In this Rope Bat review, you’ll discover a swing training aid to fix youth bat drag in baseball and softball hitters. Learn about “shifting foot pressure” in this modern hitting mechanics video guide swing breakdown.
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In this baseball swing drills video, we’ll discuss the following:
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.
‘Bat Lag’ is the beautiful result of fascial lines in the torso being CONNECTED to what the explosive rotational athlete is holding in their hand or hands.
See image of Josh Donaldson to the right. Look how his hands are positioned between his elbows (odd camera angle to see this I know).
Which is to say, the barrel position in space and time in this image is perceived by A LOT of coaches as being waaaaay too long.
They add that Josh Donaldson is just strong and can get away with a ‘long barrel’ like that.
And they’re WRONG. Dead wrong!!
The difference between ‘The Bringer of Rain’, and those youth hitters that DO HAVE long swings is this…
‘Bat Drag’ (the evil one) is one of a racing back elbow.
The following baseball swing drills using the Rope Bat, particularly the Top-Hand Finger Pressure Drill, will be a lethal combination to crushing the ‘EVIL ONE’…
The Mick’s first phase of shifting foot pressure. Photo courtesy: http://s685.photobucket.com/user/BillBurgess
In the HPL article titled, “Crush the Ball Like Mickey Mantle”, I went over his shifting foot pressure (aka Forward Momentum. Quoted from the article,
“We can see from the moment he lifts his stride foot to that foot touching down that his foot pressure looks like this:
- Back foot pressure – is on the outside, and
- Stride foot pressure – is on the inside.
As Mickey Mantle’s stride foot lands the foot pressure shifts as follows:
- Back foot pressure – moves to the inside, and
- Stride foot pressure – moves to the outside.”
Before using shifting foot pressure baseball swing drills using the Rope Bat, a hitter must FIRST get comfortable executing shifting foot pressure without a bat, then with, then progressing to using the Rope Bat.
These are the proper progressions to get a younger hitter acclimated to the new skill.
We used a couple ‘racing back elbow’ fixes for Zack, but it wasn’t until we used top hand finger pressure, that the fix stuck. It took two 30-min sessions, a week apart.
Nothing banishes Bat Drag like top hand finger pressure…
Bottom three fingers of the top hand only (pinky, ring, and middle fingers)…
Start squeezing these fingers when the hitter picks up their front foot, and hold the finger pressure well past impact.
This activates the springy fascia connecting what Thomas Myers, in his book Anatomy Trains
CLICK HERE for the “Babe Ruth Reveals Hand Tension?” Zepp swing experiment I did testing this. And a big THANKS goes out to Lee Comeaux for shedding even more light on this strategy.
Like I mentioned earlier, combining top hand finger pressure while swinging the Rope Bat, is a LETHAL combination for crushing ‘Bat Drag’.
Improve a hitter’s ‘Bat Lag’ and shifting foot pressure by having them swing the Rope Bat on the on-deck circle.
Unfortunately, you can’t hit baseballs, softballs, or tennis balls with it. But whiffles are fine. However, I think the magic in the Rope Bat, is in dry swings anyway. Baseball swing drills (works well with softball too) that promote a hitter’s tempo and cadence are worth their weight in gold.
Joey, could you help me clarify my confusion? In this video you spoke of the top hand pressure in the bottom 3 fingers of the top hand. However when I clicked the link for more info on a previous video about hand pressure testing you did with Zepp…you spoke about the hands trying to rip the bat in half but your top finger of your top hand was gripping hard? I have noticed that a lot of Japanese hitters do not squeeze the thumb and first finger on either hand when swing gripping a bat. They actually have them pinched together off the bat. I often wondered why and thought you were on the verge of telling me but then I got sidetracked with the hand torqueing technique. Thanks in advance for any help you may shed on this topic.
Rick, here’s swing experiment #1 w/ “breaking handle”: https://hittingperformancelab.com/babe-ruth/ AND, here’s most current experiment #2 w/ finger pressure: https://hittingperformancelab.com/baseball-hitting-drills-for-little-league/ Please read under the Background Research for the HOW/WHY. Also, pick up Thomas Myers’s book Anatomy Trains, lots of great HOW/WHY stuff in there.
Scott Herman
where is the Rope Bat link?