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Increase Power Hitting: Teach Kid Drills To Hit Baseball Or Softball Farther Like Khris Davis

Learn how to increase power hitting by teaching a kid drills to hit a baseball or softball farther like Khris Davis.

Ball Exit Speed & Launch Angle Hacking With Khris Davis [Part-2]

 

 

Khris Davis swing analysis, and not to be confused with “Chris” Davis, the 1st baseman for the Baltimore Orioles! …they’re having two COMPLETELY different years 😛 lol  This Khris Davis swing analysis is Part-2 to our series looking at one my 9yo online lessons, Ethan.  In case you missed it, here you go:

  1. Ethan case study The Feedback Lab online hit training video,
  2. Khris Davis swing analysis video [YOU ARE HERE],
  3. How to drills to fix (COMING SOON).

In the above Khris Davis swing analysis video, we’re going to look at:

  • Khris Davis stat analysis comparing 2015 & 2016 seasons to 2018,
  • Khris Davis swing analysis comparing 2015 & 2018 swings (when things seemed to have changed), and
  • Human movement principles 9yo Ethan is working on that Khris Davis does well.

Khris Davis Stat Analysis Comparing 2015 & 2016 seasons to 2018

I wanted to share a recent and insightful Beyond The Box Score post on Khris Davis’s 2018 season titled: “Khris Davis is swimming against the current: As home runs continue to decline this season, Davis has counteracted the trend”

From the article, and since 2016, Khris Davis has improved tremendously, and here are just a few highlights:

  • 2016 avg. Launch Angle = 12.9 degrees…2018 avg. Launch Angle =  17.7 degrees, and
  • 2016 avg. Ball Exit Speed = 91.7-mph…2018 avg. Ball Exit Speed = 92.7-mph.

I think everyone understands how important hitting the ball hard is, but a lot out there are rejecting Launch Angles!  They matter, check out this “Parabolic motion – range of a projectile” video (thanks Lee!)

 

 

Optimized is key!  Goldilocks golden rule, not too high, not to low…just right!

Furthermore,

Khris Davis is someone who has been good at hitting despite, as some will say, being poorly built for it – he’s 5-foot, 10-inches, 195-pounds. Compare him to Aaron Judge who’s 6-foot, 7-inches, and 282-pounds.

What’s also telling, according to Fangraphs.com, Khris Davis has steadily moved away from hitting ground-balls, pulling the ball less, and built a more frequent opposite field hitting approach.  Compare 2015 to 2018 (stats experiencing most significant impact):

  1. 2015: GB% = 42.5%,
  2. 2018: GB% = 36.1%
  3. 2015: Pull% = 41.4%
  4. 2018: Pull% = 36.1%
  5. 2015: Oppo% = 20.1%
  6. 2018: Oppo% = 24.5%

 

Khris Davis Swing Analysis Comparing 2015 & 2018 Swings (when things seemed to have changed)

PLEASE NOTE: very similar pitch type, speed, location, and swing timing in above video:

  • 2015 (w/ Brewers): 96-mph middle/middle, and
  • 2018 (w/ A’s): 94-mph middle/middle-slightly in.

Mechanically speaking, here are a couple things I noticed:

  • Seems to be “stepping out”, slightly opening hips more at stride landing, while keeping shoulders “blocked”,
  • Slight difference in back foot behavior (could be a timing thing),
  • Back knee angle (about 10-degree difference),
  • Head in circle just after impact, could be direct result of change in back knee angle, and
  • Getting shorter from start to the turn (camera angle could be slightly different).

 

Human Movement Principles 9yo Ethan is Working on Khris Davis does well

If you remember in the Ethan case study The Feedback Lab online hit training video, his hitting homework was to work on the following positions at stride landing:

  1. Showing numbers, and
  2. Slight downhill shoulder angle

In the above Khris Davis swing analysis video, we covered:

  • Khris Davis stat analysis comparing 2015, 2016 seasons to 2018,
  • Khris Davis swing analysis comparing 2015 & 2018 swings (when things seemed to changed), and
  • Human movement principles 9yo Ethan is working on that Khris Davis does well.

Stay tuned for Part-3, where we discuss drills…

How Mike Trout Uses His Golf Footwork To Hit Homeruns Better & Farther Every Time

Learn how Mike Trout uses his “golf” footwork to hit home-runs better and farther every time.  Discover hitting drills to increase bat speed and power like Trout’s golf swing?

Mike Trout Hitting Golf Ball: Same As Baseball Swing?

 

 

What we go over in this Mike Trout hitting golf ball video:

Let’s get started…

 

“…rear leg is slave to middle of body” Quote

As Physicist, Electrical Engineer, and author of The Spinal Engine, Dr. Serge Gracovetsky says the arms and legs ARE NOT necessary for locomotion, they’re an enhancement.  When it comes to spinal movement, hitting is basic locomotion.  Fact.

Shifting Foot Pressure

A couple recent posts I’ve done complimenting the above video…

Very few are teaching this.  This is at the heart of a stable swing.  I see a lot of hitters over-rotating their lower half.  Back foot heel moving closer to the the plate versus staying far away.  When the hitter shifts pressure to pinky side of front foot, we should see them shift back foot pressure to the big toe side.  If instead hitter shifts back foot pressure to outside (over-rotates), then hitter is unstable with low half.

 

Catapult Loading System – BIG-3

Recent posts I’ve done on this topic…

The Big-3 are fundamental to building consistent power in hitters.  They’re a combination of using springy fascia and the spinal engine.  Responsible for 70-80% of consistent power.  Legs contribute only 20-30% to power.

Increase Bat Speed, Hitting Power, & Hit Baseball Or Softball Harder Every Time Like Javier Baez

Learn how to increase your hitter’s bat speed, hitting power, and hit the baseball or softball harder every time like Javier Baez in this swing breakdown…

Javier Baez Swing Analysis: Why Inward Turn Of Hips Is Wasted Movement

 

 

Hey, what’s going on it’s Joey Myers from the Hitting Performance Lab, and in this Javier Baez swing analysis, we will cover:

  • Fangraphs metrics,
  • Over-rotation of low half during pre-loading phase,
  • Amazing C/T spine mobility (neck pressure), and
  • Barrel tilt…

Here’s the transcription from the above video…

Javier Baez Swing Analysis FanGraph Metrics

Let’s get into the fan graph metrics. As you can see here, look at the six foot, hundred ninety-pound Javier Baez in the swing analysis we’ll be looking at in 2019. You can see his line right here. You can see a .281 batting average, 38 doubles, four triples, 29 homers, and you see a big giant balloon over here, one hundred fifty-six strikeouts and only twenty-eight walks.

Now, if we look at his line when it comes to ground ball, fly ball, line drive percentages, and his fly ball home run ratio and his pull and hard contact numbers, we look at his line drive rate being eighteen point one. You can see his averages over the amount of years he’s been in the Bigs is 19. So, a little bit down from his average.

You can see his ground ball percentage was up quite a bit, fifty point three, which was down in prior years as low as 44 percent and 37.3 percent.

You can see the average line drive rate is 20 percent or so. So as long as they’re around 18 to 22 percent, that tend to be about league average. The ground ball percentage, league average is about 43 percent or around 40 percent. You can see he’s well above average on the ground ball percentage and fly ball percentage typically floats around 37, 38 percent at league average.

So you can see he’s below well below average when it comes to the fly ball percentage homerun to fly ball ratio, the percentage at 24.4, league average is around 9 to 11 percent. So, if he gets the ball in the air or his fly balls, the percentages of his fly balls going out are almost 25 percent.

What’s also interesting to note is if you look over at his soft percentage contact medium and his hard contact percentages, you can see that his medium actually outweighs his hard percentage contact. Some interesting things going on from this Javier Baez swing analysis, might shed a little bit of light on that.

But I thought interesting to note that his hard ball contact percentage at 37.4, you can’t see it on the screen, hard contact percentage. And then you can see as medium here is 44.6.

 

Over-Rotation of Lower Half During Pre-Loading Phase

All right. Let’s get into the Javier Baez swing analysis, and the breakdown of his mechanics. Let’s give this a little context. This is a two thousand nineteen swing, I think, in May or so. And this pitch looks like a ninety-one mile an hour slider that ends up, as you can see in the K zone in that lower outside quadrant. And he hits this one out to right center a little bit more towards center but right center.

One thing I want you to take a look at is over rotation of the lower half. This is something I think Ted Williams said in The Science of Hitting. And a lot of instructors out there will take this to the extreme. And they think that by turning the pelvis in towards the catcher, so imagine a hitter’s belt buckle turning in to face the catcher. Like there was a flashlight coming out of the belt buckle and that you’re shining the flashlight at the catcher to get the hips some momentum.

Now, I think this is wasted movement when it comes to function of the spinal engine. Not my opinion, but if we look at springy fascia, the spinal engine, what we want is we want to see this front shoulder … we’ll get a chest view here in a second … we want to get this front shoulder to go down in and towards the back hip. And we want this back shoulder to move away from this front hip.

When you move the pelvis in or you move the front hip bone in along with the shoulder, is that now the hip and the shoulder are chasing each other instead of doing the opposite in what we would find in a wringing towel type of scenario, whereas one hand being the shoulder, the other hand being the pelvis.

We’re seeing a lot of these coaches that will say if and when the pitcher shows you his back back pocket, then you show them yours. This is clearly what Javier Baez is doing in this swing analysis. You can see him really showing his back pocket versus this neutral position that he starts off in, really rolls in with that hip.

Now, if we take a look at another hitter, Khris Davis of the A’s, this is the 2018 swing of his. But he actually steps in the bucket a little bit. You’re going to see a little difference to the hip positioning. Khris Davis really doesn’t waste any motion pulling that belt buckle, this flashlight on the belt buckle, trying to shine it in the catcher’s eyes. He actually keeps it in a neutral position and steps out. Into the bucket.

What both of these players do really well, and I think, Khris actually does better than Baez is because of the lower half over rotation in the pre loading phase of the swing before stride touchdown, we see Khris will keep his hips in a neutral position … but will use this neck tension, which we’ll talk about here in a second to counteract. And he’s really good, Khris, at going the other way, where he hits this one. This is a 94 mile an hour fastball somewhat up in the zone. And he hits this to straight away center.

He does very well going to the opposite field, even though he’s stepping out now, I wouldn’t advise young hitters to do that. And we have a stride drill that fixes getting the stride more in line.

Khris makes this work because of the way he uses his spine. Here’s a chest view of Javier Baez swing analysis, it’s a little angled here, but you can see that kind of over rotation pre loading phase of the pelvis, the lower half versus what Khris Davis was doing.

You can see him really coiling up with the lower half, which he really doesn’t have to. And you’re seeing the what I was talking about is taking this front shoulder down and in towards a back hip and we should actually see this front hip move away from the back shoulder.

When you bring that front hip in, you’re chasing the back shoulder instead of moving away from it, which that’s how springy fascia works, how we load the body like a spring or a catapult. And we want to bring that front shoulder down and in which he is doing. But when you turn the pelvis, it’s almost like the corresponding shoulder is chasing the corresponding diagonal hip bone.

Now, if we look at Khris Davis on the same swing, you know, this view’s a little bit more chest view than the angled version we’re getting with Javier Baez. But you can see that that hip stays in neutral and then you’ll see him bring his front shoulder down and in towards the back hip and you’ll see this front hip move away from the back shoulder.

Some people might call this the scap load that is covering this line here, this diagonal line to scap load. But we also that’s a retraction of the back scap. What we should see is a protraction of the front scap or the front shoulder moving down and in. So, we’re going to see the hitter’s numbers when the hitter does that. We should see both moves, not just one. And you’re seeing Khris Davis do this very well because he keeps his pelvis in neutral.

You can see here and just lets his upper half preload and let his lower half just do what it does and let it open as it does to take the rest of the slack out of the spinal engine.

And one more quick thing before we move on from this in this Javier Baez swing analysis … as you can see, as he coils up him in Davis, pretty much end up in the same spot, at landing. Look at where his pelvis is at landing. So, it’s almost like he gets a running start with his pelvis. I don’t think it really relevant because we’re getting the same effect with the bounce effect with Davis as we are with Baez. It’s just I think Baez’s closing himself off more. And I wouldn’t teach this to young hitters.

I wouldn’t over rotate the pelvis or turn the pelvis inward towards the catcher to landing, because at landing, you see he’s in the same position. And as long as he’s getting his neck pressure, which will be transitioning to here, as long as you get into neck pressure, he’ll be wound up top. And then once the lower half starts to open, as he starts to swing that rest of that slack, will get taken out and then everything will go as it’s supposed to.

Amazing C/T Spine Mobility (neck pressure)

Now, let’s talk about creating neck pressure. The idea of this is like wringing a towel out except for one hand represents the head, the other hand represents the shoulder. So, the hand’s turn in opposite directions. And what we’re trying to do is it’s not so much about how much of the numbers the hitter shows, although Javier Baez in the swing analysis, you can see you can see everything. If he had a triple digit number, you could see three digits on his back. You can see his back elbow. You can see all the way across the shoulders. If he had a 20-word last name, you could see it from armpit to armpit. You can see pretty much everything, almost his rear oblique. You can see because he’s shown his numbers so much.

Whereas we look at a Khris Davis on this one. Similar, but not quite as turned in because he’s not turning the pelvis in. He doesn’t have to. He can create this Catapult Loading System just by keeping the pelvis in neutral and let the pelvis open when it does. He needs to create that bounce with the lower half, create that neck pressure up top.

You can see that he’s locked in, his head is anchoring a tracking position so he can track the ball and keep vision on the ball. It’s not this idea of what some of these coaches call “false separation”, which when these coaches show on video, what false separation is there over rotating the upper half. Now, we don’t want to over rotate. We can’t lose sight with the back eye. And that’s not Davis here. Maybe he is. He is clearly along with Baez. They are clearly showing their numbers, showing their last name. You can see that is clear as day.

There is a pro attraction of the front scap. There’s a retraction to the back scap. You’re seeing both of those things happen in two different hitters on two different teams. And what both of them do are doing and having common is they are wringing the towel out head and shoulders. The head creates an anchor point. Their shoulders rotate under the chin as far as they can while creating this neck pressure in the T1 (Thoracic section of spine, vertebrae-1) and C7 (Cervical section of spine, vertebrae-7) area.

So there’s like a two, three-inch area that if the hitter does this right, they create that pressure there with the head anchored with the shoulder pulled under as far as it can do. And they’ll feel this pressure up until the turn and they can go from there. That’s taking slack out of this system early. If this doesn’t happen, there is going to be compensation somehow in that there may be a front shoulder pulling out early. There might be a barrel that’s dumping deep and early into the zone to try and hurry up, get the barrel to the ball.

But above all, hitters must, even hitters as young as eight, nine, 10 years old need to feel that pressure if there is going to be power the minute that pressure is taken off between the head and the shoulders, that is when we’ll be letting air out of the balloon.

The reason that I’ve moved to more of a neck pressure, creating neck pressure versus showing numbers is that every hitter is going to be different when it comes to their mobility in their neck and their thoracic spine or their shoulders being able to turn the head this much as much as Baez or Davis. Davis isn’t quite as much there. Maybe it’s just with Baez because he’s inward rotating his lower half. It’s allowing him to turn more.

I think that again, hinders it can take our vision and tracking off the ball if we do this with younger hitters, what Baez is doing. So, I would recommend more of what Davis is doing, albeit without the stepping out part of it. But we want to create the neck pressure. That is the rule. That is the principle, the movement principle, the wringing towel principle to the Catapult Loading System in spinal engine, springy fascia.

It is not so much to show both numbers. The numbers will probably show, but it will depend on the hitter’s mobility in their neck. So, every hitter might be different.

 

Barrel Tilt

One last thing in this Javier Baez swing analysis is the barrel tilt. There are some coaches out there that like this barrel till where you can see where Baez tilts the barrel towards the opposing batter’s box or kind of off towards first base and to get the barrel momentum going into the swing.

Now, this might be something that Baez needs to do because he is rotating that lower half inward towards the catcher. And to get some barrel momentum is going to help him to get around, especially on pitches in pitches up in the zone.

I don’t teach this per se. I don’t think it’s a bad or good thing it can be a bad thing. If they tilt too much and I think Baez in the past has tilted too much and it’s got him in trouble, it causes more of an uppercut type of swing. I’ve had hitters that do this and they hit the ball in the air more often than the hitter that doesn’t tilt the barrel this much.

We’ve seen Donaldson from I think it was 2013 to 14. He was tilting too much and we saw his fly ball percentage go up and his batting average go down. So, I would not really mess with this too much as long as we are creating that wringing towel effect between the head and the shoulders, creating the neck pressure.

And we are what I like to tell my hitters is to act like there’s a skewer going through their hip bones that is keeping him on a straight line, keeping hip bones on a straight line towards the catcher. And they just slide along that skewer until the front foot hits the ground and they can turn out of it, but they can’t turn into the skewer up until landing … has to stay in a neutral position and they manipulate the neck pressure at the top to create the tension that we need to be able to instantaneously swing the bat and increase our ball exit speeds.

The barrel tilt is just not something that I would teach my hitters. I would let my hitters do it. But if it’s affecting their fly ball, line drive, ground-ball ratios and we would definitely change it. Now, I hope you like this Javier Baez swing analysis. Make sure that you’re swinging smarter by moving better.

And before I let you go…

How To Increase Hitting Power, Bat, & Hand Speed Like Mookie Betts Using Catapult Loading System

Discover how to increase hitting power, bat, and hand speed like a Mookie Betts baseball or softball swing using the Catapult Loading System.  In addition, learn how to square the ball up and hit more consistent line drives instead of ground balls in this swing analysis…

Mookie Betts Swing Analysis: Build Massive Power For Small Sluggers Like Mookie Betts & Trea Turner…

 

 

What we’ll be contrasting in this Mookie Betts swing analysis compared with Trea Turner:

  • Mookie Betts stats on Fangraphs AND Trea Turner stats on Fangraphs
  • Catapult Loading System principlesCLICK HERE to watch this video post I did on taking slack out of the spine with the “wringing towel” metaphor…
  • Pitch-Plane Domination catcher’s glove barrel path principleCLICK HERE to watch this video post on WHY we may have barrel path all wrong…

Few out there think power comes from the snapping of the back hip and barrel.  These people are only one-third of the way there.  The pelvis (including hip), spine, and shoulders as a complete unit is where to find consistent power.

There are three pieces of our spine:

  1. Cervical (neck)
  2. Thoracic (shoulders and middle back), and
  3. Lumbar (lower back).

Imagine each section as a hand.  Now imagine three hands wringing a towel out.  The top (Cervical) and the bottom (Lumbar) are wringing in the same direction, while the middle (Thoracic) is wringing in the opposite direction of its “bookends”.  Mookie Betts does this just as well as anybody.

When it comes to barrel path, these same “snapper” hitting instructors promote a one path fits all barrel path.  And they claim teaching a high level pattern.  This is the exact opposite of what a higher level pattern is.  The best hitters’ barrel enters the hitting zone at different points depending on pitch depth.  You don’t see Mookie Betts knocking off the “real” catcher’s glove when hitting 97-mph inside.  If he did, he’d be picking up his thumbs.  Or he’d have to bend his front elbow so significantly that it would drop his average ball exit speeds by 20-mph, which equals at least 80-feet of batted ball distance.

Shorten the lever, you shorten power amplification.  The “snappy” pattern has its consequences.

How To INCREASE Hitting Power, Improve BAT SPEED, & Hit Balls Farther Every Time For Beginners

Discover how to teach a kid how to increase hitting power, improve bat and hand speed, hit the ball better and farther every time for baseball and softball beginners.

How To Turn A Beach Towel Into A Hitting Demonstration

 

 

Here’s a great way to help coaches and players understand taking slack out of the system, demonstrating the power of the spinal engine.

We call it the “coiling” core, NOT the “braced” core most teach their hitters.  A braced core is fantastic in the weight room, but NOT in the batter’s box.  CLICK HERE for an interview I did with Bosu Ball inventor David Weck, where he takes a deeper dive into this.

Some understand the importance of shoulder-hip separation, but what most don’t know is that we MUST create tension in the neck – where the ‘C’ and ‘T’ sections of the spine connect, as well.

And here’s what most ARE NOT saying…an inward turn of the hips is not important, if not detrimental, to the beach towel effect of the spinal engine.

Many say the swing of Ted Williams resembled the twisting of a Barber Pole.  The above video clearly demonstrates what was happening in his swing that some observed.  CLICK HERE for a post I did on the swing of Ted Williams.

How To Increase Bat Speed Power: Buster Posey Swing Experiment Breakdown

Learn how to increase bat speed and power by hitting the ball better, farther, and harder using this baseball or softball drill.  Discover how in this Buster Posey swing experiment, breakdown, and analysis.

Buster Posey Swing Breakdown Experiment: ADD 6-mph To Bat Speed Not ALL In The Hips?

 

 

Buster Posey VIDEO: Not ALL In The Hips [Experiment]

Buster Posey showing his numbers photo courtesy: MLB.com

Question: Is Increased Bat Speed ALL in the Hips?

Using the Zepp (Labs) Baseball app, I wanted to use the Scientific Method to analyze whether Buster Posey’s hips OR spinal mechanics is what increases bat speed.

Background Research

Most elite hitting instructors, pros, and Hall of Famers think it’s ALL in the hips.  The “it” is a mystery even to them.  It shouldn’t be this way.  When we look at proven human movement science, we find that just firing the hips isn’t good enough.  My question to those people is, what about the piece of hardware above the pelvis, attaching it to the shoulders – the spine?

Before getting into the experiment and analyzing Buster Posey’s swing, we need to lay ground work first.  Watch this THREE videos first:

  1. Miguel Cabrera and the timing of torque.
  2. Josh Donaldson v. Jose Bautista: how spine engine mechanics are amplified by Gravitational Forces, and
  3. Adrian Gonzalez: how-to naturally spring load the body.

Hypothesis

Albert Pujols showing numbers similar to Buster Posey

Albert Pujols NOT showing his numbers like he could. Definite hip hinge (tilt) towards the plate. Photo courtesy: MLB.com

Based primarily on my research and study of Dr. Serge Gracovetsky’s book The Spinal Engine, and Thomas Myers’s book Anatomy Trains, I believe a hitter like Buster Posey, that shows the pitcher their numbers – while keeping the hips in neutral – creates the separation (or spinal torque) needed before landing to produce natural friction-free repeatable power.

Rather than just focusing on the hips to go first, and the front shoulder to stay on the pitcher.  In the experiment, for the sake of brevity, I’ll differentiate between the two with “showing numbers” or “NOT showing numbers”.

Buster Posey: Not ALL in the Hips Experiment

Equipment Used:

  • Zepp Baseball app,
  • ATEC Tuffy Batting Tee,
  • Rawlings Official NCAA Baseballs,
  • Two yellow dimple baseballs (feedback markers),
  • Flip Video Camera and Tripod, and
  • 33 inch, 30 ounce Pinnacle Bamboo bat.

Setup:

  • Yellow dimple ball feedback markers = my bat length, plus two baseballs
  • Distance from plate = end of the bat touching inside corner of plate, and knob of bat touching my mid-thigh
  • Tee was set one baseball’s length behind the front feedback marker, and tee height was about mid-thigh
  • Forward momentum was eliminated in this experiment, and I hit from a 1-2 second pause at landing
  • First 100 baseballs hit was “NOT showing numbers”, focusing on hips first, and front shoulder pointing at the pitcher at landing
  • Second 100 baseballs hit was “showing numbers”, focusing on showing numbers, slight down shoulder angle, and hiding the hands
  • There was about 30-45 minute break between both Buster Posey Experiments

Data Collected (Zepp Baseball App):

Buster Posey Experiment: Zepp Baseball App comparison

Difference after 100 swings…

 

Data Analysis & Conclusion

  • Average bat speed for NOT showing numbers at landing: 73-mph
  • Average bat speed for showing numbers at landing: 79-mph (+6-mph)
  • Highest bat speed for NOT showing numbers at landing: 82-mph
  • Highest bat speed for showing numbers at landing: 88-mph (+6-mph)
  • Hand speed max for NOT showing numbers was: 27-mph
  • Hand speed max for showing numbers was: 29-mph (+2-mph)

As you can clearly see, “NOT showing numbers” puts a hitter at a clear repeatable power DISADVANTAGE.

 

Notes

Andrew McCutchen showing his numbers like Buster Posey

Andrew McCutchen: showing numbers, slight down shoulder angle, hiding hands, hip hinge (tilt) towards the plate. 2013 NL MVP. 3rd in MLB OPS in 2014. All 5’10”, 190 pounds of him! Photo courtesy of MLB.com.

  • I don’t go out and take 200 swings in a given day, so I was getting fatigued by the time I got to the last hundred swings (“showing numbers”) part of the experiment.  Goes to show this isn’t about muscles, but connective tissue.
  • Remember, I purposely eliminated forward momentum from the Buster Posey Experiment because I wanted to reveal how “showing the numbers” can effect a hitter’s bat speed.  CLICK HERE to see the results of a Forward Momentum Experiment I did using the Zepp Baseball App.
  • “Showing the numbers” IS NOT adding more rotational ground to make up during the Final Turn.  It’s a natural way of super-charging connective tissue over muscles.
  • A slight bend at the waist (hip hinge) towards the plate – before landing – improves efficiency, not detracts from it.  Just look at Posey, McCutchen, and Pujols pictured hitting home-runs in this post.  This is how an athlete takes the slack out of the posterior chain (calves, hamstrings, butt, and back).  ALL shapes and sizes use it.
  • During NOT showing the numbers, I felt like I had to guide my hands more.  It took more effort to extend through the ball instead of rotating off (rolling over), than with showing the numbers.
  • Make sure when “showing the numbers”, the hitter isn’t losing sight of the incoming pitch with the back eye.
  • Also, make sure when using a slight down shoulder angle that the head stays in-line with the spine.  The angle is slight, about five to ten-degrees.

 

The Bottom Line?

When we analyze hitters like Buster Posey, we NEED to hold our analysis to a higher standard.  Proven human movement science.  We have to go away from mechanical fixes based on “feelings”.  The “Oh, I’ve been working on this and it seems to work”, isn’t good enough.  Neither is, “Ted Williams said so!”  Or, “I watch 25-hours of high level hitting footage in a day, so listen to me.”  That stuff DOES NOT matter.  Science does.  I want to see the data, NOT listen to feelings.  The heavy lifting has been done for us.  It’s up to us to apply it.

Increase Power And Hit Ball Better, Farther, & Harder Every Time Using Catapult Loading System

Discover the hitting a baseball or softball over 300-feet rules using the Catapult Loading System.  Learn how to increase power and hit a baseball, fastpitch, or slow pitch softball better, farther, and harder every time.

How-To Hit The Ball Consistently Hard Like Hank Aaron

 

 

This is Part-1 of a 3-part little league baseball batting tips video series coming straight out of the Catapult Loading System online video mini-course…

The Catapult Loading System

Sick of struggling with getting your hitters to hit the ball hard with more consistency?  This is a simple 7-module online video mini-course that will help hitters weighing less than 100-pounds, hit the ball consistently over 300-feet in 60 days.  You’ll be able to dramatically increase power without sacrificing swing quality.

CLICK the Link below to…

Get Access to The Catapult Loading System Mini-Course

 

In this little league baseball batting tips video post, we’re answering the reader question…

“How does a smaller slugger compete with a bigger one?”

We’ll be going over:

  • Writing v. Typing speed skills
  • Effectivenessdoing the right things v. Efficiencydoing things right
  • Better technique v. athleticism – some athletes succeed despite their ineffectiveness, not because of it

 

Writing v. Typing Speed Skills

Imagine entering a contest to win a million dollars by copying a simple 1,000 word document…

And you had the choice to either write the essay using pen and paper, OR

Type it on a computer keyboard.

If the contest chairperson crowned the new minted millionaire to the fastest produced document, using one of the two aforementioned methods, which would you choose to compete?

What if, to get ready for the contest, you were given 3 weeks to prepare and practice pacing your writing OR typing skills?

Would this practice time make a dramatic difference on the speed of your writing skills?

How about your typing skills?

Which method do you think you’d make a bigger jump to compete with the best of the best?

Remember, there are no separate categories in the contest.  In other words, if you decide to write with pen and paper, you’re still competing with the fastest typers, not ONLY with writers.

Which leads us to…

Effectiveness v. Efficiency

Let’s define terms…

Effectiveness is doing the right things

While efficiency is doing those things right.

In the case of our Writing v. Typing million dollar contest,

Choosing the right method to win the contest is huge.  The fastest typer in the world can blow away the fastest writer, any day of the week.

So, effectiveness in winning the million dollars would be choosing to compete as a typer.  Then the next step would be to get really efficient at typing during the 3-week practice period.

How does this metaphor relate to little league baseball batting tips and repeatable power?

Smaller sluggers like Hank Aaron (6-foot, 180-pounds) have to be effective with their mechanics, in order to compete with bigger sluggers.

What’s more…

 

Better Technique v. Athleticism

Bigger sluggers get away with MURDER!

They often succeed despite their ineffective technique, not because of it…

A bent neck position at impact…NOT pre-loading the springy fascia in the body…OR thinking if we ‘load and explode the hips’, then all will take care of itself.

These big slugger examples may seem like valuable little league baseball batting tips, but in reality, young hitters WILL be left with ineffective energy transfers, resulting in inferior results.

Then why are we studying big sluggers like Albert Pujols, Bryce Harper, and Big Papi?

Although these big sluggers do A LOT effectively with their mechanics, at least in the eyes of validated human movement science, BUT they get away with energy leaks most young hitters won’t be able to pull off.

Look, let me put Better Technique v. Athleticism another way…

One of the best athletes to ever walk the earth is Michael Jordan.  His short stint in the Minor Leagues never amounted to Major League time.  He complained he couldn’t hit the curve-ball.  And by the way, Michael Jordan would be considered a bigger slugger today at 6-feet, 6-inches tall.

How about Arnold Schwarzenegger in his heyday using steroids during the 1970’s? Could he beat Jose Bautista or Josh Donaldson in a Major League home-run derby?

Of course NOT!!

It doesn’t matter how big a hitter is, or how athletic they are, or if they take PED’s.  All can achieve repeatable power by using effective hitting mechanics.  It’s a recipe anyone can follow.

Sure, being more athletic is a component, but is not THE little league baseball batting tips method to hitting the ball consistently hard like Hank Aaron.

Hitting Training For Baseball & Softball Swing Trainers | Hitting Performance Lab

Does baseball and softball hitting power come from loading the hips and rotating them before the hands?  Discover how to properly AND safely swing the bat harder, hit the ball better, and farther hitting drills.

How “Loading & Exploding The Hips” Can Be VERY Dangerous To The Lower Back…

 

 

We’ll get to the above video, but first let me be clear…

I’m not saying the pelvis doesn’t play a role in the swing, because it does.  However, I feel this spot reserved in the swing’s sequence of movements is hyper-focused on by a majority of hitting gurus.  More and more research is saying extreme “hip thrust” or “loading and exploding the hips” can be VERY damaging to the lower back over time.  You’ll see why in a moment, but for now please note that in this podcast episode, former USA Men’s Gymnastics Coach Sommers says the lower back portion of the spine isn’t made for a high degrees of rotation, but the T-Spine is.

Another thing I want to clear up, we don’t teach a 100% pure rotational mechanics here.  We teach a blend of linear-rotational.  Please CLICK HERE to read our thoughts on this.

In this post, we’ll cover:

  • How the spine stacks up (quick anatomy lesson),
  • Does consistent power come from the ground? And,
  • Teaching hitters a safer more effective swing.

Let’s get started…

How the Spine Stacks Up

Photo courtesy: MayfieldClinic.com

Here’s a quick anatomy lesson of the spine:

  • Cervical – the vertebrae in your neck, consists of 7 vertebrae, are allowed to flex, extend, and rotate,
  • Thoracic – the vertebrae in the middle of spine including shoulders, consists of 12 vertebrae, which are also allowed to flex, extend, and rotate, and
  • Lumbar – the vertebrae in lower back, consist of 5 vertebrae, and are allowed to flex and extend ONLY.
  • Sacral & Coccyx – there are 5 fused vertebrae here, and the Coccyx is sometimes referred to as the “tail” bone.

Did you catch that about the Lumbar?  It’s important, so it bares repeating…the vertebrae in the lower back IS NOT built to rotate!  Right now, you may be thinking: “Wait a minute, how’s that?!  I’ve seen millions of swings, and the hitter’s pelvis (and lower back) are rotating!!”

According to Charlie Weingroff, DPT, CSCS, a physical therapist, a trainer in New York City, and is pretty high up on the human performance food chain, says this:

“Only your thoracic spine (which consists of the 12 vertebrae in your upper and middle back) is designed to rotate significantly — about 40 degrees in each direction, according to Weingroff — when under compression. The lumbar spine (lower back) should rotate no more than about 12 degrees.”

Some movement experts (like Thomas Myers, author of the book Anatomy Trains), says the lower back can rotate no more than 7-degrees.  So according to the experts, 7 to 12-degrees is a good rotational range for the Lumbar section of the spine. That’s NOTHING compared to the 40-degrees of rotation – in each direction – of the middle and upper back section of the spine (which includes shoulders).

So what’s happening then?  You see, since the lower back vertebrae are not designed to rotate, it’s the surrounding muscles that are rotating a fixed object (non-rotating Lumbar), and is why you do see rotation.   The T-Spine vertebrae are built to rotate (again, this includes the shoulders), hence is why hitting coaches should put their rotational focus there and NOT the hips, pelvis, or low back.

Is rotating back hip through the zone necessary for power? Not in the way most coaches think.  Consider this quote from Physicist, Electrical Engineer, and author of the book The Spinal Engine, Dr. Serge Gracovetsky:

“The axial rotation of the spine cannot happen unless the spine is flexed by the right amount on the correct side. Coaching an athlete to throw without a proper spinal position is an invitation to severe torsional injuries.”

Dr. Gracovetsky is referring to this “flex” as a side bend with the shoulders.  The point is, USE THE SHOULDERS to accomplish rotational power.  Warning for coaches: if you shrug this information off because of ego or pride, and continue to teach pelvis, hip, or lower back dominant twisting swings, then you’re wearing holes in the low backs of your hitters.  Be careful because the link is there, and one can be held liable.

Don’t worry, I’ll show those coaches doing this unknowingly a safer way, at the end of this post…

Does Consistent Power Come from the Ground?

Water Polo Throw

Water Polo throw photo courtesy: YouTube Egy image from video

You may be thinking, but consistent power comes from the ground…the pelvis is the first to interact with Gravitational Forces, and that’s why you teach “hip thrust”. I agree with Ted Williams that the ‘Hips Lead the Way’, but they don’t contribute as much to consistent power as most think.  I know this may sound earth shattering for some, so please stay with me here.

CLICK the following link to a post I did titled, “The Swing DOES NOT Start From The Ground & Move Up?”

This brings me to the water polo throw video above…

Let me ask you a question, what do you think the “fastest throw in Water Polo” is?  Doing a Google search using those keywords brings up the following statement:

The overhand shot from a Croatian senior men’s national team player is recognized as the fastest shot in the world at 60 MPH (96.5 KPH). The overhand shot is the standard throwing motion in water polo. It is the same arm motion as a pitcher uses in baseball.”

So, let’s think about this.  In water, there are little to no Gravitational Forces, and the best human floating in water, can throw a volleyball-sized ball 60-mph?  What do you think the speed would be if this person was floating in water and threw a baseball-sized ball instead?  75-mph?  80-mph? 90-mph?  Okay, so let’s say this top-of-the-food-chain water polo player throws a baseball floating in water 80-mph.  You’re telling me a top-of-the-food-chain pitcher in the Big Leagues, throwing down a mound, can only throw 20-mph more (assuming 100-mph) than someone throwing the same ball floating in water?!

I dunno, but this begs the question, does the pelvis (and lower Lumbar), OR the shoulders (and T-Spine) contribute the most to pitching velocity AND Ball Exit Speeds?

If you need to see more examples about this, then CLICK HERE for a swing experiment titled, “How Much Ball Exit Speed Does Pelvis Contribute To A High Level Swing?” 

Consider this Tweet from one of my readers…

And I added the following comment…

So what role do I think the pelvis and low back play in the swing, if not power?  Directional force.  Allows the hitter’s swing to convert Centripetal into Centrifugal Force.  In a nutshell, the hitter’s “belt buckle” must point in the direction of the batted ball.

So what’s the answer?

 

Teaching Hitters a Safer more Effective Swing

Here are some resources to get you started, outside of the ones already mentioned:

Coaches, PLEASE get educated.  Don’t let ego or pride get in the way of helping hitters swing safe.  Like Tony Robbins says,

“If you aren’t growing, then you’re dying.”

Hitting Training For Baseball & Softball Swing Trainers | Hitting Performance Lab

Learn how to increase power by hitting a baseball or softball better, farther, and harder.  Discover how in this Babe Ruth swing mechanics analysis.

Baseball Hitting Drills For Power That Babe Ruth WOULD BE Talking About

 

 

Baseball Hitting Drills for Power: Babe Ruth

Babe Ruth post impact…notice he’s not ‘squashing the bug’ with his back foot? 😉 Photo courtesy: ABCNews.com

This baseball hitting drills for power video post, featuring Babe Ruth, was recorded on Jun 11, 2013 for my old hitting site Swing Smarter Baseball Hitting Drills dot com (not online anymore).  I’m going to revisit the information in this post because…

The coaching cues I teach now are a bit different, but what hasn’t changed are the human movement principles brought to light in the analysis.  Since I created the video, it’s amassed over 151K views on YouTube.

Probably more now that you’re reading this.  And by the way, the baseball hitting drills for power tips we’ll be covering work REALLY well for softball players too.

Don’t believe me?

CLICK HERE for a recent post I did discussing how similar the baseball and softball swings are.  Be sure to read some of the comments at the end of the post, where I asked my readers who coach softball players, to share how these same human movement principles are working for their girls.

In this baseball hitting drills for power post, we’ll REVISIT and ADD information to the above video:

  • What Forward Momentum looks like in Babe Ruth’s swing,
  • How The Babe uses the Springy ‘X’ Pattern, and
  • Compare how WR holding Shot Putter Ulf Timmerman uses the same human movement principles…

Baseball Hitting Drills For Power: What Forward Momentum Looks like in Babe Ruth’s Swing

I mention a few things in the video…

How The Babe seemingly throws his body (or hips) forward, making an aggressive move towards the pitched ball.

This looks very similar to a pitcher falling down the mound.

There was no ‘push off’ with his back leg, just a natural fall forward with his front leg catching him at stride landing.

In the above video, I also mention, how Babe Ruth commits his body weight forward, similar to how we walk…

A person’s body weight is shifted forward to the swing through leg, as the heel approaches the ground.

Unlike a cat taking a tentative step forward as if the ground is going to give way, we don’t walk by ‘sitting back’ at every step forward.

We walk more like dogs! Committing forward with EVERY step.

And this is WHY we shouldn’t be teaching hitters to ‘Sit back’ when hitting.  Unless of course, you want to create timid and defensive swinging hitters that WILL reach a ceiling at the lower levels.

Now, using this same Babe Ruth style fall is where baseball hitting drills for power semi-fork away from fastpitch softball hitters.

Because of a shortened pitching distance and reaction time, we’ll see forward momentum look more like Lauren Chamberlain’s shifting foot pressure in the following video:

 

 

In this video, she starts super wide with her feet, but you’ll see her shift her weight back, then forward (watch her body move away from the grounded heavy bag behind her).

This is still a form of Forward Momentum.  Just more tailored for a fastpitch hitting strategy.

In the above Babe Ruth video, I mention Un-Weighting, or the Un-Weighting Principle.

CLICK HERE for an HPL video demonstrating a test I use to get my hitters ‘buying into’ Forward Momentum benefits.

The bottom line with forward momentum is that it increases a hitter’s reaction time by giving them a head start.

It’s easier to change planes of motion when you’re already moving…rather than standing still like purely rotational hitters.

Does it take more energy to push a car when it’s already moving, or at a dead stop?

We want effortless power, NOT a powerless effort.

Are you concerned about too much head movement?

Check out these FOUR posts that address that issue:

How The Babe Uses the Springy ‘X’ Pattern

CLICK HERE for an HPL post talking about the science of tension/compression forces in the body, known as fascia.

CLICK HERE for another HPL post analyzing the swing of Adrian Gonzalez highlighting the Springy ‘X’ Pattern.

I call this piece of my hitting system the Catapult Loading System.  This online video mini-course teaches exactly how to manipulate springy fascia for repeatable power.

Here’s one of my favorite YouTube interviews with Thomas Myers, who does a GREAT job explaining the role of springy fascia in the body, so the Layman understands:

 

 

Thomas Myers authored the book Anatomy Trains, which I highly recommend as a MUST read to anyone serious about teaching hitting.  The information in his book holds the key to how hitting will be taught 5 years from now.  BELIEVE IT.

Baseball Hitting Drills For Power: Josh Donaldson Springy 'X' Pattern

Watch how Josh Donaldson manipulates the Springy ‘X’ Pattern. Photo courtesy: YouTuber PastimeAthletics & PicPlayHost

There a couple baseball hitting drills for power points I’ve recently changed, when teaching hitting, different from the information in the Babe Ruth video above (thanks Lee Comeaux for pointing these out)

  • #1 – I don’t focus on the shoulders facilitating the Springy ‘X’ Pattern anymore, but the armpits (view Josh Donaldson RED ‘X’ image to the right). This is where, as Thomas Myers puts it, the Front Arm Fascial Line passes through connecting bottom of the left hand and arm, across the chest, to the bottom of the right hand and arm.
  •  #2 – Notice how Babe Ruth seems to be ‘hunched’ over from the start of his swing into loading the Springy ‘X’ Pattern? Dr. Kelly Starrett calls this global flexion of the spine.  This allows the spine to decompress. In his book The Spinal Engine, Dr. Serge Gracovetsky talks about this ‘hunched’ posture as the Posterior Ligamentous System (PLS) turning on, which acts like a harness supporting the spine under load.  There’s less muscle activation when this happens.  Think about a fishing rod bending under the weight and energy of a fish catching bait.  This keeps the spine vertebrae safe through torsion forces.

PLEASE NOTE: the hitter still MUST show numbers and get a slight downward shoulder angle, but we’re using a better coaching cue to get the mechanical outcome.

 

Compare How WR Holding Shot Putter Ulf Timmermann uses the Same Movement Principles

Ulf Zimmermann holds the World Record in the Shot Put using the Glide technique.

Check out his World Record throw on September 22nd, 1985 at a distance of 22.62 meters (about 25 yards):

 

 

What a BEAST!  By the way, that iron cannonball he just tossed, almost the quarter length of a football field, weighs 16-pounds!!

Three eerily similar baseball hitting drills for power tips you’ll find with Ulf Timmermann’s record breaking ‘Glide’ technique and Babe Ruth’s swing are:

  1. Ulf Timmermann gets his weight aggressively moving forward with a combination of back leg push off and front leg ‘reaching’ momentum.  What Ulf does with his front leg is similar to a Broad Jumper using their arms to build momentum before a jump.
  2. You also see Ulf Timmermann employing the same Springy ‘X’ Pattern, however more extreme than The Babe (track his compressed armpit and opposing hip).  Ulf is more extreme with the ‘turn in’ because Babe Ruth still has to keep his eyes forward to hit a ball coming towards him, whereas Ulf has the freedom to look away from his target.
  3. You also see both Ulf and The Babe ‘getting shorter’ before exploding rotationally (compare knee bend). They’re both using Ground Reaction Forces very well.

CLICK HERE for a baseball hitting drills for power video post I did outlining the ‘Back Eye Test’, so hitters don’t turn in too much, like Ulf.

A Couple Interesting Tid-Bits from YouTube Video Comments

  • “Excellent video. I recommend everyone read The Year Babe Ruth Hit 104 Home Runs. You will be even more amazed with his achievements.” – YouTube user: Gto1927
  • One commenter said this video shows why The Babe hit for so much power, but also struck out A LOT. However, Baseball-Reference.com puts Babe Ruth’s 162-game batting average at .342 with 86 strikeouts per year. How about Chris “Crush” Davis? Same numbers: .255 BA & 200 K’s/year.  I don’t think The Babe struck out that much…what do you think? 😉
Hitting Training For Baseball & Softball Swing Trainers | Hitting Performance Lab

Discover how to teach a kid to hit for power by hitting a baseball, fast pitch, and slow pitch softball better, farther, and harder with the Catapult Loading System.

Why I Teach Hitters To ‘Show Numbers’ (And Maybe You Should Too)

 

 

Question: How does ‘Showing Numbers’ to the Pitcher Effect Bat Speed at Impact versus ‘NOT Showing’ them?

Aaron Judge Showing Numbers to the Pitcher

Aaron Judge (Showing Numbers), unloads a solo home run to center field on 10/17/17 to put the Yankees on the board in the 7th inning.

Using the Zepp (Labs) Baseball app, I wanted to use the Scientific Method to analyze if a hitter showing their numbers to the pitcher at landing adds to or takes away from key swing performance metrics like Bat Speed at Impact, Time To Impact, and Attack Angle.  This swing experiment is revisiting two other experiments done analyzing the same thing.

 

Background Research

Since we’re REVISITING two previous swing experiments on ‘Showing Numbers’ versus NOT, here are the original posts and data to get you up to speed:

In 2016 ‘Show Numbers’ swing experiment, this was what the averaged out Zepp data looked like:

  • 5-mph INCREASE in Bat Speed at Impact with ‘Showing Numbers’,
  • 0.5-mph INCREASE in Hand Speed Max with ‘Showing Numbers’,
  • .003 second DECREASE in Time to Impact with ‘Showing Numbers’,
  • 3* INCREASE in Bat Vertical Angle at Impact with ‘Showing Numbers’, and
  • 1.5* INCREASE in Attack Angle with ‘Showing Numbers.

Now, let’s see how the Ball Exit Speed averages compare:

  • 76.02-mph BES when ‘NOT Showing Numbers’,
  • 77.32-mph BES  when ‘Showing Numbers’,
  • That’s a 1.3-mph average INCREASE when ‘Showing Numbers’, and
  • Translates between 5.2-feet to 7.8-feet of EXTRA batted ball distance – depending on if you calculate using 1-mph BES = 4-feet of distance OR 1-mph BES = 6-feet of distance.

In this experiment, if you look at the ‘NOT Showing Numbers’ swings, they were actually ‘Showing Numbers’.  In other words, the subject in the swing experiment, Preston Scott, already shows his numbers well causing a challenge to not show them.  Therefore on the ‘Showing Numbers’ swings, he showed them more.  I think that’s why we didn’t see as much of a difference in Ball Exit Speeds.

In 2014 ‘Show Numbers’ swing experiment, this was what the averaged out Zepp data looked like:

  • Bat speed for NOT showing numbers at landing: 73-mph,
  • Bat speed for showing numbers at landing: 79-mph (+6-mph),
  • Highest bat speed for NOT showing numbers at landing: 82-mph,
  • Highest bat speed for showing numbers at landing: 88-mph (+6-mph),
  • Hand speed max for NOT showing numbers was: 27-mph, and
  • Hand speed max for showing numbers was: 29-mph (+2-mph).

Between both swing experiments, we saw an average Bat Speed at Impact increase between 5 to 6-mph.  In 2016 we saw a .003 second drop in Time To Impact ‘Showing Numbers’, while in 2014 we saw a .003 increase.

The research on increasing bat or ball exit speed can be seen in the following two books on springy fascia and spinal engine mechanics:

You can also get application of previously mentioned books through the following HPL video blog posts.

  1. Miguel Cabrera and the timing of torque.
  2. Josh Donaldson v. Jose Bautista: how spine engine mechanics are amplified by Gravitational Forces, and
  3. Adrian Gonzalez: how-to naturally spring load the body.

For those versed in Anatomy, for explosive movement on the Transverse Plane (twisting), there must be a protraction of the front scapula (‘showing numbers’), and a retraction of the back Scapula (what’s often referred to as ‘Scap Row’).  Scap Rowing by itself doesn’t engage full range of springy fascia.

 

Hypothesis

Based on the above research, I’m expecting to see a dramatic bump in Bat Speed at Impact, Hand Speed Max, and possibly a reduction in Time To Impact.  I think Attack Angle and Bat Vertical Angle at Impact will remain unchanged.

Showing Numbers Swing Experiment Part-3

Equipment Used:

SwingAway Bryce Harper model

This is the SwingAway Bryce Harper model hitting station used for the ‘Showing Numbers’ experiment.

  • Zepp Baseball app (to measure Bat Speed, Hand Speed, Time to Impact, & Attack Angle),
  • SwingAway Bryce Harper model hitting station,
  • GS6 android phone to record swings, and
  • 33 inch bamboo bat.

Setup:

  • SwingAway Bryce Harper bungy suspended ball was set equal to the landing foot, and ball height was about knee height.
  • I broke each swing down into three steps: 1) Get to landing, 2) Pause for 2-secs, and 3) Swing.  The reason for this was to better control whether I was showing numbers or not.
  • The two tests in the swing experiment were counter-balanced.  Which consisted of eight blocks of 25-swings done in the following order ABBA BAAB.  ‘Showing Numbers’ was letter ‘A’, and ‘NOT Showing Numbers’ was letter ‘B’.  200 total swings were completed in the experiment, 100 per test.  Counter-balancing helps remove the “getting tired” and “warm up” factors.
  • The ‘Showing Numbers’ swing shoulders were set to about 2’o’clock, if pitcher is 12’o’clock.  The ‘NOT Showing Numbers’ swing shoulders were set to about 12’o’clock.

 

Data Collected from Zepp Baseball App:

'Showing' v. 'NOT Showing' Numbers to Pitcher Zepp Numbers

Data Analysis & Conclusion

Zepp data analysis comparing the averages:

  • Bat Speed at Impact INCREASE of 3-mph ‘Showing Numbers’,
  • Hand Speed Max DECREASE of 1-mph ‘Showing Numbers’,
  • Time To Impact INCREASE of 0.014 ‘Showing Numbers’,
  • Bat Vertical Angle At Impact DECREASE of 4-degree ‘Showing Numbers’, and
  • Attack Angle INCREASE of 6-degrees ‘Showing Numbers’.

The drop from previous ‘Showing Numbers’ swing experiments was surprising, in addition to a small 1-mph drop in Hand Speed Max.  There was also a slight increase in Time To Impact.  The interesting numbers were the ones that indicate Launch Angles, both Bat Vertical Angle at Impact and Attack Angle.  We hadn’t experienced such a dramatic uptick in those in past experiments.

A couple notes…

  • The past two experiments were done in a cage, off a tee, so I could see ball flight, and maybe that had an effect on the swing metrics.
  • Some hitting coaches speak highly of Time To Impact and want to reduce at all cost, but I disagree. There’s a healthy range for that, you don’t want it too short or too long.  I’m not going to get into why here, maybe in another post.
  • To explain the dramatic increase of the barrel’s upward trajectory in ‘Showing Numbers’, I may have been getting more of a downward shoulder angle at landing.