Youth baseball hitter front leg fully braced at impact — demonstrating the blocking position in batting cage

Front Leg in Baseball Swing: Why “Keep It Straight” Is Half Right: and What Actually Adds 6 MPH

“Keep your front leg straight.” Every youth hitter hears it. The front leg in baseball is one of the most coached — and most misunderstood — mechanics in the sport. The cue isn’t wrong. It’s just incomplete: it’s right at impact, wrong at landing, and the difference between the two is where most hitters lose 5–6 mph of bat speed they’ll never get back from a swing thought.

I ran 101 swings with a Zepp sensor to put it to the test — landing with a bent front knee (~146°) and blocking into straight at impact versus landing stiff (~170°) the whole way through. The bent-then-block approach averaged 6 mph more bat speed. That’s 24–48 feet of batted ball distance depending on pitch speed. This post breaks down why that happens, the two-phase front leg sequence elite hitters use, and the three drills that teach it faster than any verbal cue.

What Does the Experiment Actually Show — and Why Is the 6-MPH Result Conservative?

The video documents 100 swings at each front knee angle — bent (~146°) and straight (~170°) — off a SwingAway with the Zepp Baseball app tracking bat speed, hand speed, and attack angle on every rep. The result was a 6 mph average bat speed difference and a 2 mph hand speed difference, both in favor of the bent landing.

One design detail worth noting: the swing was deliberately broken into two steps — stride to landing, then pause, then swing — for both conditions. That pause intentionally stops forward momentum, which means the 6-mph advantage is actually conservative. In a continuous swing with forward momentum feeding into the block, the gain is typically larger. The two-step format was chosen specifically to isolate the front knee variable and keep the comparison clean. If there’s a flaw, it underestimates the blocking benefit, not overstates it.

The other thing the video confirms is the “getting shorter” effect. Landing with the bent knee lowers the eye level by 2–3 inches compared to landing straight, which is visible in the SwingAway footage. That drop is the strike zone compression that elite hitters like Barry Bonds used deliberately. It isn’t a side effect of the bent knee — it’s a feature. The bend produces both the power gain and the zone reduction at the same time.

+6 mph
avg bat speed added
24–48 ft
of extra distance
~146°
optimal landing angle

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What Does “Keep Your Front Leg Straight” Actually Mean?

The front leg in baseball hitting has two jobs — and they’re opposite. At landing, the front knee needs a slight bend (roughly 145–150°). At impact, it needs to be near straight (~170°+). The movement from bent to straight during the swing is called blocking, and it’s the mechanism that transfers energy into rotation. Most hitters hear “keep your front leg straight” and lock the leg through the entire stride. That collapses both jobs into one position and removes the energy transfer that blocking creates.

Think about what a wide receiver does cutting on an L-route. They don’t plant a stiff straight leg — they bend into the plant, then push off to change direction. The hitter does the same thing: bent at landing to absorb and load, straight at impact to transfer force and rotate. Jaime Cevallos in Positional Hitting calls the bent landing position a “cushion” for normal timing and a “double cushion” for adjusting to off-speed. It’s the same principle. The landing bend creates options. Straight from the start eliminates them.

Homer Kelly, the aeronautical engineer who wrote The Golfing Machine, described this precisely: “The slant is up in the direction of a straightened knee.” That slanting-up motion — triggered by the front knee going from bent to straight — is what tilts the hitter’s torso and sets a positive barrel attack angle. Without it, the hitter stays flat, chops down, and loses the ability to match a pitcher’s downward plane consistently.

Why Must the Front Leg Bend at Landing in a Baseball Swing?

Landing with a stiff, straight front leg in baseball isn’t just mechanically inefficient — it removes four distinct force contributors from the swing. Together, they account for the majority of that 6-mph difference in the Zepp data.

Springy fascia loading. Thomas Myers’s Anatomy Trains research identifies the Spiral and Deep Functional Lines that run through the legs as stirrups under the feet. These fascial lines can only be loaded — and unloaded for power — when the knees bend. My colleague Lee Comeaux, who works with professional golfers, found the combined knee bend at landing needs to add up to roughly 45 degrees total between both legs. Land straight and the springy rebound simply isn’t available.

Ground Reaction Forces. Newton’s third law: push into the ground, and the ground pushes back with equal and opposite force. A bent knee lets the hitter push against the ground during the block. A straight knee is already at end range — there’s nowhere to push from. Try jumping with straight knees to feel what’s missing. The same physics apply to the swing.

Strike zone compression (“getting shorter”). Landing bent lowers the hitter’s head and eyes by 2–4 inches. That closes the gap between the hitter’s eye level and the bottom of the effective strike zone. It also creates an illusion for umpires that the zone is smaller. Barry Bonds, Josh Donaldson, and Mike Trout all do this deliberately — their knee action at landing compresses the zone and makes low pitches more reachable.

Pitch adaptability. A stiff front leg means the hitter is fully committed from the moment the stride foot lands. A bent front leg gives a brief window — sometimes just one or two frames on video — to recognize off-speed and deepen the timing. That’s the “double cushion” Cevallos describes, and it’s the difference between rolling over a changeup and squaring it up. See how Hanley Ramirez used this to crush breaking balls specifically because of his front knee action.

Which Front Leg Drills Fix the Stiff-Leg Pattern in Baseball?

Three drills fix the stiff front leg pattern in baseball: Get-to-Landing, Breaking-Apart Swing with Pause, and High-Tee Blocking Confirmation. Verbal cues don’t work because the motor pattern fires faster than conscious thought — these drills teach the land-bent-then-block sequence through repetition and feedback, in the order they need to run.

Drill 1: Get-to-Landing (Feel the Bend)

Set up in a normal stance. Take the stride and land — stop there. No swing. The goal is to feel the front knee at 145–150° with weight loaded into the front side, eyes level, and the back knee still carrying some bend too. Hold for two seconds. Check that the stride foot landed at about a 45° angle, not closed. Repeat 10 times. This drill isolates the landing position so the hitter can feel what “slightly bent” means kinesthetically rather than trying to interpret a cue mid-swing.

Drill 2: Breaking-Apart Swing with Landing Pause

Add the swing to Drill 1, but break it into two steps: stride and land (pause 1–2 seconds), then swing from that loaded position. The pause forces the body to re-learn the push-off from a bent front leg into blocking, rather than letting old motor patterns rush through. Hit off a tee or take front toss in this format. After 5 reps with the pause, do 5 continuous swings and compare the feel. Most hitters immediately notice more rotation and better launch when the pause has re-set the pattern.

Drill 3: High-Tee Blocking Confirmation

Set the tee at chest height or slightly above. At that height, a hitter who lands stiff and doesn’t block will either pop the ball up or miss under it — the barrel can’t get to chest-height without the front knee firming up to tilt the torso. A hitter who blocks correctly will drive the high pitch with authority because the block creates the spine tilt needed for barrel-to-ball contact. Run 10 reps. If the hitter is consistently under the ball, the block isn’t happening and Drill 2 needs more reps before coming back to this one.

Want the step-by-step drill card for all three drills?

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Does Front Leg Blocking Work for Softball Hitters?

Yes — and for fastpitch softball hitters, the front leg landing bend has an extra benefit that doesn’t exist in baseball: rise ball recognition. Because a rise ball climbs through the last 15–20% of its flight path, a hitter with a stiff front leg is already committed by the time the ball begins to move. A hitter who lands with a slight bend has a marginally longer recognition window. That’s the difference between fouling it off and swinging through it entirely.

For softball, the same three drills apply with one adjustment on the high-tee drill: set the tee 2–3 inches higher than for baseball to simulate a rise ball through the zone. A softball hitter who is blocking correctly at impact will drive that pitch on a line. One who isn’t will foul it back or pop it up. It’s the clearest feedback tool in the cage for confirming the block is happening at the right moment.

Additionally, softball hitters who use a toe tap as their stride rhythm cue should note that the toe tap naturally produces a slight bent-knee landing — because the toe-down position prevents full knee lockout on the stride. That’s one reason the toe tap works for timing: it enforces a small landing bend without the hitter thinking about it. If you remove the toe tap in favor of a no-stride approach, you need to consciously maintain the landing bend through the get-to-landing drill above, or the stiff-leg pattern tends to creep back in.

What Coaching Mistakes Make the Front Leg Problem Worse?

Mistake 1: Cuing “straight” without specifying when. “Keep your front leg straight” is one of baseball’s most common front leg coaching cues — and it’s correct at impact, counterproductive at landing. Without the timing context, hitters default to the most conservative interpretation — stiff the whole way — and lose the GRF transfer and fascia load the bent landing provides.

Mistake 2: Letting hitters land too bent. A landing angle deeper than ~145° — closer to 130° or below — means the hitter is collapsing into the front side rather than absorbing and converting. The springy fascia load happens in a range, not an extreme. A hitter who “sits” into the front knee on landing loses forward momentum into rotation and usually produces a slow, arm-dominant swing through the zone. The landing bend should look athletic, like a wide receiver’s plant foot — not like a hitter lowering themselves into a chair.

Mistake 3: Not including a blocking drill in regular practice. The land-bent-then-block sequence is a motor pattern. Cues won’t maintain it. Hitters who fix it with the breaking-apart drill and then go back to unstructured tee work will revert inside two weeks without intentional practice of the pattern. Three to five reps of the breaking-apart swing at the start of every cage session is enough maintenance volume to hold the pattern across a season. Without it, the default motor pattern — whatever the hitter was doing before — reasserts itself.

Frequently Asked Questions: Front Leg in Baseball Swing

Should your front leg be straight when batting?

At impact, yes — the front leg in baseball should be near straight (roughly 170°+) to create the spine tilt that matches the pitcher’s downward plane. At landing, no — it should be slightly bent (~145–150°) to load ground reaction forces and springy fascia. The common cue “keep your front leg straight” is correct for impact only. Applying it to the entire stride removes power from the swing.

What is front leg blocking in baseball?

Front leg blocking is the movement from a slightly bent front knee at landing (~145–150°) to a near-straight front knee at impact (~170°+). This movement transfers ground reaction force into rotation and creates a slight upward slant in the torso that lets the barrel attack the ball on a positive angle. Discus throwers and shot putters use the same blocking mechanic — it’s not unique to hitting, which is why it’s validated across multiple movement disciplines.

Does a bent front knee really add bat speed?

Yes — in a 101-swing Zepp experiment comparing landing at ~146° (bent) versus ~170° (straight), the bent-knee approach added an average of 6 mph bat speed and 2 mph hand speed. The Bat Vertical Angle at Impact shifted 6 degrees, suggesting the bent landing also improved barrel path. The 6-mph gain is equivalent to 24–48 feet of batted ball distance depending on pitch speed.

How do you teach a hitter to stop landing with a stiff front leg?

The get-to-landing drill is the fastest fix. Have the hitter stride and stop — no swing — and hold the landing position for two seconds. The goal is to feel what 145–150° of front knee bend feels like while fully weighted. Verbal cues rarely fix a stiff landing because the landing happens too fast for conscious adjustment. The drill builds the feel kinesthetically over 10–20 reps, which the swing can then replicate without thinking about it.

What does “getting shorter” mean in baseball hitting?

“Getting shorter” refers to the hitter’s head and eye level dropping slightly at landing because the front knee bends. It compresses the effective strike zone — both by bringing the hitter’s eyes closer to low pitches and by creating a visual illusion for umpires that the zone is smaller. Barry Bonds, Mike Trout, and Josh Donaldson all demonstrate this on film. The bent front knee at landing is what produces it. It also improves contact rates on low pitches by aligning the hitter’s eyes closer to ball flight.

Does front leg blocking work the same way in softball?

Yes. The front leg baseball blocking mechanics carry over to fastpitch softball without modification. In softball, there’s also an additional benefit: the slightly bent landing gives the hitter a wider recognition window for rise balls, which climb in the final 15–20% of their flight. Stiff-leg landings commit the hitter earlier, making rise balls harder to lay off or hit solid. For the high-tee confirmation drill in softball, raise the tee 2–3 inches above the baseball position to simulate a rise ball coming through the zone.

How long does it take to fix a stiff front leg with these drills?

Most hitters feel the difference within 1–2 cage sessions using the breaking-apart drill with the landing pause. The motor pattern typically stabilizes after 2–3 weeks of intentional practice — 5 reps of the breaking-apart drill at the start of each session is enough. Without a maintenance protocol, hitters revert to the default stiff-leg pattern within 1–2 weeks, so the drill needs to stay in the warm-up rotation, not be treated as a one-time fix.

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Mickey Mantle Left Handed Swing Hitting Home Runs | Analysis, Height, Strength, & Switch Hitter Left Right Split Stats

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Mickey Mantle: How To Increase Batted Ball Distance When You’re Not Throwing A Javelin?

 

 

Mickey Mantle Bat Lag

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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The human movement “principles” we’re comparing in the video are:

  1. The Un-Weighting Principle (or Forward Momentum), and
  2. The Catapult Loading System.

The reason I picked “The Mick”, is because he wasn’t really a big guy, according to Baseball Reference.com, he stood at only 5’11, 195-pounds.

Don’t get me wrong, Mickey Mantle was a naturally strong dude.  But he wasn’t the size of today’s behemoths:

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?

Mickey Mantle on the Un-Weighting Principle (or Forward Momentum)

Mickey Mantle Stride and Foot Pressure

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

  • Marie Louise Hunnicutt book recommendation – Baseball’s Ultimate Power: Ranking The All-Time Greatest Distance Home Run Hitters by Bill Jenkinson

  • 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.“
  • Here’s the BleacherReport.com article with Mickey Mantle’s left right split stats titled: “Mickey Mantle Almost Gave Up Switch-Hitting in 1960”

Also, here’s slow motion video of his left handed swing…

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Youth baseball coach teaching aggressive at the plate mindset — Hunter vs. Fisherman approach system for youth and travel hitters

Your Hitter Isn’t Passive: They Just Don’t Have A Game Plan At The Plate Yet

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One mindset shift turns a frozen hitter into a confident one — and it takes one batting practice to teach.

Most coaches dealing with a passive hitter — one who won’t pull the trigger, freezes on first pitches, or falls behind 0-2 every at-bat — assume it’s a confidence problem. However, being passive at the plate is almost never about confidence. It’s about the absence of a game plan. Without a clear framework for when to be aggressive at the plate and when to wait, every hitter defaults to passive. They’d rather look than miss.

This post covers a two-mindset system — the Hunter and the Fisherman — that a Major League scout shared at a Canada scouting camp. It’s simple enough for a 7-year-old and precise enough for a high school hitter working out of a hitting slump. The system teaches hitters exactly when to attack and when to be patient — and how to read the situation to make that call in real time.

Joey Myers has coached 5,000+ hitters using a physics-based approach — these systems are used by coaches from Little League to Division I.

“Exit velocities are up, averages are up, power is up. Three girls going D1, six at D2, two at JUCOs. I credit the HPL approach for proving the science and providing convincing evidence.”

Ronny Weber — Baseball & Softball Coach

Why Do Hitters Freeze at the Plate — and Is It Really a Confidence Problem?

Most passive hitters aren’t lacking confidence — they’re lacking a decision system for when to be aggressive at the plate. Confidence is the result of having a plan, not the cause of swinging. When hitters have no framework for when to attack and when to wait, the safest choice is always to let the pitch go. Over time, that default becomes a habit — and the habit looks like passivity, hesitation, or freezing.

The mental side of hitting is often treated as a coaching afterthought — something to address only when mechanics are fixed. However, in most cases of passive hitting, there is no mechanical flaw. The hitter looks great in the cage. The problem disappears the moment you give them a system with two clear modes: hunt or fish.

Joey Myers experienced this firsthand as a sophomore playing against JUCO competition in Fall Ball. At-bat after at-bat, he fell behind 0-2 before making a decision. The fix wasn’t mechanical — it was making a bold adjustment to swing at the first pitch, no matter what. That decision, refined over years of coaching 5,000+ hitters, became the Hunter vs. Fisherman system — and it’s the most reliable way to get a hitter aggressive at the plate in real game situations.

What Is the Hunter Mindset — and When Should a Hitter Use It?

The Hunter mindset is the aggressive mode: use it when the pitcher consistently attacks the strike zone. Hunters stalk their prey and fire when the shot is there. At the plate, that means watching the pitcher warm up, reading that this pitcher throws strikes, and committing early to being aggressive at the plate. There is no hesitation once the pitch leaves the hand. If it’s in the zone, the Hunter fires.

What triggers Hunter mode? Watch the pitcher’s warm-up pitches. If they’re hitting the catcher’s glove on seven of eight throws, that pitcher is going to challenge hitters early. Additionally, watch the first at-bat in the lineup ahead of you. If that pitcher consistently throws first-pitch strikes, be aggressive at the plate from the first pitch of your at-bat.

Why “never swing at the first pitch” creates passive hitters. That rule is one of the most damaging blanket instructions in youth coaching. A Hunter who’s been told to always take removes decision-making entirely and replaces it with an unconditional passive choice. Defaulting to a 0-1 count against an accurate pitcher is self-defeating. The Hunter must be trained to fire early — and trained to do it with proper swing timing that’s ready on the first pitch.

Think about how Latin American hitters are developed. As the saying goes, “You don’t get off the island unless you swing the bat.” Some of the most naturally aggressive at the plate hitters in baseball history — Vlad Guerrero Sr., Miguel Cabrera, Roberto Clemente — were hunters by instinct and by training. They didn’t wait for the perfect count. They hunted their pitch and attacked.

What Is the Fisherman Mindset — and When Does Patience Beat Aggression?

The Fisherman mindset is the patient mode: use it when the pitcher is struggling to find the strike zone. A fisherman sits on the boat all morning, waits for the right moment, and responds decisively when it arrives. At the plate, that means taking pitches out of the zone, working the count, and being explosive and aggressive at the plate the instant a hittable strike appears. The Fisherman is not passive — they’re strategic. There’s a critical difference.

Barry Bonds from 2001 to 2004 is the definitive Fisherman example. According to Baseball-Reference.com, Bonds walked 755 times in those four years — an average of 188 walks per season. He hit 209 home runs in the same span. In 2002 he struck out only 47 times while hitting 46 home runs. In 2004 he hit 45 home runs and struck out only 41 times — more home runs than strikeouts. His 22-year career strikeout average was 83 per season.

The key distinction between Fisherman and passive. A passive hitter takes pitches because they’re afraid to swing and miss. A Fisherman takes pitches because they’re waiting for the exact pitch they’ve decided to attack. The Fisherman’s swing is violent and aggressive at the plate — they’re just directing that aggression toward the right pitch rather than every pitch. When Bonds got his pitch, he got it.

The Fisherman approach requires pitch recognition and plate discipline working together. The hitter needs to recognize a ball out of the hand — not just after it crosses the plate. That skill can be trained and should be part of every serious hitter’s off-season and in-season preparation.

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How Does a Hitter Read the Pitcher to Choose Hunter or Fisherman?

The mindset decision happens before the at-bat, not during it. There are two windows to gather information: warm-ups and the first at-bat in your lineup spot. During warm-ups, watch zone accuracy. If the pitcher is consistently in the mitt on seven of eight pitches, that’s a Hunter at-bat. If pitches are scattering, that’s a Fisherman at-bat.

Pitchers also change between innings and within at-bats. A pitcher who started the game sharp may lose their mechanics in the third inning. That’s when the hitter who was hunting needs to recognize the shift and switch to fishing — waiting for one quality pitch instead of attacking everything early. Being on time in games means reading those shifts before they cost you the at-bat.

The scout who shared this framework made one specific point: even 7-year-olds can understand “is this pitcher in the zone or not?” That single read is enough to choose a mode. You don’t need a complex scouting report. You need two minutes of watching warm-ups, a clear decision, and the habit of making that decision built through practice.

How Do You Train Hitters to Be Aggressive at the Plate in Batting Practice?

Telling a hitter to be more aggressive at the plate in a game does nothing without training it in practice first. The Hunter-Fisherman switch is a muscle in the brain. Like any other muscle, it responds to deliberate repetitions — not to verbal instruction delivered at the on-deck circle. Two drills develop this decision-making system faster than any cue or conversation.

Wild Intentionally Drill (Fisherman Mode). The coach intentionally throws 40–50% of pitches out of the strike zone during front toss or machine work. The hitter doesn’t know which pitches will be balls. Their job: take the balls, attack the strikes. If the hitter swings at a pitch out of the zone, stop the rep and reset. Run three to five rounds of eight pitches. Most hitters dramatically improve zone recognition within one session because the bad pitches are no longer abstract — they’re immediate and real.

First-Pitch Hunter Drill. Every pitch in the round is a strike. Before the round begins, tell the hitter: “This pitcher throws strikes — you are the Hunter.” Their goal is to swing at the first pitch they can drive. No passive takes allowed. This drill directly breaks the habit of defaulting to the wrong side. Furthermore, it builds the confidence at the plate that comes from executing a game plan rather than surviving an at-bat.

How to Run Both Drills in the Same Session

Alternate the two drills within the same session — three rounds of Wild Intentionally, then three rounds of First-Pitch Hunter. As the hitter develops the decision habit, begin mixing modes within a single round without telling them which one to use. They read the situation and choose. That’s the transfer you’re training toward — a hitter who is automatically aggressive at the plate when the situation calls for it, and strategically patient when it doesn’t.

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Do Hitters Actually Get More Aggressive at the Plate With This System?

The Hunter-Fisherman system works because it replaces a vague instruction with a specific decision tree. Here’s what coaches using the HPL approach see on the field.

“After just 1–2 lessons, my son Ethan was hitting the ball harder and further. We still use what Joey teaches today. His detailed analysis and style are unmatched. I highly recommend him as a coach.”

Simon Chan — Baseball Parent, Los Angeles, CA

“I coach Fastpitch travel softball. From top to bottom of our batting order, pitchers have no batter to pitch around — they can all crush the ball and do so consistently!!”

Shane Beever — Travel Softball Coach

Common Questions About Teaching Aggressive Batting

Here are the questions coaches and parents ask most often about building plate aggression in youth and travel hitters.

What is the best way to get a hitter to be more aggressive at the plate?

The best way to get a hitter aggressive at the plate is to replace the instruction with a system. Telling a hitter to “be more aggressive” gives them no information about when or how to do it. The Hunter vs. Fisherman framework gives them two clear modes — hunt when the pitcher attacks the zone, fish when the pitcher struggles. That specific decision, practiced deliberately in batting practice, produces game-ready aggression without recklessness.

Why does my hitter look aggressive in the cage but passive in games?

The cage doesn’t require a read. Every pitch is predictable, so the hitter pre-commits and swings. In games, the hitter doesn’t know what’s coming — and without a decision system, the safest default is to wait and see. Additionally, the stakes feel higher, which reinforces passivity. The Hunter-Fisherman system fixes this because it gives hitters a way to be aggressive at the plate with intention — deciding before they step in the box rather than reacting when it’s too late.

Can these plate aggression drills be used with youth hitters under 10?

Yes — the Hunter vs. Fisherman concept works with 7-year-olds because the two questions are simple: “Is this pitcher throwing strikes?” and “Am I hunting or fishing today?” Very young hitters don’t need a complex plate discipline system. They need two modes and the language to think about which one they’re in. Therefore, start with the Wild Intentionally Drill during front toss to build the habit of being aggressive at the plate when strikes appear, then add the First-Pitch Hunter Drill as they get comfortable.

How is the Fisherman mindset different from just being passive?

Passive hitters take pitches because they’re afraid to swing and miss. Fisherman hitters take pitches because they’re waiting for a specific pitch to attack. The physical result looks similar — both take a ball — but the mindset is opposite. The Fisherman is ready to be aggressive at the plate the entire time. They’re directing aggression toward the right pitch, not every pitch. Barry Bonds is the clearest example: 755 walks and 209 home runs across four seasons. That is not passive hitting.

Should hitters ever swing at the first pitch?

Hitters should swing at the first pitch when they are in Hunter mode and the first pitch is in their zone. The rule “never swing at the first pitch” is what creates passive hitters — it removes decision-making and replaces it with an unconditional take. First-pitch strikes against an accurate pitcher put the hitter in a defensive count before they’ve made a single choice. Hunters who are trained to be aggressive at the plate early in the count hold the advantage.

How long does it take for the Hunter-Fisherman system to show up in games?

Most hitters show improvement within two to three practice sessions using the Wild Intentionally and First-Pitch Hunter drills. The first game after consistent practice typically shows a noticeable reduction in passive at-bats — hitters begin to look noticeably more aggressive at the plate in a way coaches can see immediately. Full integration — where the hitter reads and decides automatically — takes three to four weeks of regular practice. Start these drills before the season for the most complete transfer to game performance.

What if the hitter is in Hunter mode but keeps missing the first pitch?

If the hitter is mentally in Hunter mode but consistently fouling off or missing first-pitch strikes, the issue is swing timing, not mindset. A hitter who is mentally aggressive but mechanically late is still losing the at-bat. In that case, pair the Hunter-Fisherman system with targeted batting timing drills — specifically the 2-Plate Reaction Time Challenge — which trains the hitter to stay aggressive at the plate while firing earlier and reading pitch location at the same time.

Free Printable Decision Card

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Giancarlo Stanton: Closed Stance

STOP Stepping In The Bucket & Out Of The Box When Hitting A Baseball Or Softball 2022 | How To See Ball Better, Keep Front Shoulder In During Swing, & Best Batting Stance For Power?

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STOP Pulling Off The Ball, Increase Batting Average, and Boost Power By Using The Closed Stance?

 

What’s the best batting stance for power?  How do we STOP a hitter from stepping in the bucket (out of the box) when hitting a baseball or softball in 2022?  This post will shine light on how to see the ball better, keep the front shoulder in during the swing, and will suggest the best batting stance for power…

I know, I know,

Some well meaning coaches will think, “Well, a closed stance cuts off a hitter’s vision, and/or restricts hip movement”…

I get it.  I used to believe the same thing a couple years ago,

…But what I found in my research was counter-intuitive, yet very promising for hitters.

Giancarlo Stanton: Closed Stance

Giancarlo Stanton using his “closed stance”. Photo courtesy: MLB.com

You don’t know what you don’t know, right?

My process is to chew and digest the science, observe how elite hitters apply the movements, and then try it out!

As you’ll soon find out, Giancarlo Stanton did his homework before making this particular change in his swing.

Since there may be many of you raising the same objections I started with, I wanted to discuss:

  • Addressing the above “Study of Planes” video, then we’ll move on to…
  • Analyzing the small change that has netted BIG results for Giancarlo Stanton this season.

 

Study of Planes

My good friend Seo Perales shared the above video with me a few years ago.  By the way, he’s a multiple level black belt in Brazilian Jujitsu.

We love comparing notes because we both like to seek and explore human movement principles that are validated by science.  The only difference is, in his line of work as a Jujitsu instructor, he wants to learn how to break down the body, and I’m into maximizing its effect.

The above video demonstrates the science of movement planes.  What are considered weak and strong planes of movement from a Judo perspective.

I think you’ll find the video enlightening.

Now, you may be thinking, “A Judo video? Really?!  What can I learn from a video about Judo?”

If you find yourself camped out in ONLY baseball or softball circles, then you’re missing out on A LOT of useful information that will take your hitters to a whole other level.

The video is very applicable to hitting.

Furthermore,

My good friend Lee Comeaux from Texas, who teaches professional and amateur golfers, also brought the power of movement planes to my attention about a year ago…

He told me draw an “X” in the batter’s box from opposite corners, and have the hitter stand on either line when hitting.  He’s very versed in Thomas Myers’s book Anatomy Trains.  He says hitters standing on one diagonal leg of the “X” encourages the springiness of fascia.  He taught this to his 15yo daughter, who has hit over .600 the last couple years playing Fast-Pitch Softball in Texas, which is one of the hotbeds for both baseball and softball competition in the country.  Oh and by the way, she also hit a half dozen homers as well.

The second part of this post, I wanted to share the tipping point in addressing Giancarlo Stanton’s new closed stance…

Giancarlo Stanton & The “Dreaded” Closed Stance

The straw that broke the camel’s back for me in writing this post, came from this MLB.com article by David Adler titled, “Closing time: Stanton’s stance fueling surge: Marlins slugger’s home run tear lines up with change to batting stance in June”.

You can go there and read the full article, but I wanted to tease out the quotes from Giancarlo Stanton (and some of David Adler’s commentary), and how Stanton arrived at the batting stance change…

“I just said I was going to try it. Honestly, I had about 30 minutes of work, maybe 45 minutes, before the game,” Stanton told MLB.com Sunday, when he crushed his Major League-leading 45th home run against the Mets at Citi Field. “And then 10 minutes before the game, I was like, ‘This feels more comfortable.'”

Stanton was already having a helluva year, so it’s interesting to me that he made the change when he did, typically a change like this follows a slump.  However, this wasn’t a spur of the moment decision – like it sounds from that quote – he did his homework, which you’ll read about shortly…

“My best striking position is closed,” Stanton said. “It’s not smart to try to completely change something in the middle of the season. But if you are 100 percent committed to it … well, you’ve got to be. You’ve got to trust what you’re trying to do. If you change something, you want results right away, otherwise you try to go back. But I trusted it completely and let it ride.”

Sounds contradictory doesn’t it?  To have the attitude that you can’t completely change something in the middle of the season – especially when you’re already doing well!!  But then he says you MUST commit to giving the change time – that is – IF you’ve done your homework beforehand.

I’ve heard some parents and coaches say mid-season changes aren’t smart.  I don’t like to think that way…WHY?  Because if you don’t guide the hitter, the hitter will make changes on their own.  And if they don’t get highly resourceful on the subject, then this could lead to DISASTER with all the junk hitting info on the net these days.

David Adler did fantastic research illustrating the evolution of Giancarlo Stanton’s closed stance in this Tweet:

In the earlier mentioned article, Adler states…

“Stanton’s closing of his batting stance has correlated with his massive power surge. On June 18, he had 17 home runs in 282 plate appearances; since June 19, he has 28 in 236.

When Stanton hits from those positions [open or straight up], his front side can come open before the pitch arrives, leaving him exploitable.

The closed stance is a natural counter. When Stanton is already turned inward to start, his rotation drives him into the pitch, instead of causing him to fade away from it.”

By the way, for those not doing the math:

  • From start of season to June 18th, he hit 1 homer every 16.5 plate appearances, and
  • From June 19th on, he hit 1 homer every 8.4 plate appearances…

He cut his rate in half!!!!  The closed stance was the ONLY change to his swing in that time frame, so this makes an interesting case study with a decent sample size of plate appearances.  See for yourself with the following David Adler Tweet:

David Adler adds some terms of comparision you may be familiar with…

“With his adjusted stance, Stanton has been driving the ball in the air more often. His rate of fly balls and line drives, per Statcast™, has risen from 41.5 percent prior to June 19 to 50.3 percent since. Stanton’s average exit velocity on those balls has increased from 97.6 mph to 100.8 mph, the highest in the Majors over that time.”

I don’t care that Stanton is a beast, if you increase your Line Drive and Fly Ball Rates (Launch Angle), and Ball Exit Speeds that much, you’ll make a lot of Ground-ball teams VERY VERY upset.  Small hitters CAN and DO take advantage of this formula too.  Statcast has given hitters the cheat codes to increase offensive productivity!

Furthermore, in the Adler article…

“[His stance] gets him in the position he wants to be in. It looks like it’s keeping him on the ball more, and he seems like he’s seeing it better,” said Christian Yelich, who’s played alongside Stanton as long as any current Marlin — since 2013, when he was 21 and Stanton 23. “Some guys have different problems than others. You go about fixing them or covering them in different ways. It’s all about feel. That’s what works for him, that feel.”

Look at that bold sentence once more because that is one of the most critical keys to this whole thing.  Yelich is also tapping into making extreme adjustments, for example, Stanton’s challenge in the past has been pulling off, maybe because of when he tragically got hit in the face a few years ago.  Whatever the reason, the extreme adjustment (a closed stance), helps him stay on the ball longer.

CLICK HERE for a video I did on how to make adjustments…the scientific term for this is “Paradoxical Intention”.

Now, here is where the article gets into the research that brought Giancarlo Stanton to the point of taking the stance change seriously…

“But at a level of the game where emulation is fundamental, success begetting imitators, Stanton found his prototypes: Nolan Arenado, Matt Kemp, Adrian Beltre, prominent hitters who do close off. He recognized past greats, too: Hall of Famer Andre Dawson works as a special assistant to the Marlins, and he hit with a closed stance in his playing career. Stanton didn’t copy the technical aspects of their batting stances, but their accomplishments gave him precedent to actually make the change himself.“

Some on Twitter have written this change off as a band-aide, avoiding a true fix.  A true fix?  Are you kidding me?!  Cutting his home-run per plate appearance rate in half IS NOT a true fix!?  Dude!!  Success leaves clues.  These people are saying Giancarlo Stanton is “playing to the slice”, where a golfer who chronically slices the ball will angle his body at setup so they don’t have to fix the real problem…which is not squaring up the club face at impact.

This is a poor attempt to protect an inflexible teaching philosophy, and sheer laziness on their part to get educated on their craft they claim to know a lot about.  You instructors seriously think Giancarlo Stanton is not “squaring the ball up” at impact since June 19th and is just “playing the slice”?  That is laughable.  You don’t know what you don’t know, right?

This is the problem I have with instructors with inflexible hitting systems…they’re WILLFULLY IGNORANT to experimenting with things that could push their hitters forward, especially movements validated by science.  We’re ALL in this together, and we’re ALL helping hitters.  It’s NOT about your ego or protecting “your brand” coaches.

But I digress…

Here’s some insight into Giancarlo Stanton’s thought process with the change…

“I just know the guys with success,” Stanton said. “Arenado and Kemp, those guys, you know you can have a high average with it. So that kind of gave me the green light to try it…I knew it could work. Not very many people did it. But I know people like Hawk and them did it in the old days — and it worked for them, too.”

 

The Bottom Line…

Giancarlo Stanton: Tweet About Closed Stance

A day or two after re-tweeting Homer Bush’s Tweet about Giancarlo Stanton’s closed stance, I received this response from @Omaha_Outlaws4…

I understand your objections that a closed stance may cut off a hitter’s vision, and/or restricts hip movement.  You’ve heard me talk a lot about “keeping the back foot sideways”, well, this plays right into that.

Matt Nokes is religious on restricting hip movement to the point of impact with keeping the back foot sideways.  Homer Bush agrees in this interview.  So are the Backspin Tee guys Taylor and Jarrett Gardner.  LIGHT BULB! The closed stance does this naturally.

The main benefit of restricting hip movement at impact (includes keeping back foot sideways) that you’ll hear from Nokes, Bush, and the Gardner Brothers, is to keep the barrel in the hitting zone longer.  This increases BA and Slug%.

Here’s my advice:

  1. Chew and digest the science,
  2. Observe how elite hitters apply the movements, and then
  3. Try it out!

If it doesn’t work after giving it the ol’ college try, then toss it.

As many of you know, I will gladly eat crow and change my hitting system IF you can show me the science, swing experiments, and many elite hitting examples that I can’t ignore the issue.

This is an informal Part-1 to a Zepp swing experiment I’ll be doing on the Giancarlo Stanton closed stance in the near future.  So stay tuned…

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How To Use Legs In Swing Like Rizzo, Altuve, & Trout

Fix Stride Landing Fast: 2025 Youth Baseball & Softball Batting Drills to Build Power Swings Today

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Discover how to use the legs when hitting a baseball or softball in the 2023 year.  Does a powerful swing depend on footwork, hitting against a firm front side or a straightened front leg, front foot, or do the hips play a big role.  Learn batting drills to optimizing legs ARE NOT what you may think…

Answered: “How To Get My Kid To Stop Rising And For Him To Utilize His Legs More During Batting?”

 

 

 

Here’s what we cover in the above video:

  • Legs DO NOT equal power – water polo example,How To Use Legs In Swing Like Rizzo, Altuve, & Trout
  • What is leg function in swing & Adjusting to pitch height,
  • Distance between the feet equal more control over line drives,
  • GRF’s but not as much as you think,
  • Buying time – back foot sideways, directional force, & pushing the “pause” button, and
  • How to utilize the legs in the swing?

Hey, what’s going on. It’s Joey Myers again from ‘Hitting Performance Lab’. In this video, we’re going to answer the following reader question:

“How to get my kid stop rising, and for him to utilize his legs more during batting?”

Now this is a question that comes either through a form, survey, or email or even from my local lessons. The coaches out there in the high schools tend to meddle a bit too much, subscribing to the hitting myth that: ‘it’s all about the legs’, or ‘you need to use your legs more’.

In this video, I want to talk about what that means, and what is the function of the legs…

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Legs DO NOT equal power – water polo example

Legs are only 20-30% of the consistent power equation, and most of that is in the function of the pelvis.  If you’re a coach and power is the deficiency in your hitter’s swing, then it’s the spinal engine you want to focus on.  The Catapult Loading System is where 70-80% of consistent power is found.  The best example I like to share can be found in water polo.

And my favorite demonstration to do for hitters is showing what a beach towel and the spinal engine have in common.

 

What is Leg Function in Swing & Adjusting to Pitch Height

Now a couple things, one is they help to adjust to pitch height. If you’re looking at hitters like Cody Bellinger of the Dodgers, Joc Pederson of the Dodgers, Corey Seager, looking at Anthony Rizzo of the Cubs or some of the past players like Adrian Beltre or Pedroia. When the pitch is down in the zone, you tend to see them bend their front knee to go down and get it. They tend to do that consistently on those pitches, those lower in the zone pitches, not locking out their front knee like many teach.

I’ve seen these same hitters Rizzo, Bellinger, I’ve seen them with a bent front knee hit balls 440 to 460 feet.  So, locking out the front knee IS NOT all about power.  So, this raises a question of, if you want a hitter to use their legs more often because you think it has to do with power, well that is just not true – that’s not what we’re seeing. So, adjusting to pitch height, and you can study the hitters discussed as examples.

 

Distance between the Feet Equal more Control over Line Drives

Distance between the feet, this is a big one, that we can use the legs or utilize the legs to allow hitters to hit more line drives. The problem happens when, say if we are teaching our hitters to skip their back foot that they end up skipping their feet too close together.  Or it could be they don’t stride that much. They don’t skip at all and, so their feet tend to be closer together. What we want is what you see with the top 50, top 100 hitters in the big leagues….

You’re going to see distance between their feet. So, whether that is a longer stride and their front foot moves away from their back foot. Whether they don’t skip but they don’t stride as much, you still see that wideness of their feet. You see them scissor, you see different things like that, but what they all have in common, all the top hitters in the big leagues, is they have distance between their feet.  When the feet come close together, it makes the hitter taller, which this reader is asking how to keep the hitter from “rising”.  The taller the hitter gets, the more in the ground the ball is gonna get hit.

If the hitter knows better, and they try and get the ball in the air, even though they have narrow feet during their turn. Then they’re gonna do something unnatural with their hands to try and get under it, which we don’t want them to do either. Because that is going to cause uppercuts.  It’s going to cause inconsistencies in their swing path.

 

GRF’s, but not as much as you think

I just mentioned that hitters don’t have to lock their front knee out for power. When you think about ground reaction forces (GRF’s), they DO play a role. I’m not taking away from ground reaction forces, or saying “Oh, well the legs don’t do anything in the swing”.

No, they do. It’s about a 20 to 30% increase in power by using the legs. Most of that though is in the pelvis, and the rest in the spinal engine. I tell my hitters that the spinal engine, their combination of your shoulders and how you use them.  Neck, shoulders, and pelvis account for about 70 to 80% of the power. That gets you to the wall. The legs help get you over the wall. So, you do need the legs, and it’s like what Dr. Serge Gracovetsky, the author of the ‘Spinal Engine’ said, that locomotion, the arms and legs aren’t necessary for locomotion, they’re an enhancement, they help enhance movement of the spinal engine.

So, we’re not taking away from the legs, the use of the legs, and how they can benefit the swing. It’s just that they’re an enhancement to the spinal engine, the taller the player is, the longer the levers, the more the force multiplier at the end of that lever. So, guys like Aaron Judge and Giancarlo Stanton are gonna have longer levers, if they lengthen those levers at impact. When we’re talking about the front arm shape, they’re gonna hit the ball pound-for-pound, apples-to-apples swings farther than Jose Altuve with the locked out-front arm. It’s just because the longer limbs enhance more, they’re more of a force multiplier.

Buying Time – Back Foot Sideways, Directional Force, & Pushing the “Pause” Button

Buying time. So, the lower half, the legs can help buy time. Jamie Cevallos in his book ‘Positional Hitting’ way back, I think it was in the early 2000’s or mid to late 2000’s. He talked about this idea of a ‘Cushion’. You’ll see a hitter especially, if they’re looking fastball, and they see a curve ball or changeup. You’ll see them actually bend, sink, or cushion into their knees. They use their knees by bending them to buy them a little bit of time to get on time a lot better.  It’s pushing the ‘pause’ button.

The other thing we want to do to buy time, is keep the back foot sideways.

We talked about this idea of directional force, Matt Nokes, he says that to hit a ball 400 feet, it takes 8,000 pounds per square inch of force in one direction. In hitting, both in baseball and softball, we have 90 degrees to work with. The other 270 degrees is in foul territory, it doesn’t do a hitter any good or a team any good to play in that 270 degrees outside of a fair territory. We have to stay between the 90s, we have to stay between the lines. If you think about a bowler, every single professional bowler out there, “scissors” their legs.

I’m not saying that all hitters have to scissor. I just give my hitters that option.  But if you think about bowlers, they bowl between a two-foot Lane. I don’t know if that’s correct or not, but it’s somewhere around that. They also put a spin on the ball, so if they over rotated their lower half, not keeping their back foot sideways, they’re over rotating their pelvis. Then what you would see is that ball bouncing into the outside lanes.  Try scissoring your legs, then try and open your hips up more, and it’s almost impossible.

You want to make sure that we’re creating directional force, and that’s another thing the legs do. They help us stay between that 90 degrees, and use all 90 degrees effectively. That comes in handy at the higher levels when hitting to the opposite field is a lot more important, and when we see shifts.  Most of the time, hitters are not very good about going the other way. You can see the hitters that do go the other way very well, their batting averages seem to be higher.

 

How do we Utilize the legs in the Swing?

Now again, if it’s power you want, this isn’t the place. You want to look at the Catapult Loading System, and harness the power of the spinal engine.  If you want a majority of power, 70-80% of consistent power.

Getting Shorter, Staying Shorter

To properly utilize the legs in the swing, you want to look at getting shorter and staying shorter.  You see most great hitters when you draw a line over their head before they stride, by the time they get to stride landing, you’re gonna see distance between where they started, and where their head is at stride landing. You’re gonna see what we call ‘Getting Shorter’.

Then as they swing, it’s almost like that bottom ladder rung they create at landing, they tend to stay under that line. What we do is, we could take a PVC pipe. We can put it at the start of the hitter swing, before they even stride…we can put it maybe at their nose or their chin, and we can have them practice getting the top of their head under that PVC pipe. As they swing, stay under that PVC pipe. I’ve also had my hitters get next to a piece of furniture that’s about the same height, then have them stride, and get their head to where, now they’re under the top of that, say dresser or whatever, or picture frame, could be anything around the house.

When they swing, do some slow motion swings, and they stay under that line. That’s a way to get shorter, stay shorter.

Okay to “bend the knee”

It’s okay to bend the knee, I also get my hitters to do this if necessary. We don’t really practice this, but I tell them it’s okay to bend the knee, if the pitch is down in the zone.

Distance between the feet

Also working distance between the feet, you can either get them to stride longer, or you can cut down on their skip. We usually try to manipulate one of those two things or both things to get that distance between the feet, so that allows them to hit more line drives or at least control their line drives.

Keep back foot sideways

Then keeping their back foot sideways. You can use the VeloPro, they use it in pitching a lot. But in hitting, we use the VeloPro.

We tell the hitter to make sure they keep their back foot, their back heel on the ground as they swing. Almost like you would see with George Springer, or Altuve, or Mike Trout, any of those kinds of hitters or in softball Sierra Romero. They keep their back heel on the ground and it turns sideways, so they stay sideways. They do a better job of staying between those 90 degrees.

One last thing on keeping the back foot sideways, as mentioned, scissoring helps with that as well. So, that’s something that you can play around with, and let your hitters’ experiment with.

Hope this answered the question of “How to get my kid to stop rising, and for him to utilize his legs more during the swing”. Make sure that we’re swinging smarter by moving better, and before I let you go…

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Baseball Trainers Near Me

1 On 1 & Group Hitting Lessons For Baseball And Softball Fresno-Clovis, CA | Best Private Online Batting Instruction & Analysis 2022 | Training For Youth And Adult [VIDEO]

In the Fresno / Clovis area? Joey offers in-person baseball hitting lessons at Clovis West HS → Or are you looking for the best private online batting instruction and swing analysis in 2022?

We do training for both adults and youth.  This 20-min part-1 video webinar will give you a little taste of what we’re about…

Increase Consistent Power In 2-Weeks: Baseball Trainers Webinar Part-1…

 

 

 

For those interested:

  • Here’s a link to sign up for our online hitting lesson program called The Feedback Lab,
  • Please text me at: 559-709-5808 (Joey) if you’re in Fresno, Clovis, or general California area to setup private 1 on 1 instruction or small private group lessons.
  • CLICK HERE for a link to Our Story and testimonials.

SCIENCE-BASED TRAINING:

Improve your hitting strategy dramatically by applying human movement principles.

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

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Here’s are the three parts:

  1. [YOU ARE HERE] Baseball Trainers Near Me? Part-1,
  2. Perfect Baseball Swing Webinar? Part-2, and
  3. Part-3 COMING SOON!!

The following is the transcript to the baseball trainers near me webinar… (about 18-minutes reading time)

Joey Myers  00:06

Get cozied up to technology over the years, because of the online thing, it is what it is.

Joey Myers  00:14

Let me let these people in. Welcome everybody that are coming in here. Some are coming in by phone.

Joey Myers  00:25

We have a lot of information today, I’m going to try and get through it really quickly, within 30 minutes. It will be good information.

Joey Myers  00:32

If you have any questions, I know, I have a lot of questions, a lot of great questions that Neil relayed over to me, from many of you. There’s a lot of them, like I said, 40-50, something like that.Baseball Trainers Near Me

Joey Myers  00:42

I’m going to do my best to really get through those quickly. Obviously, I’m not going to be able to go through them in depth, but if you have any questions after this, feel free to reach out and email me at Joey, J-O-E-Y, like Joey from friends, at hitting performance lab dot com, and I’ll have that at the end of this too. You don’t have to worry about downloading it into your brain. If you have any baseball trainers near me webinar questions, please, and I will answer them, have them ready.

 

Baseball Trainers Near Me – Our Story

Joey Myers  01:08

I think we’re adding them here. As they as they come in, we will add them. Today, we’re going to be going over something, about 2012, towards the end of 2012, is when my son, who’s now going to be turning eight in three days.

Joey Myers  01:28

When he was born, and the wife was doing the midnight, every two hours, three-hour milk feedings. I had a book called Anatomy Trains by Thomas Myers, same last name. I’m sure on the family tree, we are related in some way, but I don’t know him like I would know my brother or my uncle or anything like that.

Joey Myers  01:50

Thomas Myers’ book Anatomy Trains was something that really changed everything, how I teach hitting, and how I’m going to teach hitting, and you will hopefully get to see a little bit of that in this baseball trainers near me presentation. So again, welcome.

Joey Myers  02:04

Thank you again, Neil, for putting this thing on and keeping you already to go. Hopefully, we can get a lot of information in and if you got to go, we’re going to record this, don’t worry, we will get that out. I’ll get the recording out to Neil and he can get it out to you guys, so let’s get going.

Joey Myers  02:19

This is the baseball trainers near me seminar, teleseminar, whatever you want to call it, how to teach 100-pound hitters who consistently drive the ball 300 feet. This was something that I didn’t just cook up and create a product and go. This came to me with the results that my hitters were getting, and hitters were soon to be, what other coaches were learning, and were applying with their hitters.

Joey Myers  02:44

Brought to you by Hitting Performance Lab, that’s my website. You got Neil over at MaxBP. One of my favorite quotes is by Ralph Waldo Emerson, you might know that gentlemen,

“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”.

Joey Myers  03:15

Now this is an important quote, because it distinguishes between methods and principles, principles are rules. Think about playing Monopoly, you got to know the rules of the game before you can play the game. The principles to hitting can come in the form of bio-mechanics, physics, engineering, those are the principles that we tend to stick with.

Joey Myers  03:42

What we’re going to be talking about today, case studies, why legs fail, and spinal engine succeeds in the power equation, discover the springy fascist secret, how to turn the spine into a safe ball crushing machine. We were talking about this with Neil, I talked to him yesterday on the phone, he was having some back pain with his baseball golf swing, and we’ll see if we can get to that in this, but I really want to focus on more of the power side, but we want to make sure the swing is safe, we will talk about that.

Joey Myers  04:17

Before we get there, let’s add some more people in here, probably have Neil do this. That’s right. Thank you for joining everybody. All right.

Joey Myers  04:35

The first question usually when you go to a wedding is how do you know the bride? How do you know the groom? So, how do I know MaxBP? Well, it first started with the Sandlot Slugger, and then MaxBP acquired Sandlot Slugger, and that’s where we connected, and I connected with Neil. That’s probably been, I don’t know, Neil can probably say on this five, seven years ago, maybe, that this happened. Is that about right, Neil?

Neil McConnell  04:58

Yes, that sounds right. We’ve been around about 11 years; Sandlot Slugger ran probably about 14 years ago. Somewhere in that mix.

Joey Myers  05:08

I know them because we started the starting lineup store dot com, where I started it back 2010. I was grouping a lot of the hitting aids that really love to work with my hitters that are proven, whether it’s through science or just data, and MaxBP, Sandlot Slugger at the time, the MaxBP is one of those hitting aids, I call them the best hitting aids in the world, on the planet. That’s how I know Neil and MaxBP.

Joey Myers  05:38

I played four years division one baseball at Fresno State from 2003, I just want to give just a little bit, I’m going to probably rush through this because I know most year, just cut to the chase. I think some of you that don’t know me, would be good to just take a gloss… Over 15 plus years in the corrective exercise industry, and those are some of the alphabet soup that I have certification wise.

Joey Myers  06:02

What’s funny is in college, I was a criminology major and I really fell in love with kinesiology. I wish if I did it over again, that’s what I would have done, but I’m mostly self-taught. I used to train people, I wrote a 2018 Amazon bestselling book, Catapult Loading System, that’s the title of this baseball trainers near me webinar.

Joey Myers  06:24

How to teach 100-pound hitters, how to consistently drive the ball 300 feet, and that started me on this journey that this stuff really works, because you really start to get in with a lot of other coaches reteaching the same information, and you really get to see this stuff.

Joey Myers  06:42

It’s not just me and my hitters, or my magic, but other coaches are able to do the same thing. I’ll have a cool little bonus for you guys, free bonus that you can grab this book at no cost on Amazon. At the end of this baseball trainers near me webinar, we’ll talk about that.

Joey Myers  06:58

We’ll get a couple more of these, about almost 30,000 online courses, lessons and books product sold online, over 333 blog posts at Hitting Performance Lab dot com, giving away over 8500 copies of Amazon best selling book…

Joey Myers  07:19

We applied human movement principles that are validated by science to hitting the ball. Like I mentioned, I played four years of division one baseball at Fresno State. I didn’t play pro ball, I didn’t play major league ball, but I played probably more than 95 and 98% of the baseball population.

Joey Myers  07:34

I don’t say that to brag, I say that most of the teaching that I teach has nothing to do with how I was taught. I do use some of that stuff. I do use some of the cues and different things like that in certain circumstances, but most of my stuff, if not all of it, is validated by science.Baseball Trainers Near Me

Joey Myers  07:53

The other thing, that we talked about is, I’m working on a new book that’s going to be published, we are working on January- February of 2021. It’s called “Swing Smarter: Science-Based Hitting Training, Built to Understand How, Why and the Reasoning Behind it”.

Joey Myers  08:09

Those are all things that we stand for and set us apart from a lot of the others that you’ve probably read, heard, watched out there, purchased their products, watched their YouTube videos.

 

Case Studies

Joey Myers  08:19

Let’s get started, case studies, so the only reason I got, I’m not here to brag, and I could give you a hundred other ones, but I want to give you an example since Neil talked about that there’s a huge smattering of different people on this call. There are parents that are just coaching their kids, there are team coaches that are coaching a group of kids from 14 to probably 30 plus in high school, professional and there are instructors out there like myself, there are probably academy owners out there.

Joey Myers  08:27

I just want to put it up front on the people that we help and how these human movement principles that are validated by science can help anybody.

Joey Myers  09:04

At 14, a 130 pound hitter that was driving the ball 385 feet and by the way that was with a hickory wood bat. That wasn’t the hot metals that everybody says, “oh they always try and explain these case studies away”.  This particular hitter, I think it’s Texas Tech, he got a full ride to Texas Tech, Hudson White is his name. I do have a blog post on him that is featured on my blog, but he’s one of them.

Joey Myers  09:31

Sixty-seven-pound hitter at the time, soaking wet. I think that 67 pounds, he had eaten a Costco chocolate muffin, that I think after he went to the doctor to get that measurement or something like that, he might have even been easy, 65 pounds before eating that muffin, but he was hitting the ball 180 plus feet and this is consistent.

Joey Myers  09:50

I always tell my hitters that I’m just the compass and the flashlight in the dark, you have to walk the path, I don’t have to walk the path for you, I’ve done that on my own. I’ve walked the path plenty of times, but now it’s the hitters that have to do that. They are 90% of this. I’m just the 10% that gives them the right direction to go.

Joey Myers  09:50

She put a lot of hard work in that summer, and she gained 10 miles an hour and ball exit speed, hitting a softball. We have an indie baseball player, he was pretty much out, he came to me, and in one hour, we increased, obviously baseball, plus 10 miles per hour and ball exit speed.

Joey Myers  09:50

This isn’t just a one flash in the pan time, 90-pound hitter driving the ball 300 feet. D-1 college fast-pitch softball player, she was a Fresno State in a summer, now with softball because the balls bigger, many you know in softball obviously, in baseball you should know bigger softball, heavier, more mass, and to gain 10 miles an hour in one summer in two and a half months is a big deal. That’s what she did, a lot of hard work.

Joey Myers  10:52

Now those things when they gain that much, the reason why, is because the principles we’re going to talk about today, the consistently power principles, and they were almost nonexistent in their swing. If you have a hitter who is nonexistent, you’re going to see these big gains using principles seen in this baseball trainers near me webinar.

Joey Myers  11:07

If you see hitters that have maybe a couple of these or one of these, you’re not going to see that kind of a gain, just because they’re not starting from zero. I want you to understand that this isn’t the norm. It’s not the norm when somebody started from zero but it’s pretty close. It’s between six and 10 miles an hour ball exit speed when they’re starting from zero, it’s what I tend to see.

Joey Myers  11:28

55-year-old slow-pitch softball optometrist online lesson, and he’s working with me and doing pretty well. I don’t have any gains on that side of it, but it’s interesting and 71-year-old senior league baseball player, I worked with him this week, he came up, he read my book, he said, “It makes sense, I love what you wrote. A lot of the other books I’ve read are hard to understand”. He’s an attorney, by the way. Attorneys usually are really into that jargon.

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Joey Myers  11:55

He picked it up, he said “I love it”, it kind of come up. He’s from Ojai, in California, he drove about three and a half hours. For two days, we worked, and we increased his ball exit speed by nine miles an hour in one hour.

Joey Myers  12:09

The first day we really hit a couple of these principles hard the first day, and he gained nine miles an hour, plus, he had a little bit of back pain when we first started, and we got rid of it in his swing.

Joey Myers  12:20

Again, that’s something maybe we’ll talk about if you guys want me to. I’ve worked with major leaguers, whether it’s in person or they bought my courses and we’ve talked online through some of this stuff, professional hitters I’ve worked with in person, college, Juco, high school, junior high school, little league and senior league.

Joey Myers  12:38

This goes across the board, it doesn’t matter what level they’re at, these principles work, whether they are male or female, they work, it doesn’t matter. Human to human is basically what it works for.  And you’ll learn these principles in this baseball trainers near me webinar.

Joey Myers  12:49

If you want to get a lot of the testimonials, and that’s just probably, I think it’s 50 to 100 of them on my website, I have more, I just had been lazy to get them up, but if you go to hittingperformancelab.com, if you scroll all the way down into the footer, you’ll see the about page and you can click that, read a little bit about me, and then scroll down and there’s a ton of testimonials there. You can go check out more of those.

 

Why Legs Fail and Spinal Engine Succeeds in the Power equation

Joey Myers  13:11

Enough of that, let’s start to transition in this baseball trainers near me webinar… why the legs fail, and spinal engine succeeds in the power equation. Learning principles from water polo, maybe those of you out there have had kids that played water polo or have hitters that have played water polo. I have cousins and hitters that also did it, and the idea came to me, I ran an experiment where I wanted to have my pelvis facing forward, I was using a knob tracker, like a Zepp on my on my knob for those of you who blast motion, same thing, swing tracker.

Joey Myers  13:44

I was facing my hips forward, but I was just turning my upper body to be able to hit the ball. The experiment didn’t really turn out really well, but I tried to do it because my mobility in my spine or my shoulders and my pelvis weren’t allowing me to actually do the experiment like I should.

Joey Myers  14:02

We had the backspin tee guys, I’m really good friends with them since I met them. They did an experiment where they were jumping up and hitting a ball off the tee and dropping off of a chair hitting a ball before they hit the ground. They were doing a couple different experiments like that, and what they found was when their feet weren’t on the ground, and they were just using their shoulders in their thoracic spine, the middle of their spine, that their base when they had their feet on the ground ball exit speed…

Joey Myers  14:27

They had single-A ball players, they had indies or rookie ball, they had golfers that are hitting the ball 300 plus yards or 400 yards now and they had an eight-year professional pitcher who hits pretty well too. They were doing the experiment and they found that about 90 miles an hour was their normal control when their feet were on the ground, but when they were jumping up hitting or when they were falling and hitting, and doing their other things trying to take the lower half of the equation that their ball exit speeds were about 70 to 80% of what their control was, which was interesting.

Joey Myers  15:06

They were about 60 to 70 miles an hour versus the 90 with their feet on the ground. It got me thinking, and then somebody said, “well, that’s not a good experiment”, because you know, if you really wanted to do this, you had to hang from a harness, where your feet were hanging in, and then you hit it like that, like, well, who’s going to do that? Unless you’ve got access to a harness, like that, maybe at a farm.

Joey Myers  15:25

I was thinking, what athletes do throw or hit, from that kind of a position? I did a blog post, and it was titled “Is rotating back hip through the ball necessary for power?” Think about this baseball trainers near me webinar thought experiment.

Joey Myers  15:43

I don’t know if anybody has actually done this. I probably have to do this next summer, but think about that the fastest water polo throw, if you googled it, what do you think of that speed of that water polo ball. As you can see, the size of that ball is like a volleyball, Croatian Olympic water polo, male athlete, 60 miles an hour.

Joey Myers  16:15

As you can see floating in water, they’re not going down to the bottom and pushing up, they’re floating in water, so the lower half is minimal to almost zero friction with the lower half, so you’re not able to use a lower half like you are when you are standing on land, 60 miles an hour.

Joey Myers  16:31

Think about the pitcher, who is going down the mound, they got gravity, they got access to everything. Fastest pitcher, let’s just round it up to 100 miles an hour, so 100 miles an hour, on flat ground, falling down a mound is the fastest pitch.

Joey Myers  16:51

I know 102, 103, we can argue but say 100 easy numbers, so that water polo throw is throwing a big ball, that’s going to have an effect. Now, what happens if we put in that Croatian, male Olympic water polo player athlete, we put a baseball in his hand and have them floating in water and have them throw that baseball as hard as you can?

Joey Myers  17:13

What do you think that speed is going to be? It’s going to be a lot faster than 60 miles an hour, I can tell you. Is it going to be, instead of 60, is he going to throw at 70? Is he going to throw 80 miles an hour? Let’s be conservative and just say 70 miles an hour.

Joey Myers  17:27

You’re telling me in water, the fastest water polo thrower throws a baseball 70 miles an hour, while on land, the fastest pitcher throws 100 miles an hour. Easy numbers, 70% we can say, maybe conclude, that without ground reaction forces, that 70% of that velocity is coming from the pelvis, spine, and shoulder combination.

Joey Myers  17:56

Without ground reaction forces, we are very minimal when we’re in the pool. I say the spinal engines is responsible for about 70 to 80% of the power equation, and the lower half the legs and ground reaction forces are responsible for the other 20 to 30%. That’s what I say. Keep that in mind as we talk through this baseball trainers near me webinar and the spinal engine system.

Baseball Trainers Near Me Webinar

Betts, Arenado, & Trout. Showing ‘dem numbers!

Joey Myers  18:20

Do you recognize some of these hitters? Some of them have changed unis, or one of them at least, Mookie Betts, he’s on the Dodgers now. Nolan Arenado is in the middle, Mike Trout.

Joey Myers  18:29

Notice the pinstripe on the side of their leg and how it connects into the belt. Notice the positioning of where that is. Pelvis is already starting to open; all these hitters are at toe touch or pretty close to toe touch. Notice the numbers on their back. Now the righties, because the camera in the major leagues isn’t straight on center-field because you get to see the pitcher and the hitter, it’s slightly off center towards left.

Joey Myers  18:56

Your righties, you’re going to see probably more numbers than you would see lefties doing the same degree of rotation. This started off as showing numbers, it’s what we called it, and we will talk in a little bit how we’ve refined it to creating neck pressure but notice these in this baseball trainers near me webinar.

Joey Myers  19:12

Swing experiments results with the big three. The first of the big three is showing numbers. When I used a Zepp back in the day, now Zepp is turned in blast motions taken over and swing tracker. When I did about two- three experiments showing numbers, we found that out of 100 swings not showing numbers and 100 swing showing numbers, that bat speed was increased on average by four to six miles an hour, that’s bat speed.

Joey Myers  19:40

Bat speed is the close cousin to the ball exit speed. They are not the same, but they’re like first cousins. Without bat speed, ball exit speed probably is not going to be there. We got to be able to swing the bat somewhat hard to get the ball coming off the bat as fast. There are three others…

To be continued in Part-2 to this baseball trainers near me webinar…

SCIENCE-BASED TRAINING:

Improve your hitting strategy dramatically by applying human movement principles.

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

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by
Baseball Swing: Alex Rodriguez Interviews Barry Bonds

Improve Launch Angle Hitting Path For Baseball & Softball By Swinging Down? | 2022 Swing Plane Drills, Optimal Distance, & Ideal Home Run Formula

Perfect Baseball Swing By Swinging Down?

 

 

1) Can we improve launch angle hitting path (angle batted ball takes off the bat) for baseball and softball by swinging “down”?  2) What kind of swing plane drills or cues can we use to optimize batted ball distance?  And 3) What is the ideal home run formula?

  1. ANSWER – listen closely to Barry Bonds’ answers to Alex Rodriguez’s questions… (I’ve included my video stamped notes below)
  2. ANSWER – CLICK HERE for Paradoxical Intention and CLICK HERE for how to properly teach ‘launch angle’ swing (not what you think)…
  3. ANSWER – CLICK HERE for the ideal home run formula…

This baseball swing video where Alex Rodriguez interviews Barry Bonds was a two parter to this video post. Here are four of the interview’s finer points:Baseball Swing: Alex Rodriguez Interviews Barry Bonds

  1. “X” factor. Why top hand and back shoulder have to communicate with front leg,
  2. Per-fect swinging down because it’s easy to go up,
  3. 200+ Stikeouts as long as you hit 40-homers? And,
  4. How bunting can ‘line up’ your hitting.

SCIENCE-BASED TRAINING:

Improve your hitting strategy dramatically by applying human movement principles.

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

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Here are my interview time stamped notes…

  • At about the 1-min, 40-sec mark, Alex Rodriguez asks Barry Bonds about the “Ferris wheel” v. “merry-go-round” swings.  Bonds says he’s more of a down-angle swinger. “Down” means to flatten out the barrel path.  Not talking about swinging straight down.
  • At about the 3-min mark, Barry Bonds goes into what he calls the “X” factor and the “center-line”.  Back shoulder going to communicate with front leg.  And front shoulder with back leg.
  • At about the 4-min, 15-sec mark, Alex Rodriguez asks Barry Bonds if he hits off his back leg.  Causes head to fly open, front shoulder, and uppercut.  Bonds talks about using top hand as “guide” hand, bottom is power.  Top hand (back shoulder) and front leg have to communicate.  If they don’t, then head can pull open.
  • At about 6-min, 30-sec mark, Alex Rodriguez asks Barry Bonds about the advice Barry give him about not dipping his back shoulder too much.  Bonds expects hitters to work chopping ball off ground during tee work.  It’s easy to go up.  Over exaggerate down on a consistent basis. “Per-fect” the down level swing.
  • At about 9-min mark, Alex Rodriguez asks Barry Bonds about in today’s game it’s okay to strikeout over 200 times per season, just as long as you hit 40-homers.  A-Rod asked Bonds how he developed the discipline and balance at the plate.  Game has changed.  Don’t blame the players, they adapt to the environment.  In Barry’s day, had to hit .300, strikeout less than 100 times per season or you were sent down.  Bonds was told growing up to be a great hitter.  Home-runs don’t matter.  Tony Gwynn was a big influence to Barry. Use line to line, that will open the gaps.
  • At about 11-min, 30-min mark, Barry and A-Rod talk about bunting against the shift.  Bonds adds that bunting can always get you lined up for hitting.  Playing “catch” with the baseball.  Bunting slows things down.  My buddy Aaron Miles tells a story about this.
  • At about 13-min mark, Alex Rodriguez asks Bonds that if he was graduating from Arizona in 2020, gets drafted by the Giants in a Sabermetrics heavy environment, would he have listened to his dad?  Baseball is a eye hand coordination sports.  Computers are limited on what they can predict.
  • At the 15-minute mark are Alex Rodriguez’s “takeaways”.
by
Baseball Analytics: Miguel Cabrera Launch Angles

Has New 2023 Baseball Analytics Changed Baseball OR Ruining Sports? How To Guide Translating Data Science Metrics Into Hitting Mechanics

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How Fast (or Slow) Until a Data-driven Swing Replaces an “Old School” One? (Baseball Analytics Shenanigans)

Baseball Analytics: Miguel Cabrera Launch Angles

Baseball Analytics Photo courtesy: HittingNow.com

Why extremes are ALMOST never good

(Estimated reading time: 18-minutes)

Has the new way of baseball analytics changed baseball in 2022?  Or are they ruining sports?  I want to present a how to guide that translates data science metrics into hitting mechanics.  Old school versus new school.

How did we get here with baseball analytics? The ‘Launch Angle’ era.  Where did it originate?  What was the tipping point of choosing Sabermetrics over traditional scouting?  You’ll find out in the coming post.  But first,

We’ll be discussing what a data-driven swing looks like – we’ll be covering:

  • Story of Minor League hitting coaches having almost ZERO hitting experience,
  • Pros of a data-driven swing,
  • Cons of a data-driven swing, and
  • How it’s bad (or good) to track ball exit speed and launch angle in the batting cage.

Once upon a time in the Minors…

Story of Minor League hitting coaches having almost ZERO hitting experience

I have an interesting story to talk about. A true story. In an almost magical land called the Minor Leagues.  At the time, a little birdy playing for a National league professional organization whispered in my ear.  This little birdy told me…

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Their are budding baseball analytics hitting coaches sprouting up in some professional organizations – having almost zero hitting experience.  No this isn’t fake news.  These whirlybird propeller seeds are traveling by wind from the sparkling land of economics … planting their baby hitting coach seeds in fresh dark batter’s box soil.  With a little gray water, bright sunlight, and the swift tap of a fairy’s wand… instantly sprouts an economics hitting fairy!

These magical Econ-hitting fairies are now happily coaching professional hitters on what they need to be feeling as a hitter … regardless of whether they’re hitting line drive after line drive … AND, with no more playing experience than Little League.  Imagine the Mathlete schooling the High School Baseball Jock in everything hitting.  And the Jock MUST listen or … YOU’RE FIRED!

Okay, so I may have embellished the story a bit.  The Minor Leagues ARE NOT magical lands – just ask any Minor Leaguer.  It wasn’t a little birdy that shared the story – it was a professional baseball human being.  And sorry to kill your hopes and dreams, but magical Econ-hitting fairies aren’t born by adding gray water, sun, and the tapping of a fairy wand.  C’mon man, everyone knows those aren’t real!  Magical Econ-hitting fairies, I mean.  Fairy wands are VERY real.

It is true though – how this story sounded in my head. It was an interesting story coming from a single-A ballplayer.  That is, the state of  professional baseball in the so-called ‘Launch Angle’ era.  It does beg the question…

How are these baseball analytics Econ-hitting fairies, who have zero college, professional, or Major League experience, finding themselves coaching professional hitters on what they need to be doing, and how they need to be doing it?  Listen, this may sound counter to what I just spent a few sarcastic paragraphs mocking.  But listen closely…

As a coach you DO NOT need to have extensive experience to teach hitters to be effective in their movements.  Just as long as you understand how to apply human movement principles that are validated by real science to hitting the ball. In other words, as long as you understand the rules of the human movement game, you can help hitters at all levels succeed, regardless of experience.

So what is happening?

From my understanding, these data-driven Econ-hitting fairies with extensive backgrounds in economics DO NOT understand the rules of the human movement game.  Let me take you back to the future…

For those with your head in the sand the last two decades, there’s been a revolutionary baseball movement since 2001.  Just after Michael Lewis wrote Moneyball.  You may or may not have read the book, but may have seen the movie starring the always dreamy Bradley Pitt.

At the heart of the story is former General Manager of the Oakland Athletics, Billy Beane (played by Bradley Pitt). Beane reached out to Paul DePodesta, a Harvard alum, with a background in economics.  And coincidentally had a knack for baseball statistics.  DePodesta would soon become Beane’s first analytics department.

And it was here, Billy Beane transformed a low budget, bottom of the barrel, SEEMINGLY professional franchise known as the Oakland Athletics, into a real David and Goliath story.  Beane and DePodesta used key player statistics to recruit.  Stats that optimized scoring more runs, and as a result would win more games.  Like how often a hitter gets on base – or On-base Percentage.  And how often a hitter gets an extra base hit – known as Slugging Percentage.  Think about it.  How do you score more runs?  Get more runners on base, and have hitters who can drive them in.  Nowadays there are more advanced stats that measure run scoring value, but the point is this changed the game forever.  For the better, and for the worst.  I’ll get into why in the coming pages.

Furthermore…

This helped the baseball analytics powered A’s be highly competitive against top budget franchises.  I apologize, but I’m going to spoil the ending … this was until other big market teams caught on.  Oops!  The cat was out of the bag.  Yuge budget teams like Boston and New York were able to take the same system, but now pay BIG sums of money for the same undervalued players Oakland was getting at a steep discount.  Yes, Oakland shot themselves in the foot.  It wouldn’t be the last time.  The jig was up.  The A’s magic run was over.  But not before Billy Beane and the A’s proved the system worked.  Regardless of a franchise’s budget.  Like a fairy’s wand, player valuation metrics transformed the game.

And it was a good thing at the time, because you had players and coaches still in the game or retired, that were helping teach the game through their personal experiences.  They’re now considered “old school” coaches.  Filling a gap on the coaching side of things that the Econ majors and analytics departments weren’t able to do.  It was a healthy debate between old and new school methods.  Friction and debate in a system are a good thing.  But now this friction is like the political climate between Republicans and Democrats.  Toxic.

This healthy balance of baseball analytics debate went MIA somewhere along the way.  Like crabgrass in your lawn, metrics soon took over.  Pushing many of the experienced baseball minds out of the game.  Labeling them dinosaurs.  Or maybe, the experienced minds couldn’t keep up.  Or didn’t want to keep up.  In my humble opinion, player valuation using metrics has its place.  But it should not be the totality of scouting, recruiting and developing players.  I’m not a Math-hater or numbers-denier.  I love Math.  Love Geometry, Economics, and Statistics. I did hate Algebra 2 though.    My point is, data without context is not optimized.  Data is a puzzle piece.  NOT the whole thing.

Teaching hitters isn’t just about metrics.  Doesn’t have to be completely data-driven.  AND, teaching isn’t just about old school teaching methods.  It’s a blend of both. Mutually inclusive. Not mutually exclusive.  We can use data AND we can also use old school teaching methods to help hitters at all levels. We don’t have to be on one side or the other.  You don’t have to be Tom OR Jerry.  Bert OR Ernie.  Han Solo OR Chewbacca.  When it comes to hitting, the following will replace ‘Or’ with ‘And’.

Let’s make the Mathletes happy and discuss the…

Pros of a data-driven swing

Here are some pros to a data driven baseball analytics swing. Famed business management consultant, Peter Drucker once said,

“You can’t manage what you can’t measure.”

You business owners and managers understand this. You understand that you can optimize certain operations. You can optimize certain metrics in a business, it could be using Profit First in finances, it could be building Software as a Solution (SaaS) in technology, it could be optimizing sales funnels in marketing.  Optimization is working on the right things, and then doing those things right.

How can numbers help hitters?  Swing experiments.  In online marketing, we can run what’s called split A/B test.  Meaning, we can test whether a green button gets more clicks than a pink one over a period of time.  Like online marketing, we can split A/B test the swing by running swing experiments.

One of the things we used to accomplish this, when we started HittingPerformanceLab.com back in 2013, was technology such as the Zepp swing app, a knob tech swing analyzer.  Like BlastMotion and SwingTracker today. We can compare key swing metrics, whether it’s bat speed, attack angle, or time to impact and contrast two different swing movements.  It’s the ultimate baseball analytics split A/B test for hitters!

Here are the 5 steps to applying the Scientific Method to running swing experiments…

We start off with a QUESTION: “Are loose hands fast hands to a hitter?”  We can do a swing experiment using a BlastMotion or SwingTracker bat knob sensor. And we can test that. We can test it comparing apples to apples.

We then form a HYPOTHESIS on how we  think the experiment will turn out: “I think loose hands ARE fast hands”.  And then,

We go down the rabbit hole of RESEARCHING other studies that confirm and deny our hypothesis.

Then we COLLECT THE DATA from using the Zepp, BlastMotion, SwingTracker, or a PocketRadar for measuring ball exit speed.

For example in our ‘loose hands are fast hands’ swing experiment … we would take one hundred swings with loose hands. And one hundred swings doing the opposite.  In this case, using what we call finger pressure.  So the top hand, bottom three fingers squeezed tight, eight out of ten squeeze, from the moment the hitter picks up their front stride foot, to the swing follow through. Then we counterbalance those swings. This helps remove any warm-up or getting tired biases out of the experiment.

We break the two hundred swings into twenty five swing chunks, and layer them so that loose hand swings are symbolized with the letter ‘A’, and finger pressure swings are symbolized with the letter ‘B’. Remember, each letter represents one 25-swing chunk.  The first 100 swings will be broken into the following sequence: ABBA. And the last 100 swings will be broken into the following reverse sequence: BAAB.  This is how to do split A/B testing, from a hitting perspective.

After all 200 counterbalanced swings, we extract the averaged out data from the BlastMotion, SwingTracker, Zepp device, or PocketRadar.  Then we can base our CONCLUSION on the averages.  Which factor, loose hands or finger pressure swings contributed to better bat speed, hand speed, time to impact, attack angle, etc.?  By the way, Finger Pressure won out in our own swing experiments.

Simply put, here’s the Scientific Method…

  1. Question
  2. Hypothesis
  3. Research
  4. Data
  5. Conclusion

Essentially, we use the above process, take one hitting myth, and test it against its opposite. Don’t get me wrong, no swing experiment is perfect.  Experiment findings are based on probability.  Experiments are repeated by others, and the findings are either proven or proven false.  Over time, this increases or decreases confidence in the findings.  The bottom line is this, using the Scientific Method may not be perfect, but it’s one step in the right direction.  It gives us a process and path towards the truth. Take of from Peter Drucker: “You can’t manage what you can’t measure.”

We satisfied the Mathletes – somewhat – talking about the Pros of a data-driven swing, especially when it comes to Moneyball. Billy Beane, all that stuff.

Now, let’s make the old school athletes happy and look at the…

Cons of a data-driven swing

Outside of applying the Scientific Method to optimizing the swing, here are the Cons to a baseball analytics data driven swing. Typically, in a data driven swing, not enough attention is given to the context of the numbers.

I always say, numbers don’t have brains. People do. Here’s the problem … take the example of our Econ-hitting fairy story.  Knowing zero about hitting.  Having virtually zero experience hitting.  Teaching hitters based on hearsay. Basically guessing on connecting the dots.  This presents quite a challenge.  It would be like asking me to re-roof your house … I have a lot of skill sets, but that ain’t one of them!  You’d be better off making YouTube your friend and doing it yourself!

In today’s game, these hitters are in the Big Leagues because their statistics work for ‘Launch Angle’ era Econ-scouts. On paper, the numbers work.  Aaron Miles played 9-years in the Big Leagues, from 2003-2011.  Played for almost half a dozen teams.  Most notable, he played with Albert Pujols on the St. Louis Cardinals.  He was a switch hitting middle infielder and third baseman.  Standing in at 5-foot, 8-inches, 180-pounds.  Beautiful .281/.320/.352 career average slash line (batting average/on-base percentage/slugging percentage).  Note that he played when the baseball analytics ‘Launch Angle’ era was just getting warmed up.  When there was a somewhat healthy balance of old and new school.  That’s the context.

Let me set the scene…

I’ve had a few enjoyable phone conversations with Aaron Miles over the years.  Great dude.  Not afraid to challenge the status quo.  He told me a pretty revealing story once.  Which will say a lot about the hitting times we find ourselves in.  I asked him what decision he made in the past that now – looking back – he sees was a mistake?

He was slumping one year, and was briefly demoted.  Before the demotion, he knew he was a small-ball situational hitting guy being smaller, faster, and a switch hitter.  But with the demotion, he didn’t have much to lose, so he decided to air out his swing.  Again, this was the start of the ‘Launch Angle’ era.  Interestingly, he began smashing more extra base hits.  At one point, a coach came up to him saying something to the effect of, “C’mon Miles, you’re a role player, don’t swing beyond your role”.

Remember, at this time there was still a strong old school hitting mentality present in the game.  So what did Miles do?  What any rational, logical, smart Big Leaguer would do in that scenario … he got back to being a role playing hitter.  You see, the respect for the “numbers community” wasn’t as high as it is now.  So in Aaron’s case, old school hitting was more representative of the times.

Here’s the point…

Here’s how Aaron Miles answered the question of what decision he made in the past that now – looking back – he sees was a mistake…  In this day and age of rewarding hitters that get on base more often and get more extra base hits … he expressed that he would have given the “air-it-out” swing more time.  Maybe he could have added another year to his career.  Maybe 2?  3?  4 maybe?  Who knows!  Give up some strikeouts.  Hit more dingers and doubles.  This formula seems to work out better for hitters in the Launch Angle era.

Let me be clear.  This blog post isn’t about giving up a hundred strikeouts and fifty batting average points a season to hit for more power.  What we believe is having your cake and eating it too!  Power AND average.  Mutually inclusive, NOT mutually exclusive.  Just like Batman AND Robin!

Getting back to our baseball analytics Econ-hitting fairy friends taking numbers out of context…

They’re looking at a hitter’s high ground ball percentage – say 50 percent, while league average is 43 percent. And they’re telling that hitter to get the ball in the air.  You may agree with this. And I can see where you’re coming from.  But there’s a catch…those numbers don’t mean anything, if you don’t understand what mechanics are causing a higher than average ground-ball rate.

Let me give an example…

Christian Yelich in 2015 had a ground-ball rate of 62.5-percent!  Remember league average is 43-percent.  Then, that rate steadily dropped in the years that followed 56.5, 55.4, 51.8, and in 2019 he finally arrived at a league average 43.2-percent ground-ball rate.  Do you know how many doubles he hit in those respective seasons, starting in 2015?  30, 38, 36, 34, and 29 doubles in 2019 – where he had about 100 less plate appearances than prior years.  Dingers? Starting in 2015 with 7, 21, 18, 36, and 44 in 2019.

Yes, hitting less ground-balls will lead to more extra base hits.  But what in a hitter’s mechanics (or timing) cause an above average ground-ball rate?  Do you know?  Off the top of your head, what can you point to mechanically?  Believe me, if you tell a hitter to get the ball in the air without looking at mechanical ground-ball choke points, then you’ll most likely get an extreme uppercut.  Not to mention, most young hitters will make unnatural compensations to get the ball in the air.   This collapses consistency!  Low batting average and high strikeouts will be the ultimate result.  Believe me.

Baseball analytics numbers by themselves are dumb. Numbers don’t have brains, people do. So hitting coaches have to understand how mechanics translate into metrics. Back to our Econ-hitting fairy friends. That’s the problem.  Not having the ability to translate metrics into mechanics.  To optimize the numbers, we have to understand the context.  The good news for our Econ-hitting fairy friends?  This can be learned and applied in today’s ‘Launch Angle’ era.  Regardless of playing level experience.

How it’s bad (or good) to only track ball exit speed and launch angle in the batting cage

There are some hitting coaches that will say tracking ball exit speed and launch angles in the batting cage is really dumb, is REALLY not smart.  And then there are those who do it all the time.  And their hitters are successful versus doing nothing.

Look, I treat the batting cage as a Laboratory.  It’s a place to experiment.  To work out the kinks.  To be free to make mistakes and learn.  Use data to measure and manage swing mechanics.  Logical coaches get this.  Others?  They’re just guessing.

Same polarized perspective about tee work. Some coaches don’t like hitting off batting tees.  Because at the end of the day, the hitter has to translate what they’re doing mechanically to a LIVE pitch.  Agreed.  But when teaching something new, a batting tee has its place.  It can also help coaches understand cause and effect in mechanics.  How?  By isolating the variable.  If you can’t isolate the variable, you’re guessing.  And guessing is an anti-optimization strategy.  If you don’t know what’s causing what, then how do you know what works and what doesn’t?

Isolating the variable?  Brilliant.org defines it:

“Isolating a variable means rearranging an algebraic equation so that a different  variable is on its own. The goal is to choose a sequence of operations that will leave the variable of interest on one side and put all other terms on the other side of the equal sign.” 

I know, rough definition when comparing against baseball analytics.  Let me rephrase … in relation to hitting mechanics, it’s finding out what in the swing contributes to the majority of power…  Hitting more line drives…  Getting on-time more often…  How would one go about isolating those mechanical variables?  I can tell you it’s not hitting LIVE pitching.  WHY?  Because LIVE pitching is too random.  Humans.  Pitch speed.  Pitch depth.  Pitch height.  Pitch type.  Pitch distance.  Pitch reaction time.  All this can be controlled in a swing experiment off a tee.

I believe, there’s a time and place for the tee.  I subscribe to the Goldilocks Golden Rule – not too hot, not too cold…I like my hitters using the tee just the right amount.  The brain has to organize in a certain way.  With LIVE pitching, there is a lot of data collection the hitter has to take in.  Pitch recognition.  Tracking.  Timing.  Learning a new mechanic also taxes the brain.  High cognitive load.

Consider this…

What if I asked you to write your first and your last name in half the letters. In other words, what if I asked you to write every other letter of your name? So for me, JOEY MYERS, I would write it as J-E-M-E-S.  Now, I’ve never done that before.  So, if I was timing myself, the first five out of ten tries would be slow. The more I practice though, the faster I’d be writing half my name.  Why?  Because I’m writing it in half the letters!

But it takes a little time for my brain and body to connect and figure this out.  To learn how to do it.  Learn how to do something that I’m not used to doing.  It is the same exact thing when learning something new mechanically. Keep this in mind when thinking about your seven, eight, nine year olds learning something they’re not comfortable doing.  Hitting off the batting tee is an okay thing to do in the beginning. When something’s new.

Again, the batting tee shouldn’t be something you spend a lot of time using, but it is a proper regression-progression when compared to dry swings, soft toss, or LIVE toss.  In connecting tee work to ball exit speeds and launch angles … they give us a unit of measure off the tee with a uniquely controlled environment.  Apples to apples comparison.

Launch angles are a data point. A lot of these coaches don’t like the launch angle swing. Well, launch angle is a number. The launch angle is the angle of the ball coming off the bat. It’s hard for hitters to control it.  However, hitters can control their barrel Attack Angle.  The angle the barrel takes to the incoming pitch.  Launch and Attack Angles don’t have to be the same. And most likely they aren’t going to be.  But hitters can better control the latter, not so much the former.

What’s measurable is manageable.  We can use swing experiments to do it. Hitting off the tee shouldn’t be something we hang our hat on, but it is something that gives us a data point, a standard data point that we can give baseball analytics context to.  Not like analyzing metrics without looking at context.  Remember numbers don’t have brains, people do.  What are the causes of an above or below average fly ball, ground ball, or line drive percentage?  Home run to fly-ball ratio?  Higher percentage of pulling the ball or going the other way too much? What is the mechanical causation-correlation relationship making those metrics above or below average?

We’ll find out in upcoming blog posts…

We covered A LOT:

  • Story of Econ-hitting fairies in the Minor Leagues – having almost ZERO hitting experience and knowledge.  What’s going on here?
  • Pros of a data-driven swing – what’s measurable is manageable.  Using the Scientific Method: 1. Asking a question, 2. Forming a hypothesis, 3. Doing the research, 4. Collecting the data, and 5. Formulating a conclusion,
  • Cons of a data-driven swing – numbers by themselves are dumb. Numbers don’t have brains, people do. Hitting coaches have to understand how mechanics translate into metrics.  What does a hitter with an above average ground-ball rate mean?  How do you bring him or her to average or below average? And…
  • How it’s bad (or good) to track ball exit speed and launch angle in the batting cage – if you’re not collecting data and comparing with strategic swing changes, then you’re guessing. Tracking ball exit speeds, attack angles, and launch angles are part of data collection.  And using a tee is essential when isolating the variable and teaching something new.
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Strike Zone Baseball: Pitch Detection & Pitch Tracking Baseball

How To Recognize Baseball Pitches & See Ball Better | V-Flex Sports Hitting System & Training Drills Review 2022 [VIDEO]

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How To Master Strike Zone Baseball with V-Flex Pitch Detection System

Discover how to get baseball and softball players recognizing pitches and seeing the ball better with the V-Flex Sports hitting system.  Check out this training drills 2022 review…

I have a strike zone baseball mastery, pitch detection, pitch tracking baseball, pitch recognition (whatever you want to call it) gem for you coaches…

(This post has a 6-min reading time)

And FYI … many coaches who know about this, DO NOT want you to know about it.  Why?  Because they want to keep their competitive advantage.  I don’t play that game.  I’d rather share the knowledge, tool, or strategy, so it makes baseball and softball of all levels better.  All ships rise with the tides.

Training pitch tracking baseball and softball developing a sense of the strike zone, to have a pitch detection or recognition system if you will, can be a challenge. You may not know how to teach it, cue it, or drill it.Strike Zone Baseball: Pitch Detection & Pitch Tracking Baseball

What if I were to tell you that you could use a pitch tracking baseball tool like the V-Flex, which promotes implicit learning, that will teach hitters pitch detection and how to master strike zone baseball. What is implicit learning? Simply put, it’s teaching without teaching.

Here are some pain points associated with strike zone mastery, pitch detection, pitch tracking baseball, pitch recognition – whatever you want to call it:

  • Don’t know how to teach swing at more strikes, and not at balls,
  • I do know how, but it’s difficult to teach and we’re not seeing immediate results, or
  • Want to cut down on my hitter striking out and swinging and missing, but don’t know where to start…

Well, you’re in the right place.  Here are the pitch tracking baseball and softball models to choose from, and you can get any one of these at The Starting Lineup Store…

VX-3 Strike Zone Baseball Benefits (Baseball & Softball)

  •  The VX-3.0 is the smallest trainer in the VX-Series of products.
  • It plays a vital role in creating tangible space for enhancing strike recognition for hitters.
  • This implicit trainer engages the hitters brain directly and provides necessary non-verbal spatial information relative to mastering strike recognition on game day.  
  • It can be used independently or in combination with the VX-5 and or VX-7 during training or live bp on the field. 
  • This piece comes with a User’s Manual and a visual aid for demonstrating the areas of focus during training.
  • Watch the VX-3 assembly video to gain tips on how to assemble…

VX-3 Pitch Detection Features (Baseball & Softball)

  • Frame is made of 3/8″ X 1″ 6061 aircraft grade anodized aluminum.
  • In 2017 we upgraded our shadow netting to #64 coated nylon.  The new netting is much more durable than previous years.
  • We also added bungee cord for the inner circle drawstring which allows the inner circle to be more uniform during use.
  • This model also comes with galvanized/poly-coated cables and a new shock absorbing ring.
  • Finally, it comes with a 5 pound sand bag for stability.  The VX-3.0 comes with a 5 year manufactures warranty on all aluminum and steel parts.
  • It comes with a 5-year manufacturers warranty on all aluminum and steel parts.

VX-4 Pitch Tracking Baseball Benefits (Baseball Only)

  • The VX-4 plays a vital role in creating tangible space for enhancing strike recognition for hitters.
  • This implicit trainer engages the hitters brain directly and provides necessary non-verbal spatial information relative to mastering strike recognition on game day.  
  • It can be used for live bp on the field.
  • This piece comes with a User’s Manual and a visual aid for demonstrating the areas of focus during training. 

Here’s the VX-4 in action…

https://youtu.be/kwWZiSau-VM

VX-4 Strike Zone Baseball System Features (Baseball Only)

  • Circular frame and tripod with extendable legs made of 3/8″ X 1″ 6061 aircraft grade anodized aluminum.
  • In 2017 we upgraded our shadow netting to #64 coated nylon.  The new netting is much more durable than previous years.
  • We also added bungee cord for the inner circle drawstring which allows the inner circle to be more uniform during use.
  • It comes standard with 12 polypropylene prompters for making different strike zone spaces.
  • It comes with a 5 year manufactures warranty on all aluminum and steel parts.

VX-5 Pitch Detection Benefits (Baseball & Softball)

  • The VX-5 is the mid-sized trainer in the VX-Series of products.
  • It plays a vital role in creating tangible space for enhancing strike recognition for hitters.
  • This implicit trainer engages the hitters brain directly and provides necessary non-verbal spatial information relative to mastering strike recognition on game day.  
  • It can be used independently or in combination with the VX-3 and/or VX-7 during training or live bp on the field.
  • (Added Value) This trainer can be used as a SBP-5/BBP-5 (Pitching trainer) by simply removing the cable and ring system.  This is a tremendous benefit for customers on a tight budget.
  • This piece comes with a User’s Manual and a visual aid for demonstrating the areas of focus during training.
  • Watch the VX-5 assembly video to gain tips on how to assemble the VX-5… (The only difference between the VX-5 and VX-7 assembly is size.  The assembly is identical for each)…

VX-5 Pitch Tracking Baseball System Features (Baseball & Softball)

  • Frame is made of 3/8″ X 1″ 6061 aircraft grade anodized aluminum.  
  • In 2017 we upgraded our shadow netting to #64 coated nylon.  The new netting is much more durable than previous years.
  • We also added bungee cord for the inner circle drawstring which allows the inner circle to be more uniform during use.  
  • This model also comes with galvanized/poly-coated cables and a new shock absorbing ring.
  • Finally, it comes with a 5 pound sand bag for stability. 
  • The VX-5 comes with a 5 year manufactures warranty on all aluminum and steel parts.  

VX-7 Strike Zone Baseball Benefits (Baseball & Softball)

  • The VX-7 is the largest trainer in the VX-Series of products.
  • It plays a vital role in creating tangible space for enhancing strike recognition for hitters.
  • This implicit trainer engages the hitters brain directly and provides necessary non-verbal spatial information relative to mastering strike recognition on game day.
  • It can be used independently or in combination with the VX-3 and or VX-5 during training or live bp on the field.
  • (Added Value) This trainer can be used as a SBP-7/BBP-7 (Pitching trainer) by simply removing the cable and ring system.  This is a tremendous benefit for customers on a tight budget.
  • This piece comes with a User’s Manual and a visual aid for demonstrating the areas of focus during training.
  • Watch the VX-7 assembly video to gain tips on how to assemble the VX-7 (The only difference between the VX-5 and VX-7 assembly is size.  The assembly is identical for each).

VX-7 Pitch Detection System Features (Baseball & Softball)

  • Frame is made of 3/8″ X 1″ 6061 aircraft grade anodized aluminum.
  • In 2017 we upgraded our shadow netting to #64 coated nylon.  The new netting is much more durable than previous years.
  • We also added bungee cord for the inner circle drawstring which allows the inner circle to be more uniform during use.
  • This model also comes with galvanized/poly-coated cables and a new shock absorbing ring.
  • Finally, it comes with a 5 pound sand bag for stability.
  • The VX-7 comes with a 5 year manufactures warranty on all aluminum and steel parts.
  • Here are some other blog resources when it comes to pitch recognition:

Here a few more blog resources when it comes to helping hitters with pitch recognition…

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Youth hitter working on load timing with batting timing drills — float drill position at stride lift

Late Swings Cost Your Hitter More Hits Than Mechanics Ever Will: Here’s How To Fix That

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The most frustrating thing in youth baseball coaching is not a mechanical flaw — it is watching a hitter with a technically sound swing get jammed on a fastball or take a breaking ball they should have crushed. Batting timing drills exist to close that gap, but most coaches are running the wrong ones. This post covers the five drills with the strongest transfer from the cage to live at-bats, why they work, and how to sequence them into a hitting session.

↓ Download the free printable drill sheet — or keep reading for the full breakdown.

Why do most batting timing drills fail to transfer from the cage to games?

The short answer is massed practice. Most batting timing drills repeat the same pitch at the same speed until the hitter locks in a groove. That approach works for mechanics — not for timing. In fact, the science of fixing late swings in live at-bats consistently shows that random practice outperforms massed practice for game transfer, even when random practice produces more miss-swings during training.

Games are unpredictable: different pitchers, different arm speeds, different release points. A hitter who memorized timing for 60-mph front toss is often helpless against a pitcher varying 62, 68, and 72 mph in the same at-bat. Therefore, the most effective batting timing drills build adaptability — not a fixed groove. Specifically, they teach the brain to self-calibrate timing rather than match a remembered pattern.

What actually causes a hitter to be late on pitches?

Being late is almost always a load-timing problem, not a reaction-time problem. Specifically, the hitter starts the stride too late — so by the time the front foot lands, the swing window is already closing. There is a meaningful difference between reaction time and timing in hitting. Reaction time is the neurological gap between seeing the pitch and processing it. Timing is when the hitter decides to pull the trigger on the load. Most hitters who get jammed or late have a timing problem, not a slow nervous system.

Additionally, off-speed and breaking pitches layer a second problem on top: the hitter reads fastball speed out of the hand and commits too early. That is a pitch recognition failure. Both issues are real, and each requires different drills. This post addresses load timing first, then pitch recognition second — in the order they should be trained.

Free Download

5 Batting Timing Drills to Close the Cage-to-Game Gap

Get the printable drill sheet with step-by-step instructions for all five timing drills — setup, reps, coaching cues, and progressions.


No spam. Unsubscribe anytime.

What coaches using the HPL timing system say

“13 year pro ball player here. I just wanted to say how much I enjoy your videos and emails — I couldn’t agree more with the mechanics and techniques you teach. You’re on the right track to unlocking what it takes physically and mechanically to translate what the best in the world are doing every day. Keep up the great work.”

TGARCIA247 ★★★★★ — 13-Year Professional Baseball Player

“Many of my hitters are starting to achieve exit velocities they never thought possible. Averages are up, power is up. I have three girls playing D1, six at D2, two going to JUCOs this fall — and I credit the HPL approach for proving the science and providing convincing evidence. Keep up all the good work.”

Ronny Weber ★★★★★ — Baseball & Softball Coach

“Enthralled with your stuff — can’t even watch football in peace for watching, reading, and thinking hitting. Learning so much from the HPL approach, especially as it relates to what I’ve built my coaching on. Can’t wait to share this in the new year with my team. Now your number-one fan.”

Timothy Merry ★★★★★ — Youth Baseball Coach

How does the Float Variance Drill fix a late swing?

The Float Variance Drill fixes late swings by training a slow, early load anchor — a brief, deliberate pause at stride peak that gives the brain measurably more time to read the pitch before the swing commits. It is one of the most underused batting timing drills in youth baseball, and it targets the most common load-timing flaw directly: the hitter picks up the stride foot and immediately falls forward, collapsing the read window before the pitch is even trackable.

How to run the Float Variance Drill

The hitter lifts the stride foot and pauses briefly — that is the float — before falling forward into the swing. The cue is simple: “pick up and wait, then fall.” During the float, the back knee should track over the back toe, not collapse inside it, and the hitter’s weight stays loaded back until the pitch triggers the fall. For stride drill progressions that build on this pattern, start with a feeder who deliberately delays the toss by half a second between reps. Because the timing changes each rep, the brain cannot memorize a count — it must actually read the release point.

Furthermore, the float works with any stride type. High leg kick, medium stride, or toe tap all accommodate the pause. The length of the float adjusts naturally to the hitter’s timing window, which makes this one of the few batting timing drills that does not force a mechanical change on the hitter. Most parents and coaches report visible improvement in the same session the drill is introduced.

What batting timing drills train game-like randomness?

The 2-Plate Reaction Time Challenge is the best batting timing drill for building the randomness that games actually require. Instead of training a fixed timing pattern, it forces the hitter to self-calibrate on every single pitch — which is exactly what a live at-bat demands.

How to run the 2-Plate Reaction Time Challenge

Set two home plates at different distances — for example, 35 feet and 45 feet from the feeder. The feeder randomly chooses which plate to throw from, so the hitter never knows the effective pitch speed in advance. Two to three sets of 10 to 15 swings per session is a typical starting volume.

The goal is for the hitter to “Read, Plan, Do” — read the release point, plan the load depth, then execute. This is the timing system that actually transfers to games because games are just as unpredictable as the drill. As a result, the hitter builds a flexible timing mechanism rather than a single memorized sequence. Expect more miss-swings early — that is not failure, that is the brain learning.

How do batting timing drills address off-speed and breaking ball timing?

Off-speed and breaking ball timing requires a different category of drill. Most batting timing drills only address when to start the swing — not what the brain is looking for before the swing decision happens. That second layer is pitch recognition.

Pitch shape drills solve this problem. Instead of reacting to pitch speed, hitters train their eyes to identify the spin direction and ball shape out of the pitcher’s hand. Perry Husband, whose research on pitch tunneling and effective velocity is covered in depth at Effective Velocity Baseball, calls this “hunting the shape.” When a hitter can identify a curveball’s tumble spin 20 feet out of the hand, they stop reacting to the break — they see it coming early enough to stay back.

A simple implementation: use colored tape to mark a dot on specific spots on the ball during front toss. Call out the spin direction before swinging. For curveball and off-speed timing drills, gamified recognition — calling “curve” or “fastball” aloud before committing to the swing — outperforms passive reaction drills every time.

Beyond shape recognition, a consistent at-bat approach anchors off-speed timing in games. Pitch recognition and plate discipline training tied to a game plan — not just isolated drill reps — is what separates hitters who fix timing in the cage from hitters who fix it in at-bats.

Go Deeper on Pitch Recognition

Reaction Time Mastery — The Complete Online Video Course

These drills solve the load timing side. The Reaction Time Mastery course tackles pitch recognition. Inside: 6 video modules, two videos from pitch-tracking expert Perry Husband, two from Washington Nationals Eye Doc Dr. Keith Smithson, and Dr. Peter Fadde’s full pitch recognition drill system. The goal — get hitters to at least 85% on-time and 85% swing effectiveness in 60 days — starts with what you just learned and goes much deeper.

See the Reaction Time Mastery Course →

How long before batting timing drills show results in games?

Load timing drills — especially the Float Variance Drill — often show results within the same session. When a hitter learns to hold the float before falling forward, the swing window noticeably widens. Still, that improvement only holds if the drill is practiced consistently, not just once. Three to four sessions per week at 15 to 20 minutes each is the minimum for durable change.

Pitch shape recognition takes longer. Building a reliable off-speed pitch library typically takes four to eight weeks of deliberate practice. However, the payoff is significant: hitters who learn to read spin early are rarely fooled by the same pitcher twice. For the complete framework — load timing plus pitch recognition — getting on-time without changing mechanics is the right starting point for any coach building a timing system.

In other words, start with load timing drills and expect fast wins. Add pitch recognition drills in weeks three and four. Monitor game at-bats — not cage contact rates — as the real benchmark. The hitter’s quality of swing decisions in live counts is what actually matters.

Common questions about batting timing drills

What are the best batting timing drills for youth hitters?

The Float Variance Drill and the 2-Plate Reaction Time Challenge are the best starting points. Both use variance — changing conditions each rep — so the brain learns to calibrate timing rather than memorize a count. Start with the float drill to fix the load anchor, then add the 2-plate drill for game-like randomness. For most youth hitters, this combination alone produces meaningful improvement in two to three weeks.

Why do hitters look great in the cage but struggle to get on time in games?

The cage is a fixed-speed, predictable environment. Massed practice — the same speed, the same arc, the same location — teaches pattern memorization. When pitch speed and arm action vary in games, hitters who only trained in predictable environments fall back on their memorized groove, which stops working almost immediately. Variance-based batting timing drills simulate that unpredictability and build a flexible response instead of a rigid one.

What is the Float Variance Drill?

The Float Variance Drill trains the “slow and early” load. The hitter lifts the stride foot, pauses briefly — the float — and then falls forward when the pitch triggers the decision. The cue is “pick up and wait, then fall.” The back knee tracks over the back toe during the pause. This pause gives the brain measurably more read-time before the swing commits, which is why it fixes late swings without changing any mechanics.

What is the 2-Plate Reaction Time Challenge drill?

Two home plates at different distances — for example, 35 and 45 feet. The feeder randomly varies which plate to throw from, so the hitter must recalibrate load timing in real time rather than react to a memorized cue. It forces a Read-Plan-Do sequence on every single pitch. Two to three sets of 10 to 15 swings per session. Expect more miss-swings early — that is the brain adapting, not the drill failing.

How long do batting timing drills take to show results in games?

Load timing drills like the float drill often produce visible results within the same session or week. Off-speed pitch recognition drills typically require four to eight weeks of consistent work — three to four sessions per week — before game improvement is reliable. Most hitters show meaningful progress in two to four weeks when both drill categories are combined. Use game at-bats as the benchmark, not cage performance.

How is timing in batting different from reaction time?

Timing is when the hitter triggers the load — it is a trained, teachable sequence. Reaction time is the neurological gap between seeing the pitch and processing it — it is partially genetic but also trainable. Most late swing problems are timing failures, not reaction time failures. The load simply started too late. Fix the load anchor first with variance-based drills, then layer in pitch recognition training for the second level.

What batting timing drills help with off-speed and curveball timing?

Pitch shape drills are the most effective batting timing drills for off-speed pitches — specifically training the eye to identify spin rotation and ball shape out of the hand rather than the break of the pitch. The Load Right Now drill from Perry Husband and Dr. Peter Fadde’s front toss recognition system are both evidence-backed. Both shift hitters from speed-based timing to shape-based timing, which works on every pitch type, not just fastballs.

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