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.
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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”
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):
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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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:
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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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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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),
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.
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‘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)?
'Add 40-Feet' To Batted Ball Distance
Swing Study reveals how tens of thousands of hitters are adding 40-feet to batted ball distance by using one simple strategy.
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The Anatomy Of A Game Winning Justin Turner Walk Off Homerun
To be honest with you…
I MISSED watching the Justin Turner walk off homerun LIVE!!
My excuse…?
For those of you who can remember when your kids were 2-5 years old, you might recall the Disney channel being on almost constantly in your household.
When I turn on baseball, I get “Why are we watching this…?” from my 5yo. And not after 30-mins of it being on…no…RIGHT AWAY!
He could be drawing, watching a kid’s show on his Kindle, or playing with his NERF gun, and he knows when the channel is changed. It’s like he knows it’s going to happen before it does. That’s another talk for another day.
But I digress…
I did get to see the replay of the game winning dinger via Twitter…
And, I DO know this, Justin Turner’s walk off homerun was a thing of beauty.
As many of you know, I get a lot of Fixed Mindset knuckleheads claiming this system doesn’t work at the higher level on the socials…in baseball and softball circles.
I blame the lenses they look at hitting through, which – let me tell you – are far less effective than picking up a bar fly with “beer goggles”.
Seriously though, here’s some context to put the dinger in perspective, before getting to the info in the video above…
I know, shocker for a select few out there. I do define some of the above terms in the video, so make sure you watch that before commenting. I know some of the cues can be used with the right framing of it.
So let’s see…
What he IS Doing
Catapult Loading System principles: globally flexed spine, hiding hands, showing numbers, and
Pitch Plane Domination: knee action, back foot skip, early barrel on pitch plane, barrel stays on plane for long time, great spine angle at impact.
The Catapult Loading System Kindle eBook Giveaway
Just FYI, on this Friday, October 20th, I’m giving away free Kindle versions of my new bookThe Catapult Loading System: How To Teach 100-Pound Hitters To Consistently Drive The Ball 300-Feet…but here’s the catch, this giveaway is for 5-days ONLY! Last time I did this, over 1,300 coaches and parents downloaded the ebook. And you don’t have to have a Kindle to read the book, just download the Kindle app on your mobile device. If you’ve already downloaded it, then I’d appreciate it if you could let a friend know. Literally hundreds of coaches across the States are getting the same results – if not better – with their hitters (literally THOUSANDS of them!!) using this system, than I am with mine. I’ll make the announcement over email and Facebook, so please look out for that in a couple days…
'Add 40-Feet' To Batted Ball Distance
Swing Study reveals how tens of thousands of hitters are adding 40-feet to batted ball distance by using one simple strategy.
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Learn how Mike Trout uses his “golf” footwork to hit home-runs better and farther every time. Discover hitting drills to increase bat speed and power like Trout’s golf swing?
Mike Trout Hitting Golf Ball: Same As Baseball Swing?
What we go over in this Mike Trout hitting golf ball video:
As Physicist, Electrical Engineer, and author of The Spinal Engine, Dr. Serge Gracovetsky says the arms and legs ARE NOT necessary for locomotion, they’re an enhancement. When it comes to spinal movement, hitting is basic locomotion. Fact.
Shifting Foot Pressure
A couple recent posts I’ve done complimenting the above video…
Very few are teaching this. This is at the heart of a stable swing. I see a lot of hitters over-rotating their lower half. Back foot heel moving closer to the the plate versus staying far away. When the hitter shifts pressure to pinky side of front foot, we should see them shift back foot pressure to the big toe side. If instead hitter shifts back foot pressure to outside (over-rotates), then hitter is unstable with low half.
The Big-3 are fundamental to building consistent power in hitters. They’re a combination of using springy fascia and the spinal engine. Responsible for 70-80% of consistent power. Legs contribute only 20-30% to power.
'Add 40-Feet' To Batted Ball Distance
Swing Study reveals how tens of thousands of hitters are adding 40-feet to batted ball distance by using one simple strategy.
Click the button below to access the FREE video that's been downloaded over 30K times!!
https://hittingperformancelab.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/03/How-Mike-Trout-Uses-His-Golf-Footwork-To-Hit-Homeruns-Better-Farther-Every-Time.png423800Joey Myershttps://hittingperformancelab.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/10/hitting-performance-labs_c90c0362088ef1d3d528f3078f4f8ac1-300x75.pngJoey Myers2023-01-09 09:30:022023-01-10 06:21:18How Mike Trout Uses Golf Footwork To Hit Homeruns Better & Farther Every Time | Hitting Drills To Increase Bat Speed & Power
Learn how to increase your hitter’s bat speed, hitting power, and hit the baseball or softball harder every time like Javier Baez in this swing breakdown…
Javier Baez Swing Analysis: Why Inward Turn Of Hips Is Wasted Movement
Hey, what’s going on it’s Joey Myers from the Hitting Performance Lab, and in this Javier Baez swing analysis, we will cover:
Let’s get into the fan graph metrics. As you can see here, look at the six foot, hundred ninety-pound Javier Baez in the swing analysis we’ll be looking at in 2019. You can see his line right here. You can see a .281 batting average, 38 doubles, four triples, 29 homers, and you see a big giant balloon over here, one hundred fifty-six strikeouts and only twenty-eight walks.
Now, if we look at his line when it comes to ground ball, fly ball, line drive percentages, and his fly ball home run ratio and his pull and hard contact numbers, we look at his line drive rate being eighteen point one. You can see his averages over the amount of years he’s been in the Bigs is 19. So, a little bit down from his average.
You can see his ground ball percentage was up quite a bit, fifty point three, which was down in prior years as low as 44 percent and 37.3 percent.
You can see the average line drive rate is 20 percent or so. So as long as they’re around 18 to 22 percent, that tend to be about league average. The ground ball percentage, league average is about 43 percent or around 40 percent. You can see he’s well above average on the ground ball percentage and fly ball percentage typically floats around 37, 38 percent at league average.
So you can see he’s below well below average when it comes to the fly ball percentage homerun to fly ball ratio, the percentage at 24.4, league average is around 9 to 11 percent. So, if he gets the ball in the air or his fly balls, the percentages of his fly balls going out are almost 25 percent.
What’s also interesting to note is if you look over at his soft percentage contact medium and his hard contact percentages, you can see that his medium actually outweighs his hard percentage contact. Some interesting things going on from this Javier Baez swing analysis, might shed a little bit of light on that.
But I thought interesting to note that his hard ball contact percentage at 37.4, you can’t see it on the screen, hard contact percentage. And then you can see as medium here is 44.6.
Over-Rotation of Lower Half During Pre-Loading Phase
All right. Let’s get into the Javier Baez swing analysis, and the breakdown of his mechanics. Let’s give this a little context. This is a two thousand nineteen swing, I think, in May or so. And this pitch looks like a ninety-one mile an hour slider that ends up, as you can see in the K zone in that lower outside quadrant. And he hits this one out to right center a little bit more towards center but right center.
One thing I want you to take a look at is over rotation of the lower half. This is something I think Ted Williams said in The Science of Hitting. And a lot of instructors out there will take this to the extreme. And they think that by turning the pelvis in towards the catcher, so imagine a hitter’s belt buckle turning in to face the catcher. Like there was a flashlight coming out of the belt buckle and that you’re shining the flashlight at the catcher to get the hips some momentum.
Now, I think this is wasted movement when it comes to function of the spinal engine. Not my opinion, but if we look at springy fascia, the spinal engine, what we want is we want to see this front shoulder … we’ll get a chest view here in a second … we want to get this front shoulder to go down in and towards the back hip. And we want this back shoulder to move away from this front hip.
When you move the pelvis in or you move the front hip bone in along with the shoulder, is that now the hip and the shoulder are chasing each other instead of doing the opposite in what we would find in a wringing towel type of scenario, whereas one hand being the shoulder, the other hand being the pelvis.
We’re seeing a lot of these coaches that will say if and when the pitcher shows you his back back pocket, then you show them yours. This is clearly what Javier Baez is doing in this swing analysis. You can see him really showing his back pocket versus this neutral position that he starts off in, really rolls in with that hip.
Now, if we take a look at another hitter, Khris Davis of the A’s, this is the 2018 swing of his. But he actually steps in the bucket a little bit. You’re going to see a little difference to the hip positioning. Khris Davis really doesn’t waste any motion pulling that belt buckle, this flashlight on the belt buckle, trying to shine it in the catcher’s eyes. He actually keeps it in a neutral position and steps out. Into the bucket.
What both of these players do really well, and I think, Khris actually does better than Baez is because of the lower half over rotation in the pre loading phase of the swing before stride touchdown, we see Khris will keep his hips in a neutral position … but will use this neck tension, which we’ll talk about here in a second to counteract. And he’s really good, Khris, at going the other way, where he hits this one. This is a 94 mile an hour fastball somewhat up in the zone. And he hits this to straight away center.
He does very well going to the opposite field, even though he’s stepping out now, I wouldn’t advise young hitters to do that. And we have a stride drill that fixes getting the stride more in line.
Khris makes this work because of the way he uses his spine. Here’s a chest view of Javier Baez swing analysis, it’s a little angled here, but you can see that kind of over rotation pre loading phase of the pelvis, the lower half versus what Khris Davis was doing.
You can see him really coiling up with the lower half, which he really doesn’t have to. And you’re seeing the what I was talking about is taking this front shoulder down and in towards a back hip and we should actually see this front hip move away from the back shoulder.
When you bring that front hip in, you’re chasing the back shoulder instead of moving away from it, which that’s how springy fascia works, how we load the body like a spring or a catapult. And we want to bring that front shoulder down and in which he is doing. But when you turn the pelvis, it’s almost like the corresponding shoulder is chasing the corresponding diagonal hip bone.
Now, if we look at Khris Davis on the same swing, you know, this view’s a little bit more chest view than the angled version we’re getting with Javier Baez. But you can see that that hip stays in neutral and then you’ll see him bring his front shoulder down and in towards the back hip and you’ll see this front hip move away from the back shoulder.
Some people might call this the scap load that is covering this line here, this diagonal line to scap load. But we also that’s a retraction of the back scap. What we should see is a protraction of the front scap or the front shoulder moving down and in. So, we’re going to see the hitter’s numbers when the hitter does that. We should see both moves, not just one. And you’re seeing Khris Davis do this very well because he keeps his pelvis in neutral.
You can see here and just lets his upper half preload and let his lower half just do what it does and let it open as it does to take the rest of the slack out of the spinal engine.
And one more quick thing before we move on from this in this Javier Baez swing analysis … as you can see, as he coils up him in Davis, pretty much end up in the same spot, at landing. Look at where his pelvis is at landing. So, it’s almost like he gets a running start with his pelvis. I don’t think it really relevant because we’re getting the same effect with the bounce effect with Davis as we are with Baez. It’s just I think Baez’s closing himself off more. And I wouldn’t teach this to young hitters.
I wouldn’t over rotate the pelvis or turn the pelvis inward towards the catcher to landing, because at landing, you see he’s in the same position. And as long as he’s getting his neck pressure, which will be transitioning to here, as long as you get into neck pressure, he’ll be wound up top. And then once the lower half starts to open, as he starts to swing that rest of that slack, will get taken out and then everything will go as it’s supposed to.
'Add 40-Feet' To Batted Ball Distance
Swing Study reveals how tens of thousands of hitters are adding 40-feet to batted ball distance by using one simple strategy.
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Now, let’s talk about creating neck pressure. The idea of this is like wringing a towel out except for one hand represents the head, the other hand represents the shoulder. So, the hand’s turn in opposite directions. And what we’re trying to do is it’s not so much about how much of the numbers the hitter shows, although Javier Baez in the swing analysis, you can see you can see everything. If he had a triple digit number, you could see three digits on his back. You can see his back elbow. You can see all the way across the shoulders. If he had a 20-word last name, you could see it from armpit to armpit. You can see pretty much everything, almost his rear oblique. You can see because he’s shown his numbers so much.
Whereas we look at a Khris Davis on this one. Similar, but not quite as turned in because he’s not turning the pelvis in. He doesn’t have to. He can create this Catapult Loading System just by keeping the pelvis in neutral and let the pelvis open when it does. He needs to create that bounce with the lower half, create that neck pressure up top.
You can see that he’s locked in, his head is anchoring a tracking position so he can track the ball and keep vision on the ball. It’s not this idea of what some of these coaches call “false separation”, which when these coaches show on video, what false separation is there over rotating the upper half. Now, we don’t want to over rotate. We can’t lose sight with the back eye. And that’s not Davis here. Maybe he is. He is clearly along with Baez. They are clearly showing their numbers, showing their last name. You can see that is clear as day.
There is a pro attraction of the front scap. There’s a retraction to the back scap. You’re seeing both of those things happen in two different hitters on two different teams. And what both of them do are doing and having common is they are wringing the towel out head and shoulders. The head creates an anchor point. Their shoulders rotate under the chin as far as they can while creating this neck pressure in the T1 (Thoracic section of spine, vertebrae-1) and C7 (Cervical section of spine, vertebrae-7) area.
So there’s like a two, three-inch area that if the hitter does this right, they create that pressure there with the head anchored with the shoulder pulled under as far as it can do. And they’ll feel this pressure up until the turn and they can go from there. That’s taking slack out of this system early. If this doesn’t happen, there is going to be compensation somehow in that there may be a front shoulder pulling out early. There might be a barrel that’s dumping deep and early into the zone to try and hurry up, get the barrel to the ball.
But above all, hitters must, even hitters as young as eight, nine, 10 years old need to feel that pressure if there is going to be power the minute that pressure is taken off between the head and the shoulders, that is when we’ll be letting air out of the balloon.
The reason that I’ve moved to more of a neck pressure, creating neck pressure versus showing numbers is that every hitter is going to be different when it comes to their mobility in their neck and their thoracic spine or their shoulders being able to turn the head this much as much as Baez or Davis. Davis isn’t quite as much there. Maybe it’s just with Baez because he’s inward rotating his lower half. It’s allowing him to turn more.
I think that again, hinders it can take our vision and tracking off the ball if we do this with younger hitters, what Baez is doing. So, I would recommend more of what Davis is doing, albeit without the stepping out part of it. But we want to create the neck pressure. That is the rule. That is the principle, the movement principle, the wringing towel principle to the Catapult Loading Systemin spinal engine, springy fascia.
It is not so much to show both numbers. The numbers will probably show, but it will depend on the hitter’s mobility in their neck. So, every hitter might be different.
Barrel Tilt
One last thing in this Javier Baez swing analysis is the barrel tilt. There are some coaches out there that like this barrel till where you can see where Baez tilts the barrel towards the opposing batter’s box or kind of off towards first base and to get the barrel momentum going into the swing.
Now, this might be something that Baez needs to do because he is rotating that lower half inward towards the catcher. And to get some barrel momentum is going to help him to get around, especially on pitches in pitches up in the zone.
I don’t teach this per se. I don’t think it’s a bad or good thing it can be a bad thing. If they tilt too much and I think Baez in the past has tilted too much and it’s got him in trouble, it causes more of an uppercut type of swing. I’ve had hitters that do this and they hit the ball in the air more often than the hitter that doesn’t tilt the barrel this much.
We’ve seen Donaldson from I think it was 2013 to 14. He was tilting too much and we saw his fly ball percentage go up and his batting average go down. So, I would not really mess with this too much as long as we are creating that wringing towel effect between the head and the shoulders, creating the neck pressure.
And we are what I like to tell my hitters is to act like there’s a skewer going through their hip bones that is keeping him on a straight line, keeping hip bones on a straight line towards the catcher. And they just slide along that skewer until the front foot hits the ground and they can turn out of it, but they can’t turn into the skewer up until landing … has to stay in a neutral position and they manipulate the neck pressure at the top to create the tension that we need to be able to instantaneously swing the bat and increase our ball exit speeds.
The barrel tilt is just not something that I would teach my hitters. I would let my hitters do it. But if it’s affecting their fly ball, line drive, ground-ball ratios and we would definitely change it. Now, I hope you like this Javier Baez swing analysis. Make sure that you’re swinging smarter by moving better.
And before I let you go…
'Add 40-Feet' To Batted Ball Distance
Swing Study reveals how tens of thousands of hitters are adding 40-feet to batted ball distance by using one simple strategy.
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https://hittingperformancelab.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/01/Increase-Bat-Speed-Hitting-Power-Hit-Baseball-Or-Softball-Harder-Every-Time-Like-Javier-Baez.png423800Joey Myershttps://hittingperformancelab.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/10/hitting-performance-labs_c90c0362088ef1d3d528f3078f4f8ac1-300x75.pngJoey Myers2023-01-09 09:15:452023-01-10 05:47:23Increase Bat Speed, Hitting Power, & Hit Baseball Or Softball Harder Every Time Like Javier Baez
Discover how to increase hitting power, bat, and hand speed like a Mookie Betts baseball or softball swing using the Catapult Loading System. In addition, learn how to square the ball up and hit more consistent line drives instead of ground balls in this swing analysis…
Mookie Betts Swing Analysis: Build Massive Power For Small Sluggers Like Mookie Betts & Trea Turner…
What we’ll be contrasting in this Mookie Betts swing analysis compared with Trea Turner:
Few out there think power comes from the snapping of the back hip and barrel. These people are only one-third of the way there. The pelvis (including hip), spine, and shoulders as a complete unit is where to find consistent power.
There are three pieces of our spine:
Cervical (neck)
Thoracic (shoulders and middle back), and
Lumbar (lower back).
Imagine each section as a hand. Now imagine three hands wringing a towel out. The top (Cervical) and the bottom (Lumbar) are wringing in the same direction, while the middle (Thoracic) is wringing in the opposite direction of its “bookends”. Mookie Betts does this just as well as anybody.
When it comes to barrel path, these same “snapper” hitting instructors promote a one path fits all barrel path. And they claim teaching a high level pattern. This is the exact opposite of what a higher level pattern is. The best hitters’ barrel enters the hitting zone at different points depending on pitch depth. You don’t see Mookie Betts knocking off the “real” catcher’s glove when hitting 97-mph inside. If he did, he’d be picking up his thumbs. Or he’d have to bend his front elbow so significantly that it would drop his average ball exit speeds by 20-mph, which equals at least 80-feet of batted ball distance.
Shorten the lever, you shorten power amplification. The “snappy” pattern has its consequences.
'Add 40-Feet' To Batted Ball Distance
Swing Study reveals how tens of thousands of hitters are adding 40-feet to batted ball distance by using one simple strategy.
Click the button below to access the FREE video that's been downloaded over 30K times!!
https://hittingperformancelab.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/10/How-To-Increase-Hitting-Power-Bat-Hand-Speed-Like-Mookie-Betts-Using-Catapult-Loading-System.png423800Joey Myershttps://hittingperformancelab.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/10/hitting-performance-labs_c90c0362088ef1d3d528f3078f4f8ac1-300x75.pngJoey Myers2023-01-09 09:00:182023-01-10 00:12:49Increase Hitting Power, Bat, & Hand Speed Like Mookie Betts Baseball Or Softball Swing | Square Ball Up & Hit Consistent Line Drives Instead Of Ground Balls
Does a Modified Bat Handle Increase Bat & Ball Exit Speeds?
ProXR bat knobs are similar to an axe handle, but are more rounded…
In this baseball hitting drills for contact bat knob experiment using the Zepp (Labs) Baseball app & Bushnell radar gun, I wanted to use the Scientific Method to analyze what would happen to Bat and Ball Exit Speeds when using the same model and sized wood bat, but the only difference being that one bat has a regular knob, and the other a ProXR knob.
Background Research
A Washington University study found there was a 20% to 25% reduction in compression forces in the hands when using a ProXR technology.
My fascination with this all started when Grady Phelan, the Founder and President at ProXR, LLC, wrote this LinkedIn post titled, “Baseball’s Broken Hamate Plague“.
After I reached out, Grady was open to the idea of doing a Zepp and Ball Exit Speed baseball hitting drills for contact experiment.
Grady shared the following research about his ProXR technology over email…
“One of the experiments we did early on with ProXR, as part of our due diligence before we went to market, was to measure the compression forces in the hands during a swing. I was fortunate enough to be able to work with some researchers at Washington University School of Medicine, Bio-Mechanics lab here in St. Louis. We connected a conventional bat and a ProXR bat to digital pressure sensors and had a batter take some swings. We were able to dial into the area of the hypothenar (the heal of your hand below your pinky) and compare the difference in compression.
What we found was a 20% to 25% reduction in compression forces when using a ProXR technology. The peak compression happens immediately AFTER intended contact when the hands roll over the central axis of the bat and the knob. The smaller peaks in between the high compression peaks are from the batter getting the bat back into the load position and we took out the time in between swings to condense the chart.”
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“Pedroia is actually using something called an axe that is being put on a Victus bat. There is some minor confusion in the market given the axe’s similar look with ProXR.
Here’s the top-line difference between ProXR and the Baden product: if you’ve ever swung an actual axe (chopping wood), which the Baden product is based on, you know that the swing path is linear, meaning it drives the hands to the point of contact AND (this is probably the most important point) the swing ends at contact. This is critical. The oval shape of an axe handle and the general configuration of the axe handle evolved over thousands of years specifically to drive the axe head to the point of contact (this also applies to swords, hammers and other linear-path swing implements). The oval shape locks the hands into alignment with the swing path and PREVENTS the hands from deviating from that swing path. In sharp contrast, you know a baseball swing is rotational – meaning the bat must fully rotate around the batters body and the hands MUST roll over the central axis of the bat to compete the swing. This gives hitter the ability to both, make adjustments during the swing and complete the rotational swing path. Putting an oval axe handle on a baseball bat is counter-intuitive to the requirements of a rotational baseball swing. Imagine trying to adjust your swing on a breaking ball or change-up when the shape of the handle is resisting those adjustments.
In contrast, ProXR was designed from the ground-up specifically for a rotational baseball bat swing. It reduces compression in the hands and gives batters improved performance. Additionally, we tested our designs before we went to market and continue to do ongoing research and testing. As a side note, ProXR was accepted into the National Baseball Hall of Fame in 2011 because it is the first angled knob bat ever used in regular season games.”
Hypothesis
Based on the ProXR technology research, I was convinced the bat would alleviate compression forces in the hands, particularly the hitter’s bottom hand. However, my biggest question was, are we sacrificing performance to be safer? I think the ProXR technology, although safer, will sacrifice some performance.
The reason I labeled this a “baseball hitting drills for contact” experiment will become clear in the “Notes” section of the post, so stay tuned…
Baseball Hitting Drills for Contact: ProXR Bat Knob Experiment
33-inch wood bat model 243A with regular knob, and
33-inch wood bat model 243A with ProXR knob
Setup:
All swings for the baseball hitting drills for contact experiment were taken off the tee.
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 plus two baseballs in front of the back marker.
CLICK HERE for the Google Drive excel document with all the Ball Exit Speed (BES) readings and calculations.
We deleted radar gun mis-reads that registered below 30-mph on the gun.
Therefore, we deleted 3 mis-reads from the ProXR bat knob data, and averaged all ProXR BES readings to 97 swings.
Also, we deleted 2 mis-reads from the regular bat knob data, and averaged all regular bat knob BES readings to 98 swings.
The two tests in the baseball hitting drills for contact experiment were counter-balanced. Which consisted of eight blocks of 25-swings done in the following order ABBA BAAB. Swinging the “ProXR Knob” were letter ‘A’, and
“Regular Knob” were letter ‘B’. 200 total swings were completed in the experiment, 100 per test. Counter-balancing helps remove the “getting tired” and “not being warmed” up factors.
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A slight baseball hitting drills for contact advantage goes to the ProXR Knob…
Data Analysis & Conclusion
ZEPP READINGS:
Avg. Bat Speed at Impact increased by 1-mph using the ProXR knob bat,
Avg. Max Hand Speed didn’t change,
Avg. Time to Impact decreased by 0.004 swinging the ProXR knob bat,
Avg. Bat Vertical Angle at Impact decreased by 2 degrees using the ProXR knob bat, and
Avg. Attack Angle decreased by 4 degrees using the ProXR knob bat.
BUSHNELL BALL EXIT SPEED READINGS (CLICK HERE for Google Excel Doc):
Avg. Ball Exit Speed decreased by 0.4-mph using the ProXR bat knob, and
Top out Ball Exit Speed was 93-mph using both the ProXR and conventional bat knob.
Notes
In ProXR founder Grady Phelan’s initial testings of professional players, some of the players recorded a 3 to 10-mph bat speed increase using his ProXR knob. Now, I have a theory as to why my numbers were much smaller…
For all 208 swings I was playing with two baseball hitting drills for contact mechanical elements in my swing: 1) squeezing the bottom three fingers of my top hand only, from the moment I started my swing (picked up my front foot), through impact. And 2) having more of a “hunched over” posture at the start of the swing. I did this for all swings, so as not to “muddy up” the experiment.
The finger pressure may have neutralized the affect of the ProXR knob, since most of the “shock” at impact was taken by my top hand. Whereas a normal hitter not using top hand finger pressure would absorb the shock in the hamate bone, in their bottom hand, using the regular knob bat.
Playing around with both baseball hitting drills for contact elements of #2 above, I compared the Ball Exit Speed numbers from my previous experiment looking at the difference between the Mizuno Generation ($200 bat) to the Mizuno MaxCor ($400) bat where I wasn’t using the two mechanical changes. Interestingly, my average Ball Exit Speed with the $400 alloy MaxCore was 83.5-mph and top out exit speed was 90-mph. With the wood bats, my average Ball Exit Speed was 89 to 90-mph, and my top out exit speed was 93-mph. That’s a 6.5-mph jump in average & 3-mph boost in top out exit speed using a wood bat over a non-wood!! That’s 26 more feet on average, and 12 more feet in top out distance added using finger pressure and the “hunch”!
By using the two principles in #2 above, I was able to hit the “high-note” more consistently. I also had less “mis-reads” in this experiment, using the radar gun (5 total out of 208 swings), versus the Mizuno bat model experiment (18 total out of 200 swings). This is why I labeled this experiment “baseball hitting drills for contact”.
After about 50 swings in the the ProXR bat knob baseball hitting drills for contact experiment, I could tell you what my Ball Exit Speed readings were going to be after each cut, +/-1 mile per hour. Crazy!
The Bottom Line?
Well, according to the baseball hitting drills for contact ProXR bat knob experiment data, it looks like the ProXR knob holds a slight edge in performance versus the convention knob. Coupled with the fact that the ProXR knob reduces compression forces on the hands by 20 to 25% has me convinced that ProXR bat knob technology is a can’t lose tool for a hitter’s toolbox.
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Here Are 6 Christian Yelich Swing Analysis Hitting Mechanic Strategies Helping Him Dominate (or Not?🤔)
WARNING! This Christian Yelich swing analysis video has been done tongue-and-cheek…sarcastic…mocking…joking…so please don’t send me HATE email because of this cheeky Christian Yelich hitting mechanics video.
We teach our hitters to hit the ball back through the “tube”. Imagine the pitcher throwing the ball through a tube. Our hitters must hit the ball back through the tube. For example is the pitch comes in hitting zone at 4-feet from the ground, then ball comes off bat four-feet off the ground. If ball comes in two-inches off ground, then ball comes off bat two-inches off ground.
Consider this…
Major League average batted ball type percentages:
Line Drives = 20%
Ground-balls = 43%
Fly-balls = 38%
20% of the time the best in the world are hitting a line drive, and 80% of the time they’re miss hitting a line drive. By hitting the ball back through the tube, the hitter matches the plane of the pitch better. If ball is hit above or below the tube, then we use the adjustment principle paradoxical intention to get back to the tube.
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Discover how to coach footwork hitting mechanics with this Yordan Alvarez slow motion frame by frame swing breakdown. Learn how to teach perfect youth baseball and softball drills for beginners.
Yordan Alvarez Swing Analysis: Where Should Hitter “Adjustability” Be And How To Get It
Before we get to the Yordan Alvarez swing analysis … we MUST …
This is our 300th hitting blog post!!!! 😀
Golly, time has flown since we started HittingPerformanceLab.com back in 2014.
Since 2013, we’ve had almost 20,000 coaches, instructors, and parents – just like you – invest in our books, courses, and resources.
One of the comments we sometimes run into on the socials, is that we’re not credible to talk hitting because we’re “just trying to sell something”…
What these people don’t understand about our Goodwill…
This is our 300th FREE blog post on hitting!! And,
As of today, we’ve given away – for FREE – 8,293+ ebook versions of our books currently being sold on Amazon (majority of those are our Amazon bestselling book The Catapult Loading System).
You don’t know what you don’t know…you know?
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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.
And yes, I spend A LOT of time, money, and effort researching, studying, and working with hitters. This is what I do for a living. This isn’t a side hustle for me, like it is for some. 100% of my attention is spent researching, studying, tinkering, experimenting, testing, and talking to others who do the same…
So yes, I deserve to monetize my time, effort, and knowledge. I don’t go to this cotton headed ninny muggin’s workplace or business, and tell their customers not to buy from them because they’re “just trying to sell something”…
And by the way, just because someone sells a hitting product, DOES NOT automatically relieve them of credibility on the subject. Test their theories, philosophies, or products, and if they don’t work within 1-3 weeks, THEN call them a snake oil salesman.
That aside, one more thing…
Today (8/15) is my birthday! 39-years young. For some of you, I’m still a young buck…to others, an old fart…and for those around my same age, what did you think about the Beverly Hills 90210 reboot? 😛 lol
“Okay, I get it, lots to celebrate, so what can you teach me in the above Yordan Alvarez swing analysis video?”
Yordan Alvarez Swing Analysis Video Includes…
This Yordan Alvarez swing analysis video explores where hitters SHOULD build “adjustability” in the swing(HINT: it’s not in the upper half or the front arm). Here’s what we go over:
Sideways back foot,
Skipping back foot,
Front knee used to buy time, and
Back leg bend versus straightening.
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, I wanted to use the Scientific Method to analyze if “Blocking”, or using Ground Reaction Forces (GRF), produces a significant gain in bat speed.
and Tripod, and
by Thomas Myers, and
by Dr. Serge Gracovetsky.
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.
to record swings, and
to interact with Gravitational Forces is the pelvis.
– BIG-3.
. And a lot of instructors out there will take this to the extreme. And they think that by turning the pelvis in towards the catcher, so imagine a hitter’s belt buckle turning in to face the catcher. Like there was a flashlight coming out of the belt buckle and that you’re shining the flashlight at the catcher to get the hips some momentum.
just by keeping the pelvis in neutral and let the pelvis open when it does. He needs to create that bounce with the lower half, create that neck pressure up top.
in spinal engine, springy fascia.
, I wanted to use the Scientific Method to analyze what would happen to Bat and Ball Exit Speeds when using the same model and sized wood bat, but the only difference being that one bat has a regular knob, and the other a 
,
,
,
