Posts

JD Martinez Swing Analysis: Fix Dropping Back Shoulder Tilt & Swinging Under Baseball or Softball?

Fix Dropping Back Shoulder Tilt & Swinging Under Baseball Or Fastpitch Softball? | STOP: Hands Drop, Swing Uppercut, & Hitting Well In Cage And Batting Practice But Not In Games

In this JD Martinez swing breakdown, discover if we need to fix dropping the back shoulder or if “tilt” is a natural part of the swing. Learn how to fix swinging under the baseball or fastpitch softball by STOPPING the dropping of hands and a swing uppercut. You’ll also see how to fix hitting well in the cage and batting practice but not in games. Learn how to make swings more “game-like”.

JD Martinez Swing Analysis: 3 Quick Ways To Solve Dipping, Transitioning Swings, & Dropping Hands

 

 

In this JD Martinez swing analysis, we’ll be answering the following reader questions:

  • How much of a dip in swing is too much?
  • How can we get the same results from what we see in the cage to the games?
  • Drills to keep hitters from dropping hands?

Also, I referenced the Ground-ball rant in the video detailing why I think ground-balls are gross for hitters.  Think about this: what would happen to current MLB average ground-ball rates for hitters (currently 46%) if ALL pitchers suddenly started pitching up in the zone, instead of down in the zone?

Below is the video outline and referenced links…

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.

Right Course For You? Take Quiz Now

How Much of Dip in Swing is too Much?

  • Goldilocks Golden Rule
  • Trouble with excessive upper cut
  • Controlling Launch Angle Goal: batted ball leaves bat same height as pitch at impact

For the post I referenced in the above video for this section CLICK, “Baseball Batting Drills To Stop Dipping The Back Shoulder”.

 

How can we get the Same Results from what we see in the Cage to the Games?

  • Training principle of Specificity
  • Make it harder in the cage
  • Post that addresses this

For the post I referenced in the above video for this section please CLICK, “Baseball Batting Cages: How To Transition Practice Into Game Swings”.

 

Drills to Keep Hitters from Dropping Hands?

  • Effective versus ineffective hand path to the ball
  • Hands drop drill

For the post I referenced in the above video for this section please CLICK: “STOP ‘Hands Drop'”.  Also, here’s Dr. Mark Cheng explaining Reactive Neuromuscular Training (RNT) as “reverse psychology for your body”.

13 Comments/by
How To Stop Dropping Hands Looping Baseball Softball Swing

How To Stop Dropping Hands Baseball & Softball Batting | BEST 2023 Fix Looping And Late Swing, Keep Hands Up When Hitting Drills

, ,

Discover how to stop dropping the hands in baseball and softball batting.  Learn our best fix a looping, late swing, and keep hands up hitting drill in 2023.

Get Rid Of A Hitter Dropping Their Hands At Stride Landing Once And For All Using RNT Hitting Softball Drills

 

 

Let me ask you a hitting softball drills question:

“Does your hitter (or hitters) swing and miss, foul back, or pop-up on pitches up in the zone abnormally often?”

The hitting softball drills video above may have the fix. One of the pro hitters I work with was told by his team’s hitting coach that he must be able to “catch-up” to pitches elevated in the zone. And I agree. Weak spots, or holes in the hitting zone, can and will be used by pitchers as a weapon. I tell my hitters to turn a pitcher’s weapon against them.

The challenge I find watching slow motion swing video, with some hitters, is there hands drop (towards the waist) at stride landing 2-4 frames from the back armpit line. Less than two frames and I generally don’t fix. The rule of thumb for my hitters is the hands MUST end up – height-wise – around the back armpit. Slightly above, in-line, or below is okay. Think about a boxer delivering a knockout punch. Watch the “line” Mike Tyson creates right before he delivers a knockout punch (uppercuts excluded)…

 

 

If a hitter’s hands end up too low, then they’ll consistently swing and miss, foul back, or popup pitches elevated in the strike zone. Learn how to turn a pitcher’s weapon against them with these hitting softball drills.

In This Drill Video…

Click Here for another example of RNT in the stepping in the bucket drill.

If you don’t have them already, then here’s equipment you’ll need for this type of hitting softball drills:

Please try this out and let me know how it works for your hitters in the Comments section below… (Thanks in advance!)

11 Comments/by
How To Increase Baseball Softball Hitting Power & Bat Speed

How To Teach A Kid To Increase Baseball Or Softball Hitting Power & Bat Speed With LESS Hip Rotation Batting Drills

,

Discover how to teach a kid to increase baseball or softball (fast-pitch and slow-pitch) hitting power and bat speed with LESS hip rotation batting drills.  PLEASE NOTE: power isn’t ALL in the hips as some may say.  After exploring this post, you’ll see why we feel ‘load and explode the hips’ or ‘fire the hips’ cues are overplayed, doing more harm than good.

“What Baseball Batting Drills Work To Stop Dipping Back Shoulder?”

 

 

Baseball Batting Drills: Fascia

Fascia is like a cotton candy or spider webby like material that our bones and muscles float in. Photo courtesy: Thomas Myers in his book Anatomy Trains

PLEASE NOTE: this baseball batting drills post presupposes the hitter is getting an extreme barrel vertical angle at impact.  In other words, they’re intersecting the pitch plane from down to up.  Dipping the back shoulder is inevitable…this blog post goes into fixing extreme uppercut cases.

In this baseball batting drills video, we answer the reader question above.  We go over:

  • Springy fascia & tracking the front shoulder,
  • Mechanical dominoes that cause upper cutting, and
  • A couple fixes…

 

Springy Fascia & Tracking the Front Shoulder

Here are other Hitting Performance Lab baseball batting drills posts on springy fascia and the spinal engine – and tracking of the front shoulder:

 

Mechanical Dominoes that Cause Upper Cutting

Baseball Batting Drills: Josh Donaldson

Watch Josh Donaldson drop hands, then bring back up. Also, notice downhill shoulder angle, and him leading with back armpit in the last frame. Photo courtesy: YouTube users PicPlayHost & PastimeAthletics

Here is a baseball batting drills list of faults I find that CAN contribute to upper cutting:

  1. Poor barrel launch angle,
  2. Hands drop,
  3. Upward shoulder angle at landing,
  4. Racing back elbow,
  5. Steep front upper arm at landing, and
  6. Too much downhill shoulder angle…

#1 would be a hitter having a flat bat, or close to flat, at stride landing. This shifts the bat’s center of mass behind the hitter (instead of above).

#2 can exist on any pitch height or just pitches down in the zone.  The hands don’t travel down, then forward.  They travel down AND forward.  Think of hand path like a right triangle – we want hypotenuse.  The higher the pitch, the flatter the hypotenuse.  The lower the pitch, the steeper the hypotenuse.

An upward shoulder angle at landing, #3, will most likely result in uppercutting and/or a collapsing of the backside.

#4, racing back elbow causes the barrel to get really steep early in the hitting zone, which leads to a lot of weak fly balls to the opposite field.  AND, because of the steep vertical angle of the barrel, a significant roll over correction will happen later in the barrel’s path, resulting in grounders to the hitter’s pull side.

About #5, if the front elbow gets caught ‘tucked in’ at landing (elbow pointing down at the ground), then an uppercut will most likely happen.  And this ‘tucking’ will happen most likely because of #6, too steep of a shoulder angle.

 

Baseball Batting Drills Fix…

  1. High tee inside setup using end loaded overload bat,
  2. Flashlight barrel angle drill,
  3. Hands Drop Drill,
  4. Finger pressure (bottom three fingers of the top hand only), and
  5. Swinging down in the ‘launch angle’ era.
1 Comment/by