Dustin Pedroia showing numbers but stepping in the bucket. Photo courtesy: ESPN.Go.com
Discover how to drills to stop a batter from stepping out of the box and into the bucket for baseball and softball players. What is stepping out of the box mean and should a hitter step when batting?
I took Mixed Martial Arts classes before it was considered MMA back in Junior High and High School. We practiced A LOT of grappling and lock & holds. One thing my Sensei (teacher) used to say when grabbing someone on the wrist, the common opponent response is to pull back, or fight against the resistance…
This week’s Dustin Pedroia video post will look at this fighting against the resistance concept. I’ll show you how fix stepping in the bucket using a little known human movement science technique called Reactive Neuromuscular Training (or RNT).
In this video blog post, we’re going to discuss:
Problems with stepping in the bucket,
Stepping out as a legit hitting strategy? And,
The #1 fix to stepping out.
Dr. Mark Cheng, kettlebell and corrective movement training expert, calls RNT “reverse psychology for the body”. He adds that “RNT operates on the premise that the body will do what it needs to maintain balance – homeostasis”. Essentially, we’re going to be training what Dr. Mark Cheng refers to as “feeding the mistake”…
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.
Stepping in the bucket is most prevalent at the Little League and youth softball levels. It’s when a hitter strides or steps away from home plate, which creates a big hole in their swing on the outside part of the plate. Contrarily, it can also be used as a legitimate strategy (crowding the plate) at the higher levels – we’ll get into that in a bit. At the youth levels, it can be caused by a few things:
Look at Dustin Pedroia’s back foot compared to his front. Use batter’s box inside chalk line as a point of reference. Photo courtesy: BattersBox.ca
Let me be clear, I’m not condoning the use of stepping in the bucket. In all youth hitters, it needs to be fixed. BUT, I’m going to show you an example of a player who uses it to his advantage as he crowds the plate…
2nd-baseman Dustin Pedroia from the Boston Red Sox. According to Baseball-Reference.com he’s 5 foot, 8 inches tall. 165-pounds, soaking wet. In a 162-game average season, Dustin Pedroia hits 15 homers and 45 doubles per season. His Batting Average on Balls In Play (BABIP – .307) and On-Base Plus Slugging% (OPS – .810) are above average.
Imagine what Dustin Pedroia could do if he was 6-foot, 200-pounds!
His home ballpark is Fenway, where it’s 315 feet down the left-field line. Very advantageous to a right handed hitter. How does stepping in the bucket work for him?
He’s almost crowding the plate (look at back foot in photo to right),
Because of #1, stepping out helps clear his pelvis before landing,
Shows his numbers a long time, and
As a result of #3, he can hit the ball to the opposite field like Derek Jeter.
So, let’s find out…
The #1 Fix for Stepping Out
As mentioned earlier, we’re going to infuse the Stepping in the Bucket Drill with RNT. Or what Dr. Mark Chang refers to as “feeding the mistake“. Here’s how you set up the Dustin Pedroia Stepping in the Bucket Drill:
You’ll need a workout band of light resistance from your local Sporting Goods store,
You’ll make a slip knot for the ankle,
The other end a partner can hold or can be secured using a wall anchor in the garage like in the video,
You want the band pulling the foot in the direction of stepping out (“feeding the mistake”),
At landing we want alignment with the heels.
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https://hittingperformancelab.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/10/dustin-pedroia-fix-stepping-in-the-bucket.jpg300300Joey Myershttps://hittingperformancelab.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/10/hitting-performance-labs_c90c0362088ef1d3d528f3078f4f8ac1-300x75.pngJoey Myers2022-05-18 09:30:452022-05-19 05:09:24Drills To Stop Batter From Stepping Out Of Box And Into Bucket For Baseball & Softball Players | What Is It & Should Hitter Step When Batting?
Answering Baseball Stride Drills Reader Question: “How Important Is Forward Momentum I Know We Must Go Forward But Does It Matter If Stride Is Big Or Small?”
Learn the answers to the following questions: when to use front foot hitting technique, where does the stride foot land, batting step length, and should you use no stride for baseball and softball swing?
“…Once upon a time, there was a little girl named Goldilocks. She went for a walk in the forest. Pretty soon, she came upon a house. She knocked and, when no one answered, she walked right in. At the table in the kitchen, there were three bowls of porridge. Goldilocks was hungry. She tasted the porridge from the first bowl.
“This porridge is too hot!’ she exclaimed. So, she tasted the porridge from the second bowl. ‘This porridge is too cold,’ she said. So, she tasted the last bowl of porridge. ‘Ahhh, this porridge is just right,’ she said happily and she ate it all up…”
More in a bit on how Goldilocks and the Three Bears relates to baseball stride drills, but first…
In the following post, we’re addressing the following concerns regarding baseball stride drills(also works for softball):
Stride direction and amount,
Stride type (experimenting with the ‘Float’),
Head movement from stride, and
Controlling center mass in stride.
Before getting into the how to baseball stride drills guide, I want to preface that the PURPOSE of a stride shouldn’t be power. CLICK HERE for a Zepp swing experiment that may confirm this. If it’s power you seek, then I’d advise looking at the “Build More Power” category. What purpose does a stride serve? A stride is for timing and initiating directional force. CLICK HERE for this post on that.
Let’s get started…
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Watch this video from Chris Welch at ZenoLink. Using data and science, he’s found reasonable markers in guiding baseball stride drills…
Here are highlights from baseball stride drills video above:
Stride length should be about 3.75-times hip width (hip-center-to-hip-center)*,
At landing, stride direction is to be closed about 10-degrees(straight forward toward pitcher is zero-degrees), and
Stride landing foot position to be about 65-degrees open (pointing perpendicular to home plate is zero-degrees, and straight at pitcher is 90-degrees).
(*Denotes 3.75-times hip-center-to-hip-center is length of stride measured from back foot to stride landing. NOT the measurement of the stride itself.)
Chris says in the video that if a hitter is under or over striding, then they’re hampering body’s ability to create torque. Stride landing MUST align ball of the foot with ball of the foot.
CLICK HERE for a post I did on how to fix “stepping in the bucket” using Reactive Neuromuscular Training (RNT). With the image to the right, it’s another one of my baseball stride drills using colored bands to fix stepping in bucket or crashing the plate. If the hitter is crashing too much with their stride, I get them to feel stepping out, and the reverse is true if they’re stepping out. I use variance to get them in the middle (blue band).
…Goldilocks Golden Rule.
Stride Type (‘Experimenting with the Float’)
For most intensive purposes, there are 3 stride types:
Leg kick – medium (Mike Trout) or large (Josh Donaldson),
Slide step – most Big League hitters use this. Aaron Judge, Robinson Cano, Joey Votto, and Andrew McCutchen just to name a few.
Toe-tap – I recommend this for my younger hitters. Troy Tulowitzki, Giancarlo Stanton, and Victor Martinez employ this.
Of course, there are variations to these, but these are the three broad categories of stride types. I call the stride the ‘float’ and ‘fall’. The ‘float’ is a momentary shifting of weight back towards the catcher before falling forward. Matt Nokes calls this the ‘Ride’ and ‘Stride’. Some hitting coaches don’t like this idea, but the reality is this is human movement. The Chinese have been practicing exactly this move in Tai Chi for thousands of years…in stepping to my right, I have to make a brief weight shift to the left first. CLICK HERE for a post analyzing this dynamic move.
I included a lot of video examples (CLICK HERE) of MLB hitters using these different stride types to help guide your baseball stride drills. In that post I concluded with this:
“When it comes to [baseball stride drills], Forward Momentum is the objective. How we get our hitters there doesn’t really matter. Just give them examples of how to accomplish more FoMo, and allow them to tinker and test until they find something they’re comfortable with doing.”
…Goldilocks Golden Rule.
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There’s been few online Hitting Guru #57’s saying we want minimal to zero head movement when hitting. They claim, the more the head moves, the less your eyes see the ball. And they point to Barry Bonds as their champion. On paper, this conclusion looks great, and with Bonds as their poster child seems argument seems pretty reasonable.
However, what science says and what the top 50 hitters in the Major Leagues are doing reveals something completely different. The opposite actually. Listen, I agree minimal to zero head movement when hitter’s stride foot lands. And if baseball stride drills are done correctly, this should be a natural result. But I don’t agree with minimal to zero head movement GETTING TO stride landing – BEFORE the turn starts.
The biggest bomb NUKING minimal to zero head movement argument, is this 2013 article by Dan Farnsworth at FanGraphs.com titled, “Breaking Down the Swing: Best Hitters of 2012“. Farnsworth compiled a list of the top 50 hitters from the 2012 season according to Fangraph’s batting component of WAR(this is a big deal metric).
He looked at side views of each of these hitters from highlights of the 2012 season, in which each player hit a home-run. Farnsworth says the main complaint coaches have with early head movement, is that moving the head forward “speeds up the ball”. This may be true, however during the stride the hitter hasn’t made a definitive decision to swing yet. In the Head Movement piece of the article, Farnsworth concludes:
“Next to no relationship here. I think this one can be considered dead, simply based on the fact that all of them moved forward to some degree.”
Did you catch that?! Farnsworth revealed in his research of top-50 hitters in 2012, that ALL moved their head forward to some degree. You see, head movement is inevitable in ALL dynamic movement. Early is okay, late is not. Don’t sit there and point to hitting outliers like Barry Bonds, and tell me the top-50 hitters of 2012 all had it wrong. It was true then as it is now.
Besides, did you know fresh out of the box, humans come with “video stabilizer” eye software? Ask an ophthalmologist. In addition, your knees, ankles (Achilles tendon), and hip joints act as shock absorbers too. If we start our hitters in an athletic position, and most importantly, they land in one, then the hitter will be fully optimized for minimizing the ball “speeding up”.
Not too much, not too little, just right…Goldilocks Golden Rule.
And last but not least…
Controlling Center of Mass in the Stride
Center of Mass (COM) in the human body is located at the belly button. This was established in the womb. The umbilical cord is the center of an unborn child’s universe. I say this to demonstrate the importance of COM in controlling human movement.
Now, we don’t want baseball stride drills to promote too large or too small of a stride. Remember? Goldilocks Golden Rule. Chris Welch from Zenolink said the stride should be about 3.75 times hip-center-to-hip-center, and aligned are back ball of the foot to front ball of the foot at stride landing. How do we teach this though? In this post I received the following question from one of my readers…
“One specific issue I see in a lot of my players is timing and getting over the front knee too far at contact. What are some good tee drills for staying back and any idea how I can get them to feel it when done correctly.”
WHY we separate PROCESS from PERFORMANCE with hitters learning something new,
How it takes time to change ineffective movement momentum into effective, and…
Training 4-5 days per week, for AT LEAST 5-mins each day.
And remember the …Goldilocks Golden Rule.
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https://hittingperformancelab.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/04/step-in-bucket-setup.png435450Joey Myershttps://hittingperformancelab.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/10/hitting-performance-labs_c90c0362088ef1d3d528f3078f4f8ac1-300x75.pngJoey Myers2022-05-18 09:15:362022-05-19 05:06:11When To Use Front Foot Hitting Technique, Where Does Stride Foot Land, Batting Step Length, & Should You No Stride For Baseball And Softball Swing?
…In this Matt Holliday video we’re mourning the loss of plate discipline in today’s youth game. World renowned motivational speaker Tony Robbins once 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.”
In his 11-year career, 6-time All-Star Matt Holliday has amassed an On-Base Percentage of .387 (according to Baseball-Reference.com). This is impressive, considering the league average is .340.
Plate discipline is critical, and in this video, we’ll discover How-To:
Fix 5 common mistakes at practice,
Develop a solid plate discipline strategy, and
Pitch recognition is the Holy grail to plate discipline.
How-To Fix 5 Common Mistakes at Practice
We have to make batting practice as “game-like” as we can. The FIVE worst mistakes are:
Rapid-fire batting practice – take your time tossing the next pitch coaches. You don’t have to wait 15-secs to throw the next ball but at least 5-7 seconds would be better than a pitch every 2-3 seconds is typically what I see.
Adults standing up and throwing to young kids from 25-35 feet – this makes for an unrealistic plane of the pitch. I typically throw seated on a bucket from about 20-30 feet. This gives a move realistic version of the pitch plane.
Marathon hitting rounds – hitting rounds of 10, 20, and 50 before taking a break. In games, hitters are lucky to get three swings in one at-bat. Instead of training like a marathoner, we must train like a sprinter or power lifter. Less reps with higher intensity.
NO home plate for pitchers to throw over – this seems like an obvious one. No frame of reference (the plate) leads to having ZERO clue of where the pitch is in relation to the strike-zone. Plus hitters adapt anyway, so we see hitters shuffling their feet when pitch is thrown inside or away. And…
NO plate discipline strategy – the commonly taught strategy out there is to sit right smack in the middle of timing. Look away, adjust in. Look in, adjust away. Look middle-middle and adjust in or away. Look to hit it straight up the middle. Don’t let a juicy pitch go to waste. The more a hitter levels up, the less likely these strategies work. If this is news to you, then you MUST get educated in Effective Velocity from my good friend Perry Husband.
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Guys like Matt Holliday ABSOLUTELY have a strategy at the plate. Coach Mike Batesole at Fresno State showed me this in 2003. His 2008 Bulldogs won the College World Series. For younger hitters, use this strategy in practice ONLY. It doesn’t work as well in games until about Middle or High School, when pitchers get better with their accuracy and their own hitter game plans. Check it out:
Hitters hunt either middle in or middle down. Middle up or middle down. Barrel path plays a bid role in this, check out this article for more on that.
Whatever location hitters is hunting, we can add a layer of difficulty by having them hunt either a fastball or curve-ball. Randomly. Not called out so hitter knows beforehand what’s coming. So they hunt a specific pitch in a specific location, and ignore (or take) anything else.
A great way for beginners, if we were doing a middle in versus middle away fastball ONLY round, is for coach to throw balls inner half and outer have randomly, while hitter calls out “inside” or “outside” without swinging – only taking. We can do the same for middle up versus middle down AND fastball versus curve-ball. Do a ton of reps until they get good at it. This is SUPER good for 10u hitters on down. For both baseball and softball – curve-balls aside.
This is more for zero or one strike scenarios. We call them “get-it, get-it!” rounds…if you get your pitch, then you GET IT!
Pitch Recognition is the Holy Grail to Plate Discipline
I was never taught pitch recognition. I was taught to pick up spin. And if you’re ONLY doing that, then you’re too late. Here are some of our posts on pitch recognition:
Any questions about this Part-3 Matt Holliday: The Death Of Plate Discipline article? Please post below. In case you missed Part-1 and 2 to the Vision, Tracking, and Timing video series, then CLICK HERE for Part-1, and CLICK HERE for Part-2.
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https://hittingperformancelab.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/05/Good-Aggressive-Plate-Discipline-Hitting-Approach-For-Baseball-Softball-Players1.jpg7201280Joey Myershttps://hittingperformancelab.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/10/hitting-performance-labs_c90c0362088ef1d3d528f3078f4f8ac1-300x75.pngJoey Myers2022-05-17 09:00:072024-02-18 01:49:48Good Aggressive Plate Discipline Hitting Approach For Baseball & Softball Players 2022 | High School Mindset By Count & How To Pull
Baseball Swing Mechanics Experiment: Squash The Bug Ineffective?
This post discusses youth hitting fundamentals of why squishing the bug is bad for baseball and softball players in 2022? Learn basic how to hit the ball in a certain direction beginner swing tips experiment. This information is great for 10-year old’s and younger.
Question: Do “Squish the Bug” Baseball Swing Mechanics Depress Bat Speed?
Here are the two test swings from my intern for the summer, redshirt college Frosh, Tyler Doerner…
Using the Zepp (Labs) Baseball app, I wanted to use the Scientific Method to analyze if the baseball swing mechanics “squishing/squashing the bug”, during the turn, increases or decreases bat speed. The term “squishing the bug” means rotating the back foot, on the ground, during the turn. Like you’re squishing a bug.
This can be a very sore subject, and hotly debated with a passion, in the Church of Baseball. Surprisingly, it’s still widely taught throughout the lower levels. Although a few images off the internet of effective swingers like Cano, Bautista, McCutchen, etc. will reveal “squishing the bug” isn’t what the best are doing.
So we wanted to test it…
My intern for the summer, redshirt college freshman Tyler Doerner did this experiment. This post is for you Joe (you know who you are ;-)…
Background Research
One of the main objectives of whether to skip the foot, or keep it on the ground, has to do with transferring linear momentum, better known as un-weighting or forward momentum. Check out these four HPL posts for a baseball swing mechanics background on this:
Now, for you academics, CLICK HERE to watch a short 2-minute PBS video on Circus Physics and the Conservation of Linear Momentum.
So, after reading/watching the above videos and posts, we should be at a common understanding of Forward Momentum.
The next objective of “squishing the bug” versus “skipping the back foot” during the turn, boils down to allowing the body to transfer energy effectively. This has to do with springy fascia in the body…
In Thomas Myers’s book Anatomy Trains, he talks about a cotton candy like springy material that the bones and muscles float it, and what gives muscles their shape called fascia.
Specifically in the book, he talks about the Front & Back Functional Lines. CLICK HERE for a post I did on this, featuring Ted Williams and Matt Kemp.
In the following video, Thomas Myers explains this idea of Tensegrity, or Tension-Integrity. There are compression and tension forces acting on the body at all times. Within the body these two opposing forces are always searching for balance…
For a hitter, if the body moves forward, but the back foot and leg stays behind, then these forces don’t get optimally transferred from body to barrel to ball. In other words, the backside gets “left behind”.
Hypothesis
Based on the above research, I think “squishing the bug” baseball swing mechanics will have a depressing effect on bat and hand speed because it doesn’t allow for full transfer of momentum and release of elastic energy in the springy fascia.
“Squish the Bug” Baseball Swing Mechanics Experiment
Forward momentum was taken out of this baseball swing mechanics experiment byhitting from a 1-2 second pause at landing
Back two “baseball markers” were set at about 3 baseballs apart
The two tests in the experiment were counter-balanced. Which consisted of eight blocks of 25-swings done in the following order ABBA BAAB. Say “squish the bug” was letter ‘A’, and “skipping back foot’ was 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.
Data Collected (Zepp Baseball App):
There were significant changes in Average Bat & Hand Speed, Time to Impact, and surprisingly, the hitter’s Attack Angle in this baseball swing mechanics experiment…
Data Analysis & Conclusion
+8-mph difference in average Impact Bat Speed, siding on “Skipping Back Foot”,
+3-mph difference in average Hand Speed Max, siding on “Skipping Back Foot”,,
-0.019 difference in average Time To Impact, siding on “Skipping Back Foot”, and
+4-degree difference in average Attack Angle, siding on “Skipping Back Foot”.
Notes
I think the “Squish the Bug” baseball swing mechanics experiment results were overwhelmingly clear.
Tyler did not technically keep his back foot posted to the ground during the “squish the bug” tests, so there still was an element of un-weighting going on with his backside.
In which case, measuring Ball Exit Speed (or how fast the ball came off the bat) may have netted interesting data to consider, compared to Impact Bat Speed. However, with the results with the other readings of Avg. Hand Speed, Time To Impact, and Attack Angle, I think we can put the “Squish the Bug” baseball swing mechanics myth to bed 😀
The data and results suggests that when a hitter “leaves behind their backside”, there’s a slowing down of forward momentum, and the body naturally decelerates because the springy fascia is forced to stretch, but not release.
Keep in mind what I call the Goldilocks Syndrome. The back foot can skip too far (porridge too hot), and it can also not skip at all (porridge too cold). We want the back foot to skip just right.
The Bottom Line?
In this “Squish the Bug” baseball swing mechanics experiment, “Skipping the Back Foot” showed a notable difference in average Bat & Hand Speed, Time To Impact, and the hitters Attack Angle. I want to encourage you to tinker and test this for yourself. The objective of these swing experiments is to put modern hitting theory to the test, literally. We NEED to test based on data, not feelings. Share these results with friends.
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https://hittingperformancelab.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/07/baseball-swing-mechanics-experiment-tylerd.png452755Joey Myershttps://hittingperformancelab.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/10/hitting-performance-labs_c90c0362088ef1d3d528f3078f4f8ac1-300x75.pngJoey Myers2022-05-10 10:00:412022-05-11 04:04:18Youth Hitting Fundamentals Why Squishing Bug Bad For Baseball & Softball In 2022? | Basic How To Hit In Certain Direction Beginner Swing Tips Experiment For 10 Years Olds & Younger
I wanted to do a follow up on the Matt Nokes post from a few weeks ago.
I received quite a few emails, like the following, from coaches who were a little confused as to what Nokes’s referred to as ‘back foot sideways’…
So I decided to do a short video (I know, a rarity these days :-P), seeing if I could bring some clarity to the issue.
Brian Clahane from Canada had emailed a comment about the Nokes post:
“Hey Joey, It’s Brian again…So you really have me thinking about this back foot sideways thing. I have been watching video and looking at still flip screens I have of hitters and I have to tell you I only see evidence of it on outside pitches or pitches hitters were late on.(Mccutchen and Miggie quite often when going other way)
I sent you this video of Cano to look at 1-because I know you use him as an example a lot and 2-because I found it under your name even though Chas Pippitt doing breakdown. Video shows what I keep seeing in that back foot rotated forward and normally as in this case off ground completely (not sideways). If I am misinterpreting what keeping back foot sideways at contact means, please explain because it’s driving me crazy thinking I’m missing something! I just keep seeing back foot forward at contact. Thanks, Brian”
The following video Brian had linked in the email from Chas:
The bottom line…
Here’s Roberto Perez’s 2nd dinger in Game 1 of 2016 WS. It was to LCF. Look at his back foot. Photo courtesy: MLB.com
When looking at video, the chest view IS NOT helpful. Look for pitcher’s, catcher’s side, or over head views.
The principle is to get the pelvis (or hips) perpendicular to impact, NOT to the pitcher.
The back foot skips in some cases, and not so much in others. I’ve seen it skip away from home plate, toward the front foot, and toward the plate (not as often). In other words, you don’t have to have one without the other.
What may also help are these two shifting foot pressure videos (Mickey Mantle AND RopeBat).
One of the cues I liked came from Mark Meger from the Matt Nokes post, “With our 13U kids we do emphasize the rear hip drive but we shun turning that back foot. That should happen after contact as shown here.”
The sideways back foot will deviate slightly depending on an inside v. outside pitch.
In YouTube, search “[favorite player’s name] 2016 highlights”, and watch the behavior of the back foot at impact, and make note of batted ball direction.
Also, it doesn’t seem ONLY .300 hitters do this because Roberto Perez, in the images above, is a career .220 hitter.
My observation is the back foot acts like a “governor” to the rotation of the hips. It’s like it helps anchor down the back hip from over rotating the impact zone.
Doing this helps to align the body on the plane of the pitch better, and may cut down on rolling over versus a full rotation of the hips, on every pitch.
Zepp experiment coming soon from HPL on this 😉
Please post any concerns, counter-arguments, and/or observations below…
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https://hittingperformancelab.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/10/roberto-perez-1st-homer-wsgm1-lf.png401542Joey Myershttps://hittingperformancelab.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/10/hitting-performance-labs_c90c0362088ef1d3d528f3078f4f8ac1-300x75.pngJoey Myers2022-05-09 09:00:032022-05-10 04:53:36How To STOP Over Rotating Back Foot & Squishing Bug For Baseball And Softball In 2022 | Hitting Drills To Properly Use Legs, Keep Back Foot Down OR Lift Back Foot
Little Known Ways To Fix Hitter Closing Eyes During Swing
Discover batting drills to STOP hitters from pulling their head position off the baseball or softball. Works for kiddos aged 10 year old on down. Fix closing eyes, front shoulder from flying open, and swinging too early. First and foremost, make sure to address the fear of getting hit by the ball before trying any of these drills.
The above video, and following copy, gives our advice on a comment from one of our readers:
“I have a girl that closes her eyes when she is about to hit the ball?”
…we’ll go over…
What we can learn from Arnold Schwarzenegger in the movie Terminator,
Swinging across face,
Hitting a heavy bag,
Wiffle ball bats and balls,
Hammers, nails, and clapping, and
Repetition.
Hey what’s going on? It is Joey Myers from ‘Hitting Performance Lab’ again. In this video, I’m going to answer another reader question. This is actually an interesting one, and it’s one that I actually don’t see in lot of hitters, but I do occasionally see it. The reader comment we give advice on is: “I have a girl that closes her eyes when she is about to hit the ball”.
Now obviously, vision is a big part of this game – tracking the ball is a big part of baseball and softball. So, that would be something that we want to try and see if we can train into our swings. The moral of the story is repetition. It just takes repetition. A lot of times the hitters that don’t take a lot of swings, on their own at home or whatever, they tend to kind of do this.
What we can Learn from Arnold Schwarzenegger in the Movie Terminator
So, we have to get them the right repetitions. I want to start off with just a quick story on Arnold Schwarzenegger in his book, his autobiography‘Total Recall’, talked about a time when he was talking to I think was James Cameron, whoever the producer was, or I think it was director of ‘The Terminator’. The first one, and it was supposed to cast Arnold, this is after he got off the movieConan the Barbarian, did pretty well with that. Started to become a rising star, and they were gonna cast Arnold as John Connor in Terminator 1, the guy in the future that comes back to try and stop the machines from taking over the world.
So, Arnold Schwarzenegger is supposed to be the good guy, and OJ Simpson ironically was supposed to be the bad guy. He was going to be the Machine. Arnold was sitting there at lunch with James Cameron, whoever the director was going to be, and they were talking. Arnold was saying “Hey, The Terminator is a machine, so tell OJ, coach him that when he shoots a gun or pulls a trigger or whatever loud sounds, his eyes can’t blink, he can’t blink. For those of you out there who haven’t read ‘Total Recall’ maybe don’t know that Arnold was actually in the Austrian army when he was younger, drove tank. He’s very versed, and has been around a lot of guns being shot off, cannons going off, and different things like that.
So, he’s giving James Cameron all these tips to give to OJ, and James Cameron goes “you know what, why don’t you be the Terminator, you know so much about being a machine”. Arnold was like “No, no, no”. He didn’t want to do it because he didn’t want to get typecast as the bad guy. But actually, hindsight being fifty-fifty, that was actually a good move by him. That’s what he ended up doing.
The idea of blinking, right. You can see it encapsulated in that Arnold Schwarzenegger story where you got a guy like OJ, who’s never been around that before, shooting guns and all this at least not till later right. You have Arnold who was trained in the Austrian military. So, you have Arnold who put in the repetition, OJ did not. This is why repetition is kind of the underbelly of a lot of the things that we’ll talk about in this video.
Swinging Across the Face
So, one of the first things though that could be an issue, and I’ve seen in local or some of my online hitters on video, is when I see the eyes closing, I also see the head turning. What Matt Notes calls ‘Chasing your face’, like there are swings chasing their face or pulling their head off the ball, pulling their head out. What they have to make sure that they’re doing first, because it doesn’t matter if they are closing their eyes, turning their head this way, is just as bad as closing their eyes. If you fix the eyes from closing at impact and major leaguers probably do this too, I don’t know if all of them, maybe they all keep their eyes open at impact. But you’re gonna see some blinking going on, but not right before impact. You’re not going to see this.
But you’ve got to make sure you should correct the head, so we want to make sure we’re swinging across our face. It’s not head pointing at the plate, swinging across our face like say Nolan Arenado. Our head actually, it’s gonna be somewhere, our nose and chin, it’s gonna be somewhere out in front of impact. We cannot see impact with the center part of our vision, we see it out of the corner of our eye. We want the head to be somewhere out in front of impact, out in front of the plate. Then we want them to swing across their face, not chase their face. So, that’s number one, and I’ll have a video link, or a link to another blog post where I talk about swinging across your face. Again, Matt Notes came up with that.
If you’re watching this on YouTube, just go down to the About section, click the link, go to the regular post, and the link should be in there. ‘Swinging across your face’. So, that’s number one…
Hitting a Heavy Bag
Also, you can get good practice about hitting something with the bat, again think Arnold Schwarzenegger, Austrian army, shooting a lot of guns. By hitting a heavy bag with a bat or with your fists, then you get used to trying to see the bat or fist hit the bag. Getting used to that and trying to keep the eyes open while doing it. Again, repetition is key, and it’s not hundreds of swings a day. It’s what I tell my hitters, four days a week, five minutes each day, that’s all I tell them.
So, if you just worked on this, if this was a big issue, eyes are closing at impact and before impact, then I would say probably within two to three weeks, you’re gonna see a major change in your softball player, your baseball player’s swing. So, hitting the heavy bag is number one, you don’t have to worry about hitting the ball, about missing it, it’s actually a object that’s there, it’s big, they know they’re gonna hit it. So, they can practice with the eyes being open at impact.
Wiffle ball bats and balls
The other thing is Wiffle balls and bats. Wiffle balls and bats are light, it’s meant to be light, it’s not gonna hurt them, they’re not gonna feel a lot of recoil from the ball off the bat. So, there’s really nothing to be afraid of if they get hit by the Wiffle ball, it doesn’t really hurt that bad, hopefully you’re not chucking it at them. Because it can hurt, but if you’re not chucking it at them, if they’re having a hard time with blinking their eyes, then you want to be kind and soft with the training at the beginning.
So, Wiffle balls and bats, get them used to, try to get them to, keep their eyes open. They don’t have to necessarily need to see the ball hit the bat, but they have to keep their eyes open at impact when the wiffle bat and the ball collide.
So, that’s another way that you can spend your four days a week, five minutes each day.
Hammers, Nails, and Clapping
The other thing is pretty simple, if you have a tool shed at your house or in the garage…maybe you’re big into making stuff, carpentry and you have hammers and nails, best to do this. Because almost similar to hitting, the only thing is you’re hitting a stationary object but you’re taking the hammer, and you’re trying to pound that nail, just put nails out in a stump, if you got an old stump just like the old game who could sink the nail with one hit. Where you’re knocking the nail in, and have her or him, the hitter, practice hitting that nail and keeping their eyes open, and trying to see the contact point of the hammer, the head of the hammer, and the head of the nail.
Another way that you can do that, ‘Clapping’ is another way. So clapping, try to keep your eyes open as you are clapping instead of blinking the eyes. Clap until they can do it, and have their eyes open during that motion. So, that’s another way to help kind of condition it.
Repetition
But again, it’s all about repetition. Repetition is with all this stuff, again if you look at OJ in Terminator vs Arnold Schwarzenegger in the Terminator role. Arnold was better conditioned behaviorally to be able to keep his eyes open while firing a weapon, and act like an actual machine.
I hope this answered your question: “I have a girl that closes her eyes, when she is about to hit the ball”. Make sure that we’re swinging smarter by moving better, and before I let you go…
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https://hittingperformancelab.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/11/closing-eyes-when-swinging-e1573711657346.png260500Joey Myershttps://hittingperformancelab.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/10/hitting-performance-labs_c90c0362088ef1d3d528f3078f4f8ac1-300x75.pngJoey Myers2022-04-25 09:00:222022-04-25 17:23:11Batting Drills To STOP Pulling Head Position Off Baseball Or Softball For 10 Year Olds | Fix Closing Eyes, Front Shoulder From Flying Open, & Swinging Too Early
How To Turn Fastpitch Softball Hitting Mechanics Into A High Level Baseball Swing…Can It Be Done?
Can fastpitch softball hitting mechanics be equal to baseball?
Why is the fastpitch softball swing different than baseball? Or is it? How about vs slowpitch softball? Interesting discussion on swing plane, leg kick, launch and attack angle, ball exit velocity and bat speed. Check out this 2022 age chart for exit velocity recommendations. Quick bullets:
(WARNING: this fastpitch softball hitting mechanics post is a mini-RANT, about 2,000+ words, so please set aside about a 10-min reading time)…
I received this email the other day:
“I cringe when see hitting programs that are designed by baseball players and say they teach softball hitting as a 17 year fastpitch softball coach and 26 year slow pitch player the fundamental difference in the swing many programs ignore especially when teaching fastpitch the swing has to take the most direct path to the pitched generally released at 3 to 4 feet verse a baseball is released at roughly 7 such as right view pro I’ve seen many teams and worse players swings destroyed by coaches teaching baseball to softball players please take this in account, thanks”
Before addressing this reader’s email, I wanted to mention something for those who teach fastpitch softball hitting mechanics…
Later in the post, I want to make a BIG ASK to coaches and instructors currently working with fastpitch softball hitters that are using HPL hitting principles, to please share your triumphs and/or sticking points with us.
But before we get there,
I wanted to address a couple fastpitch softball hitting mechanics points from the email above:
Translating baseball into fastpitch softball hitting mechanics,
Differences between the two swings?
The BIG ASK…
Translating Baseball into Fastpitch Softball Hitting Mechanics
Who can we trust to give effective information when searching “fastpitch softball hitting mechanics” on YouTube?
The BIGGEST problem with most self-proclaimed “baseball hitting experts” online is…
They promote a hitting ‘philosophy’ or ‘theory’.
Their theories are a mish-mash of popular hitting programs, books, websites, YouTube channels, etc.
Did you know…
There’s a more certain standard – or measuring stick – that most hitting experts ignore, or just plain don’t understand?
Hitting MUST be based off human movement principles, or rules, that are validated by science…NOT philosophy or theory.
We’ve reverse engineered the hitting system promoted at the Hitting Performance Lab.
What does that mean?
Good news for coaches teaching fastpitch softball hitting mechanics…
You can bring a certain and more effective hitting standard to teaching your athletes how to hit.
And it WORKS a majority of the time!!
Beautifully.
Do you remember the first time you stumbled into an online hitting forum, discovering how much of a pissing contest it was?
The people who “seemed” to have authority on the subject of fastpitch softball hitting mechanics were coaches who:
Had coached the longest,
Had played the longest OR had the biggest collection of trophies at the highest level, or
Had watched a million hours of slow motion video of ONLY ‘the best’ hitters.
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Someone belligerently throwing 30+ years of coaching experience in your face, most likely has the same one year of coaching experience repeated each year for 30+ years. If you’re not growing, you’re dying. And if you have to talk about how many years you’ve been coaching to desperately seek significance, then most likely your teaching has been obsolete for some time now.
You don’t hear Coaches Augie Garrido, Gordie Gillespie, or Bob Bennett lurching around online forums shoving their weight around demanding that people listen and respect them.
Note to thosewho’ve played the longest or have the biggest collection of trophies at the highest level…
The same lurching ego behavior can be seen, and is being used by you too.
As a matter of fact,
I just ran into an ex-pro guy last night on Facebook (I assume he was because he said he has a helluva playing resume, lol).
Brother, I hate to tell you, but…
Playing and teaching are totally different skills sets. I don’t care what your playing resume is, because you’re starting over as a coach.
Furthermore, you MUST teach the RIGHT things. The right fastpitch softball hitting mechanics.
Just because you ‘swung down on the ball’ to create backspin, DOES NOT mean that’s what actually happened if we looked at your swing using slow motion video.
I’m sorry, but what’s ‘feel’ and what’s ‘real’ are two totally different things.
Note to those coacheswho accumulated a million hours watching slow motion video of ONLY ‘the best’ hitters…
Although these hitters are and were effective in their swings, they also have, and had, ineffective human movement. I’m sorry, but what’s ‘feel’ and what’s ‘real’ are two totally different things. that MUST not be repeated by younger and/or smaller hitters.
Not just because younger hitters don’t have the capability of doing them, but because THEY SHOULD NOT be doing them, PERIOD.
In other words, they succeed, and succeeded, DESPITE elements of ineffective mechanics, NOT because of them.
Who you study is VERY important.
Big sluggers can get away with murder because of their body mass. Think of some of the BIGGER hitters you’ve come across, swimming in the fishbowl that is a Little League baseball field.
You’ll learn more of what effective fastpitch softball hitting mechanics look like from smaller sluggers like (6-feet on down):
Sierra Romero
Lauren Chamberlain
Sadaharu Oh (if you don’t know who this is, you need to study up!!),
Hank Aaron,
Pete Rose,
Ty Cobb,
Josh Donaldson,
Dustin Pedroia,
Jose Bautista,
Andrew McCutchen, and
Robinson Cano.
AND by the way, video analysis is important,
Sierra Romero is a great model for the Catapult Loading System. Photo courtesy: fastpitchnews.org
But MUST come SECOND ONLY to the human movement “rules”.
Now listen close, because this is IMPORTANT to translating fastpitch softball hitting mechanics into baseball…
Once we strip away a coach/player’s elevated credentials and/or experience, then look at their analysis through the lens of human movements “rules”, that are validated by science, and it’s revealed how inconsistently ineffective their teachings really are.
They soften their system’s ineffectiveness by saying,
“Well, every hitter is different and what works for one hitter may not work for another”…OR,
“You can’t teach young hitters to do what MLB hitters are doing.”
BULL.
They’re copping-out.
But it’s not their fault.
They just don’t know any better.
They’re not growing, they’re dying.
And if you believe that what works for one hitter may not work for another, then CLICK HERE to read about the HPL One-Swing-Fits-All system. It’s not what you think it is.
The HPL hitting system works…consistently, no matter if we’re talking fastpitch softball hitting mechanics or baseball…7yo or 24yo…male or female…big or small.
We have literally thousands of coaches and parents across the nation putting into practice the HPL hitting principles, and get this…THEY ACTUALLY WORK!!
I get a steady stream of weekly emails, from coaches, sharing their success stories with the system from both the baseball and softball worlds.
(If you go to the HPL homepage, scroll all the way down to the bottom, and you’ll find over 45 rotating testimonials from these coaches and players under “Customer Testimonials”. It rotates through 5 of them at a time, then if you refresh the screen, then it’ll rotate through another 5).
The good news for the fastpitch softball hitting mechanics coach, is that credentials don’t mean a thing.
It’s outcomes.
Does your system consistently work?
Do you have a:
98-lb 11yo hitting the ball 300-feet, multiple times?
95-pounder hitting their first dinger over 270-feet? (this is actually the brother of the above hitter but 2 years younger)
115-lb 11yo not only hitting the ball 300-feet multiple times, but hitting over 40 homers in one season…to ALL fields?
66-lb 11yo hitting the ball over 180-feet? OR,
a 115-lb 13yo hitting the ball 330-feet?
The video below is of my hitter #1 above hitting his 300-foot monster shot. Please note, he was playing on a field in Manteca, CA that had 315-foot fences, so the ‘shot’ was a long double, not a homerun. Dad played baseball at Division-1 Chico State in the late-90’s, and shared the batted ball’s estimated distance, in the following text message to me:
“This is Orin hitting the farthest ball he’s ever hit. It landed a couple feet short of the warning track in Manteca, which is right around 300-feet away”.
If you aren’t achieving these types of outcomes with your hitters, then I fear that you should rethink the effectiveness of YOUR hitting system.
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Now, before getting into the differences between fastpitch softball hitting mechanics and baseball…
It should be pointed out,
That I’ve spent 10+ years in the corrective fitness industry with too many certifications to count. I’m self taught and have a passionate curiosity for the science of human movement, by people such as:
Dr. Kelly Starrett,
Thomas Myers,
Ida Rolf,
Dr. Erik Dalton,
Dr. Serge Gracovetsky, and
Many others…
And it’s interesting to note, that I learned more about the swing from the aforementioned people, than in all 17 years of my baseball playing career, the last four of those playing at Division-1 Fresno State!!
The bottom line is this,
There are certain ‘rules’ to human movement that are validated by science. These “rules” don’t care if you’re male or female…black or white…7 yo or 24 yo…big or small.
THEY WORK FOR ALL HUMANS!!!
The ‘rules’ are like bumpers at a bowling alley. They’re guidelines to an effective swing. What happens inside the bumpers doesn’t matter, just as long as you work within them.
Now, on the differences between the two swings…
A friend of mine since High School, made this comment on a Facebook Post of mine:
“As a former baseball player and current fastpitch softball coach. I think hitting a softball at 43ft is harder than hitting a baseball from 60ft. I’m talking about straight fastballs too, special pitches would be difficult for anyone. My first year coaching softball I had a hard time hitting a pitch. Had to adjust everything I learned from my baseball swing and vision.”
I told him, if he grew up playing fastpitch softball and hitting from the closer distances, he’d be a much better fastpitch softball hitter today!
It’s about collecting data.
The main differences in the two swings are:
Reaction Time (or timing), and
Knee Action.
Reaction Time (or timing)
Getting back to the original reader email, two differences they mentioned:
“…the swing has to take the most direct path to the pitch”,
“…the pitch is generally released at 3 to 4 feet verse a baseball is released at roughly 7″…
Look, the first issue is about reaction time.
Fast-pitch softball hitting mechanics DO NOT call for ‘shorter swings’ than a baseball player. They have to start their swings sooner!
If we start teaching hitters to ‘swing down on the ball’, be ‘short to it’, or an A to B barrel path, then we set the hitter up for inconsistent productive outcomes.
Why inconsistent productive outcomes?
Because an A to B barrel path is ineffective when looking at it through the lens of validated science:
Centripetal v. Centrifugal Forces,
Transferring Linear into Angular Momentum, and
Inertial Forces changing directions.
Two priority hitting objectives, for ALL hitters, MUST be to:
Get the barrel on the plane of the pitch as early as possible, and
Keep the barrel on plane for as long as possible.
We coaches have to build a large margin for error into the swing, not shorten it.
WHY?
Because of a major dose of uncertainty, hitters don’t know what type of pitch is coming, its speed, or its location beforehand.
By the way, swings can still be compact without an A –> B barrel path. We MUST be teaching both hitters, more of an A –> B –> C path. My readers call the latter, the Nike Swoosh barrel path.
The second reader issue above has to do with the angle of the downward traveling pitch.
And YES, even a softball is traveling down by the time it reaches the hitter, thanks to Gravitational Forces and air density.
As soon as the ball leaves the pitcher’s hand (both fastpitch and baseball), the ball begins slowing down, rotating less, and ultimately falls towards the earth.
What is clear though, is the down angle of a fastpitch fastball isn’t quite as drastic as a baseball fastball. A fastpitch fastball just isn’t exposed to Gravitational Forces long enough.
Which is also to say, evidenced in the Sports Science video above, since there’s less distance for the softball to travel, it loses less energy than a baseball will. So that’s why we see Jennie Finch put a hurtin’ on that force plate!!
If you had the baseball pitcher throw from a distance of 43-foot, I think he’d crush the force plate as well. Just my thoughts…
So reaction time and the hitter’s barrel attack angle being different,
How does a fastpitch softball hitter manage her barrel attack angle differently than a baseball hitter?
With…
Knee Action
Lauren Chamberlain wide stance, but uses shifting foot pressure and HER KNEES to hit. Photo courtesy: YouTube user Paul Arebalo
In order to compensate for the slight difference in the downward angle of the pitched ball, a hitter should adjust the bending of their knees as follows…
Fastpitch hitter:
Front knee at landing should be bent between 160 and 170-degrees (at 180-degrees, the leg is straight) to optimize Ground Reaction Forces, build in margin for error on off-speed and breaking balls, while also not giving up too much on Time To Impact.
Back knee at impact should be bent between 105 and 115-degrees to get on path to the bottom half of the ball.
Baseball hitter:
Front knee at landing should be bent between 150 and 165-degrees for the same reasons above, but with more access to a longer Time To Impact,
Back knee at impact should be bent between 90 and 105-degrees to get on-path to the bottom half of the ball.
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Now, this Jose Altuve hitting analysis post isn’t about the ‘laser show’…however,
Standing in at 5’6″,
…and weighing in at a soaking wet 165-pounds, we’ll look at Jose Altuve(his height and weight numbers are a little closer to reality I think).
Although,
I do think Jose Altuve has one thing over the ‘laser show’, and that’s dancing (parental guidance is recommended 😉:
In this Jose Altuve hitting analysis video, we’ll go over:
Jose Altuve stats,
Presents of Forward Momentum (FoMo)?
How well he dominates the plane of the pitch,
Where his power comes from, and
Does he practice Pitch Recognition?
FYI: the pitch Jose Altuve is hitting in the video analysis looks like an 87-mph FB straight down broadway, and it does look like he’s on-time.
Without further adieu, here are the notes for the…
Jose Altuve Hitting Analysis Stats (the averages of averages)
CLICK HERE for the FanGraphs.com post I pulled the following stats from*:
ISO = +20 points
BABIP = +34 points
GB% = +4%
LD% = +1%
FB% = -6%
HR/FB% = -3.5%
(*a (+) denotes how many points OR percentage points or above league average, and a (-) denotes below league average.)
Presents of Forward Momentum (FoMo)?
Is FoMo present?
Shifting foot pressure (mentioned landing with closed front foot), and
Moving Center of Gravity (COG).
How Well he Dominates the Plane of the Pitch
Knee Action – ‘getting shorter’ and ‘staying shorter’
Barrel Plane – keeping barrel on plane for as long as possible
Where his Power Comes from…
Showing numbers,
Hiding hands from the pitcher,
Hunch – Posterior Pelvic Tilt (PPT), and
Down shoulders? (not so much here).
Does he Practice Pitch Recognition?
My friend Aaron Miles, who was small (5’8″, 180-lbs), and played 9 years in the Bigs, talks about how his High School coach was forward thinking…in that he did Pitch Recognition training with his troops, and Aaron’s coach said he had the best PR on the team.
My hypothesis in this Jose Altuve hitting analysis is that he does some sort of PR training, OR has a God given early pitch recognition ability that allows him to hit the ball so hard, so often.
Sure, according to this Jose Altuve hitting analysis,
…Altuve may not hit over 30 homers per year, but he sure will hit a boat load of doubles, which is just as good to contributing to team wins…just look at his above average (average) ISO and BABIP scores above!
'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/2016/06/jose-altuve-hitting.jpg15802048Joey Myershttps://hittingperformancelab.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/10/hitting-performance-labs_c90c0362088ef1d3d528f3078f4f8ac1-300x75.pngJoey Myers2022-04-20 09:30:072022-04-20 20:48:36How To Increase Hitting Power Stats Like Jose Altuve Swing With Fundamental Baseball & Softball Drills In 2022
Mickey Mantle: How To Increase Batted Ball Distance When You’re Not Throwing A Javelin?
Check out Mickey Mantle’s bat lag. Photo courtesy: LegendaryAuctions.com
This post looks into Mickey Mantle’s left handed swing, hitting home runs. We do swing analysis, look at his height compared to current players, strength, and share a bleacher report article with his switch hitting left right split stats. We’ll also compare his swing principles to an Olympic Javelin thrower!
Since publishing the YouTube video, it has amassed over 148,241 views and 500 video “Likes”.
The basic premise of the above video is to compare Mickey Mantle’s right handed swing mechanics to Czech javelin thrower, Jan Železný’s throwing technique. Jan is a world and Olympic champion and world record holder. He also holds the top five javelin performances of all time…according to Wikipedia.
In the video, I brought up my favorite Ralph Waldo Emerson quote many of you have seen me post before:
“As to the methods there may be a million and then some, but principles are few. The man who grasps principles can successfully select his own methods. The man who tries methods, ignoring principles, is sure to have trouble.“
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And, some of The Mick’s dingers have been the talk of folklore, claiming to have traveled over 600-feet!
Although with the computation of Metrics now, as Christopher Harbour, a YouTube reader commenter on this particular video, put it:
“The farthest official home run in MLB history was hit by Babe Ruth in Detroit at a distance of 585ft. Mickey’s longest shot was 510Ft. It was often claimed to be much farther but that distance was the distance AFTER the ball rolled. This info is proven by SABR historian Bill Jenkinson.”
Whatever the case, it’s still amazing that a guy of Mickey Mantle’s stature, can hit a ball over 500-feet! We don’t see Giancarlo, Miggy, or Trout doing that.
And by the way, everyone thinks Babe Ruth was this hulking mass of a guy…he was only 6’2″, 215-pounds. And according to the above comment, launched the longest dinger 585-feet!
So what was Mickey Mantle doing mechanically making him so special that we as coaches should be teaching our younger hitters?
'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!!
Mickey Mantle on the Un-Weighting Principle (or Forward Momentum)
Look at Mickey Mantle’s shifting foot pressure… Photo courtesy: http://s685.photobucket.com/user/BillBurgess
I said in the video that The Mick’s back knee wasn’t floating over his ankle, but that’s simply not true. This was knowledge residue from past baseball experts I was listening to at the time.
What Mickey Mantle did really well was shifting his foot pressure.
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.
This is similar to a story one of my readers, Stephen Reid, shared about prolific golfer Ben Hogan (5’9″, 145-pounds), saying in an email:
“A friend of mine worked at Shady Oaks in Dallas where Hogan played and practiced. Towards the end of Mr. Hogan’s time of ‘grinding it out of the dirt”, he was allowed the opportunity to sit and watch him hit balls. He said that Mr. Hogan started talking about the stance, and he stated that the way he thought it would come to pass in the future would be that both feet at address would both be turned slightly towards the target- 30 to 45 degrees. By turning the right foot in at address, the golfer would essentially be putting a governor on his/her right side.
He also reasoned that by doing this, the player would create the tension and brace with the right side and would create a strong coil that would not allow for any “over-coiling or over-swinging”. Therefore, you would be presetting the coil or brace of the right side in a controlled manner and would not allow oneself to overturn in the backswing. Conclusion was that the energy from a strong brace and controlled coil, the golfer would create greater energy in the release of the right side while creating greater swing speeds through impact.”
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.
Mickey Mantle is also most certainly picking up his stride foot and leading with his hip forward. Just pick out a point of reference in the background, and track how far his hip moves forward. He’s effectively ‘un-weighting’ his bat, or getting a “head start”, to make the transfer of linear momentum into angular (or rotational) easier.
And we can clearly see the Javelin Thrower, Jan Železný, using forward momentum sprinting down the track before slinging his “arrow” A LONG WAY.
The Catapult Loading System
The ‘Springy X Pattern’ I developed through reading the book Anatomy Trains by Thomas Myers. Watch the following FunctionalPatterns YouTube video of Thomas Myers talking about the concept of Tensegrity, or Tension Integrity:
It’s the idea that there are compression and tension forces acting within the body at all times. In the Mickey Mantle video, I talk about imagining a big ‘X’ on his chest and back…connecting one shoulder to the opposite hip. The fascial lines are a little more complicated than this, but let’s take a general look at how this works…
When Mickey Mantle pre-loads his torso – before turning – we see his lead shoulder come down and in towards his back hip (one leg of the ‘X’ shortens), while the rear shoulder and front hip move away from each other (other leg of the ‘X’ lengthens). And the reverse is true on the backside.
This is evidenced by tracking his LEFT shoulder:
Pre-loads DOWN before Final Turn,
Unloads UP during the Final Turn, and finally
Reverses DOWN during the follow through to decelerate rotation.
CLICK HERE for an interesting article titled “Muscle Power Golf?!…NOT!” by Kelvin Miyahira (big thanks to Stephen Lowe for the link). It talks about how the swing – whether we’re talking baseball/softball or golf – IS NOT about activating fast twitch muscle fibers, but engaging the springy fascia. It’s a rant that I wish I did FIRST!!
Other Interesting Resources from Mickey Mantle YouTube Viewer Comments & More
Gabriel Pennington – “Mantle’s massive strength came from blue collar work, swinging a sledgehammer in a lead mine (on top of freakish genetics). Couple that with the workman mentality of your best never being good enough and you have a lethal combination for an athlete.”
koryguns – “3.1 seconds to first. Legend has it when he was a rookie in 1951 they decided to have a foot race among the team. Mantle beat everybody like they were standing still, puked, and apologized to Stengel for being out of shape.“
Also, here’s slow motion video of his left handed swing…
'Add 40-Feet' To Batted Ball Distance
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Discover how to teach aggressive batting for a baseball or softball player that is struggling to pull the trigger. Oftentimes this comes in the form of freezing at the plate. This has mostly to do with the mental side of hitting, so we’ll discuss mental hitting drills to build confidence if a player may be hitting well in the batting cage or at practice but not so much in the games.
Here’s A Quick Way To Get Your Hitters More Aggressive At The Plate
I answer the reader question of: “How to get youth hitters to be more aggressive to hit and not look to walk?”
There were times when I was playing Fall Ball as a Sophomore in High School, privileged to be playing against Juco competition, that I found myself falling into an 0-2 hole quite frequently. I’d say to myself, “WTFudge, why have I been in the hole my last 4 AB’s?”
Then, I’d make a conscious decision to swing at the first pitch, no matter what the pitch was, or where it was located. In other words, I decided to make a bold adjustment, going from being too passive at the plate, to being too aggressive…
In hopes that with future at-bats was I would land somewhere in the middle. In those days it was just a feeling that I got. Fast forward to a few years ago, a good friend of mine Bob Hall, whose son Quin (a physical incarnate of Bo Jackson), had just finished performing at an MLB scouting camp in Canada. Quin was about 15 years old at the time, and Bob shared the advice Quin received from one of the leading scouts at this camp.
And this is what we’re discussing in the above video:
The Hunter mindset, versus
The Fisherman.
My goal with this video post is to give coaches a practical strategy to use with your hitters (that I use with mine), which will give them a solid game plan at the plate.
PLEASE NOTE: like anything else, you have to work with your hitters on this at practice, if they have any chance at getting better at it.
The Hunter Mindset
Vlad Guerrero – “The Hunter”. Photo courtesy: ProSportsBlogging.com
What does a hunter do?
They stalk their prey.
When would we use this mindset against a pitcher?
When they’re around the strike zone.
We SHOULD NEVER default to such hitting rules as, “NEVER swing at the first pitch.”
This is how I dug myself into holes during my career.
CLICK HERE for this Beyond the Boxscore article which asks the question, “Does hitting performance change based on the number of pitches a hitter sees during a plate appearance?”
Look at what happens to Batting Average in:
0-2,
1-2,
2-2, and 3-2 pitching counts…
Like a snake, strike fast when a pitcher is around the zone.
Think of some of the greatest Dominican, or Latin America, hitters. As the saying goes, “You don’t get off ‘the island’ unless you swing the bat.”
The Fisherman Mindset
Barry Bonds – “The Fisherman”. Photo credit should read DOUG PENSINGER/AFP/Getty Images (Newscom TagID: gettylive963981) [Photo via Newscom]
What does a fisherman do on the boat all morning?
Sit…AND wait.
When would we use this mindset with a pitcher?
When he or she cannot find the zone.
This approach requires a little more plate discipline not to swing out of the zone, AND
To know the strike zone.
Because when the pitcher throws one over, the hitter MUST be trained to jump on it.
Think about Barry Bonds from 2001 to 2004. According to Baseball-Reference.com, he walked a total of 755 times. That’s an average of 188 BB’s per year!
What’s more…
He hit a total of 209 homers, for an average of 52 dingers per year, in the same span. Last time I checked PED use DOES NOT help with plate discipline.
How about his consistency over that same time period?
Bonds’s Batting Average over those four years, starting with 2001 was: .328, .370, .341, and .362 respectively.
How about how many times he struck out?
We have power hitters like Chris Davis and Ryan Howard routinely striking out 200+ times per season.
How about Bonds…?
2001: 93 K’s
2002: 47 K’s (he struck out one more time than homered)
2003: 58 K’s
2004: 41 K’s (he hit more homers than struck out!!)
By the way, his 162-game average strikeouts are 83. 83!!! Over 22-years in the Big Leagues!
My point is, when Bonds got his pitch…he GOT IT!
He knew how to be a ‘fisherman’.
But can plate discipline be taught?
Sure it can!
It’s a muscle in the brain, and like any other body muscle, can be focused on and strengthened.
Here are my favorite 4 resources for training vision, tracking, and plate discipline:
Struggling to get your hitters ON-TIME in games? Discover HOW TO build effective laser-focused timing, so your hitters can be ON-TIME more often. These principles are validated by REAL science.
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https://hittingperformancelab.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/04/How-To-Teach-Aggressive-Batting-For-Struggling-Baseball-Softball-Player.png423800Joey Myershttps://hittingperformancelab.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/10/hitting-performance-labs_c90c0362088ef1d3d528f3078f4f8ac1-300x75.pngJoey Myers2022-04-15 09:00:252022-08-15 17:34:31How To Teach Aggressive Batting For Struggling Baseball & Softball Player | Freezing At The Plate? Hitting Drills To Build Confidence If Hits Well In Cage And Practice But Not In Game
book,
, I wanted to use the Scientific Method to analyze if the baseball swing mechanics “squishing/squashing the bug”, during the turn, increases or decreases bat speed. The term “squishing the bug” means rotating the back foot, on the ground, during the turn. Like you’re squishing a bug.
, he talks about a cotton candy like springy material that the bones and muscles float it, and what gives muscles their shape called fascia.
,
, talked about a time when he was talking to I think was James Cameron, whoever the producer was, or I think it was director of ‘The Terminator’. The first one, and it was supposed to cast Arnold, this is after he got off the movie 
, did pretty well with that. Started to become a rising star, and they were gonna cast Arnold as John Connor in Terminator 1, the guy in the future that comes back to try and stop the machines from taking over the world.
by Thomas Myers. Watch the following FunctionalPatterns YouTube video of Thomas Myers talking about the concept of Tensegrity, or Tension Integrity:
by Bill Jenkinson
