Fastpitch, & Slow Pitch Softball

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Discover 3 tips to hit line drives farther with power and square the ball up instead of hitting ground balls for baseball, fast-pitch, and slow pitch slow pitch softball players.

Like Anthony Rizzo Swing Mechanics, You Too Can Optimize ‘Line-to-Line’ & Launch Angles By “Bending The Knee”? 

 

 

We’ll be chatting about the following 4 things in the above Anthony Rizzo swing mechanics video:

  • Anthony Rizzo quick stat chat,
  • Bent front knee,
  • Sideways back foot, and
  • Spinal engine – pelvis opens, shoulders block…

There is a lot of misinformation out there that in order to have power, a hitter must straighten the front knee.  When it comes to power, the causation-correlation of this is very vague.  I’ve seen Rizzo hit a ball 460+ feet during batting practice with a bent front knee.  He never straightened it.

Look, 70-80% of power is the spinal engine.  Click Here if you don’t believe me.  I go over a thought experiment where we look at a water polo athlete with the fastest throw in water, and compare him to fastest velo pitcher on the planet.  Remember, the water polo thrower doesn’t have the luxury of Gravitational Forces.

Now, it can be argued the lower half (including and mostly because of the pelvis) is responsible for 20-30% of the power equation.  Since the lower half rotates the least, I say the it’s priority is setting the direction of the hitter’s force.  We achieve this through keeping the back foot sideways.

The spinal engine is at the heart of consistent power.  The Thoracic and Cervical vertebrae act against each other like a wringing towel to pre-load the torso before stride landing.  Then as the lower back and pelvis begin their limited rotation, they will complete the wringing towel effect on the lower half of the spinal engine – Lumbar and Thoracic.

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

Top-6 Baseball Quotes From John Wooden & Michael Jordan About Failure, Learning, Not Giving Up, And Success

Discover our top-6 non-baseball motivational quotes from John Wooden and Michael Jordan about failure, learning, not giving up, and success.

Baseball Batting Quotes: Hacking “Failure” With Michael Jordan

It’s a blessing and a curse.  It empowers people to do GREAT things, while others, it imprisons to mediocrity.  One word can offer us a detour, and at the same time can make us feel like we’re at a dead end.

How we look at this one word can make suffering feel like a learning process.  Or can make us want to quit, and never try again.  What’s ‘the word’?

We’ve heard Ted Williams say that “Hitting a baseball is one of the hardest things to do in sports.”  The word, ‘Failure’, has separated Hall Of Famers from players getting just one  cup of coffee in “The Show”.

What follows are SIX of my favorite inspirational quotes on Failure. I wish this was something that was put in front of me when I felt my struggles were insurmountable during my playing days.  So, please share this baseball batting quotes post to your social media, to spread the word, you never know who they’ll help.

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What’s more…

Not only are these my favorite quotes on the topic of Failure, but they were the TOP-6 baseball batting quotes when I posted them to my Hitting Performance Lab Facebook fan-page and Twitter page.  “Like” and “Follow” me there (if you haven’t already) because I posting more great hitting content daily.

The baseball batting quotes are arranged from least to most engaged with on my Facebook fan-page.  Let’s start with…

#6:

Baseball Batting Quotes: Maxwell Maltz

#5:

Baseball Batting Quotes: John Wooden

#4:

Baseball Batting Quotes: John Wooden

#3:

Baseball Batting Quotes: Denis Waitley

#2:

Baseball Batting Quotes: Michael Jordan

And #1!

Baseball Batting Quotes: Sumner Redstone

Here’s what I feel the #1 mistake is…we treat Failure like it’s a terrible thing. When we are conditioned to look at Failure as a bad thing, then we stop trying.  Or at best, become standoffish when  giving it another shot because the pressure begins snowballing.  There’s no release, just build up.

Young hitters NEED to be encouraged to tinker and test.  To make their own adjustments.  To look at Failure as feedback.  To question the status quo.  This is where creativity and problem solving flourish!

Here are FOUR other articles or books that I love, related to the topic of Failure:

  • “5 Reasons To Stop Saying “Good Job!” by Alfie Kohn – blog post that the title is self explanatory.  After reading, you’ll see why this can lead kids to the “Failure as a dead end” mindset.
  • Golf Flow by Dr. Gio Valiante – sports performance psychologist, Dr. Gio, who works with the top PGA tour players. This book has nothing and everything to do with the baseball.
  • The Talent Code by Daniel Coyle – how the body learns, and that greatness isn’t just in our DNA code.
  • Brain Rules For Baby by John Medina – John brings up some great research and study, and one in particular says that telling a kid, “You’re so smart!” will handicap them, rather than saying, “You must’ve worked hard for that.”

As Tony Robbins says, “Where focus goes, energy flows.” So focus your attention on Failure as only a feedback mechanism.

 

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Learn Correct Head Position, Keeping It Still, & Seeing Ball Better While Hitting A Baseball

Learn Correct Head Position, Keeping It Still, & Seeing Ball Better While Hitting Baseball Or Softball

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Learn the correct head position, keeping the head still, and seeing the ball better while hitting a baseball or softball.  Discover how in this Albert Pujols swing breakdown.

Albert Pujols Swing Breakdown: A Big Misunderstanding

 

 

People always want to know how to hit the ball harder, with more consistency.  And it all starts with how the head moves during the swing.  Who better to look at for consistency than Albert Pujols, AKA “The Machine”…

According to Baseball-Reference.com, a few key offensive stats based on his 162-game average are:

  • On-Base + Slug% (OPS) – .991…league average is .730
  • Batting Average on Balls In Play (BABIP) – .303 (Fangraphs.com)…league average is .300
  • Homers – 40
  • Doubles – 43

Albert Pujols may not be the same hitter he was with the Cardinals…BUT…what he has working for him is friction-free head movement during the swing.  An oftentimes, misunderstood topic.

In this video post, we’ll hold head movement during the swing to the fire of science:

  • Albert Pujols: understanding the 1/3 Vision Rule,
  • Why breaking the One-Joint Rule bleeds force at impact, and
  • Two most common head position mistakes & how to fix…

SCIENCE-BASED TRAINING:

Improve your hitting strategy dramatically by applying human movement principles.

Learn not only how and what to train but also the science behind the methods.

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Albert Pujols: Understanding the 1/3 Vision-Rule

One of my readers, Blake Blackwell, took his son to a Tom House pitching camp.  For those who don’t know Tom House, he’s the founder of the National Pitching Association.  Blake said that Tom House was teaching his pitchers to gear pitch movement for the last 1/3 of the distance to home-plate.

Why?

Studies show that Professional hitters lose sight of the ball within the last 5-7 feet of ball flight.  Consider the 1/3 Vision-Rule…

  • First 1/3 Distance to Plate – hitter sees the pitcher’s release point out of the corner of the front eye,
  • Middle 1/3 Distance to Plate – hitter sees the ball with both eyes, and
  • Last 1/3 Distance to Plate – hitter sees the ball with the corner of the back eye.

Late breaking movement adds to the pitcher’s deception because a hitter like Albert Pujols isn’t picking up pitch detail during the last 1/3 of ball flight.  You see, peripheral vision (out of the corner of the eye) is about picking up motion, not detail.

Understanding this is important to hitting because you’ll learn…

 

Why Breaking the One-Joint Rule Bleeds Force at Impact

And upsets vision…

CLICK HERE to watch a demonstration of the One-Joint Rule I did with Shak, a Kansas University Jay-hawks wide receiver.  Dr. Kelly Starrett from TheReadyState.com says this about the One-Joint Rule:

“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.”

He then adds…

“Hinging at one of the segments [vertebrae 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.”

 

Two Most Common Head Position Mistakes & How-to Fix…

Here they are:

  1. Chin to chest (a la Andrew McCutchen), AND
  2. Ear to rear shoulder (a la Bryce Harper).

How do we fix these?

First you have to understand the spine can move Globally or Locally…CLICK HERE to watch this demonstration.

Then, the hitter must understand that their head can ONLY move like it’s rotating on a “spit” (the spine), from side to side.  Unless we’re talking about Global Extending or Flexing.  In other words, the spine can Globally Flex towards the plate – say on a low pitch – but the head MUST stay in line with the spine as it turns towards contact.

At lastly, train this head movement with variance:

  • Setup up five swing rounds,
  • On swings 1-3-5, practice keeping the head on a “spit”, turning the head to get the nose behind the barrel (the right way), and
  • On swings 2-4, practice moving the chin to chest OR ear to rear shoulder (the wrong way).

Note the difference.  I guarantee Albert Pujols makes a conscious effort to keep efficient head movement during his swing.  Can you see why pitchers armed with the 1/3 Vision-Rule, and hitters getting excessive head movement by breaking the One-Joint Rule can really affect repeatable power?

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Is Hitting For Power: Hips Before Hands, Hip Rotation, Legs, Or Lower Body Mechanics?

Is Hitting For Power: Hips Before Hands, Hip Rotation, Legs, Or Lower Body Mechanics For Youth Baseball & Softball Swing? | Drills To Do At Home

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Learn whether hitting for power is either or neither of: hips before hands, hip rotation, all in the legs, or lower body mechanics.  You’ll discover useful youth baseball and softball swing drills to do at home.

Zepp Swing Experiment Attempting To Put Value On Role Of Pelvis In Swing

 

 

Question: How Much Does Pelvis Add to Bat Speed at Impact?

According to InnerBody.com, the pelvis is a sturdy ring of bones that protects the delicate organs of the abdomino-pelvic cavity while anchoring the powerful muscles of the hip, thigh, and abdomen. Several bones unite to form the pelvis, including the sacrum, coccyx (tail bone), and the left and right coxal (hip) bones. Photo courtesy: OrthoInfo.aaos.org

Using the Zepp (Labs) Baseball app, I wanted to employ the Scientific Method to analyze how much turning the pelvis (some refer to this as the hips) adds to Bat Speed at Impact.  The ‘Front Facing Swings’ are an attempt to isolate out the role of the pelvis in the swing, so we can analyze how much the pelvis adds to swing performance.

Just a heads up, the “pelvis” and “hips” are not the same thing.  The hips are a small part of the pelvis.  However, most coaches refer to “hips” when instructing the swing, when most likely they mean “pelvis”.

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Background Research

For those coaches with a Growth Mindset that want to find out more about the science of locomotion.  I’d recommend reading the following technical books:

If working through the weeds isn’t for you, then you can click the following HPL posts that synthesize the information contained in the previously mentioned books:

I’ve done two swing experiments revealing the role of the shoulders in the swing that tested the value of ‘Showing Numbers’ versus ‘NOT’.  These showed an average increase to Bat Speed at Impact – Showing Numbers – of between 5 to 6-mph.  In addition, one of the experiments showed an average increase to Ball Exit Speed of over 9-mph ‘Showing Numbers’! That’s between 38 to 48-feet of ADDED batted ball distance by ‘Showing Numbers’:

This Zepp swing experiment is attempting to put value on the role of the pelvis in the swing.

 

Hypothesis

Ted Williams, in his book The Science Of Hitting, said the ‘hips lead the way’.  This observation is irrefutable when watching slow motion video of elite hitters.  A majority of coaches teach primarily a ‘hips only’ strategy, which I disagree with.  I feel ‘firing the hips’ is over-taught and over-valued, while the role of the shoulders is under-taught and under valued.  The objective of this experiment is to see what benefit the pelvis (or hips) add to swing performance.

I predict ‘Regular Swings’ will have a substantial increase in Bat Speed at Impact than the ‘Front Facing Swings’.

 

Performance Benefit of Pelvis Swing Experiment

Equipment Used:

  • Zepp Baseball app (to measure Bat Speed, Hand Speed, Time to Impact, & Attack Angle),
  • Backspin batting tee,
  • Two yellow dimple baseballs (feedback markers),
  • Flip camera to record swings, and
  • 33 inch bamboo bat.

Setup:

  • Yellow dimple ball feedback markers to keep starting footwork the same = bat length…I used two yellow dimple ball markers to make my stance setup consistent.  One was placed inside my back foot, close to the plate.  The other was placed one bat’s length ahead of the back marker.
  • Tee was set one baseball’s length behind the front feedback marker, and tee height was about mid-thigh
  • We stayed as consistent as we could with keeping the ball height and depth the same for most swings.
  • The two tests in the swing experiment were counter-balanced.  Which consisted of eight blocks of 25-swings done in the following order ABBA BAAB.  ‘Front Facing Swing’ was letter ‘A’, and ‘Regular Swing’ was letter ‘B’.  200 total swings were completed in the experiment, 100 per test.  Counter-balancing helps remove the “getting tired” and “warm up” factors.
  • The objective of ‘Front Facing Swings’ was to start the ‘belt buckle’ pointing at the pitcher, and to minimize pelvic movement.
  • Experiment Day-1 on 6/19 we completed 75 total swings (25 ‘Front Facing’ & 50 ‘Regular’).  Experiment Day-2 on 6/26 we completed 125 swings (75 ‘Front Facing’ & 50 ‘Regular’).
  • We had to break the 200 total swings into two days, with the second day coming 1 week later, because of time constraints.

Data Collected (Zepp Baseball App):

‘Front Facing Swings’ Days 1 & 2 side by side…

Front Facing Swing Averages

‘Front Facing Swing’ AVERAGES for the following metrics: 77-mph Bat Speed at Impact, 30-mph Hand Speed Max, 0.177-secs Time To Impact, -24.5* Bat Vertical Angle at Impact, & 3* Attack Angle.

‘Regular Swings’ Days 1 & 2 side by side…

‘Regular Swing’ AVERAGES for the following metrics: 81.5-mph Bat Speed at Impact, 33-mph Hand Speed Max, 0.130-secs Time To Impact, -28.5* Bat Vertical Angle at Impact, & 0* Attack Angle.

 

Data Analysis & Conclusion

Zepp data analysis comparing the averages of averages:

  • 4.5-mph INCREASE to Bat Speed at Impact in ‘Regular Swings’,
  • 3-mph INCREASE to Hand Speed Max in ‘Regular Swings’,
  • 0.047 DECREASE to Time To Impact in ‘Regular Swings’,
  • -4-degree DECREASE to Bat Vertical Angle at Impact in ‘Regular Swings’, and
  • -3-degree DECREASE to Attack Angle in ‘Regular Swings’.

 

Notes

  • The increase in Bat Speed at Impact and Hand Speed Max confirmed my hypothesis, and didn’t surprise me since the first piece of The Spinal Engine to interact with Gravitational Forces is the pelvis.
  • It’s also interesting to note, that you can see from the side-by-side video of the swing, that I wasn’t able to keep the “belt buckle” ‘front facing’ as much as I would have liked to on ‘Front Facing Swings’, so possibly the pelvis could have added a bit more.  I was feeling inside right knee tightness when forcing pelvis to stay facing forward.
  • The DECREASE in Time To Impact with ‘Regular Swings’ could have been due to the increased step and/or unfamiliarity with the movement, while doing ‘Front Facing Swings’.
  • In past swing experiments testing ‘Down Shoulders’ and ‘Showing Numbers’ I increased my Attack Angle – in the positive.  I think the 3-degree increase in positive Attack Angle for ‘Front Facing Swings’ was due to better execution of those elements.
  • We were testing Ball Exit Speed in the beginning but had equipment malfunction (batteries went dead).  I was too many swings in when the equipment was fixed, so we threw BES out in this experiment.  I’d love to see BES measured in a future review of this swing experiment.
  • One last thought, because my pelvis inwardly turned toward the catcher – drastically – on ‘Front Facing Swings’, we saw quite a drop-off in production.  Does this give evidence that an inward turn before the swing may be inferior to keeping the pelvis in neutral (or belt bucket facing plate)?
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