In this case study, learn about a youth softball player who would have pinching lower back pain while swinging a bat, if she kept swinging like this. Discover how to fix the cause of lower back stress fractures (pars), Sciatica nerve pain, and Spondylolysis.
Get Rid Of “C-Shape Impact” Once And For All
Look at the difference in Lauryn’s body shape BEFORE, image on the left hand side (C-Shape Impact), and AFTER, image on the right hand side, using the Hunched Posture 24-hours later. Photo courtesy of Brian (dad).
With consent of Dad (Brian – Thank you), I wanted to share Feedback Session #4 (of 12) of Lauryn, who’s 11 years old…oh yeah, her consent was given too (Thanks LB!) 😀
She’s been a part of my online lesson program The Feedback Lab, since October 17th, 2016. It’s also interesting to note, her current Ball Exit Speed personal record is 66-mph at 11yo!
First, I want to say how much of a hard worker she is, and has been consistently progressing with each Feedback Session. I also want to say how supportive dad (and mom) are in all this process, and I can clearly tell dad is instilling a “Growth Mindset” in Lauryn, which is what Dr. Carol Dweck discusses in her bestselling book Mindset – a highly recommended read by the way.
A supportive parenting environment, and a Growth Mindset make my job easy and most importantly, rewarding. I say this because some may think these changes are ALL me, but I’m only shining a light down a dark path, it’s the player and parents who have to follow through, and God knows this process IS NOT easy.
The below video was the frustrating session #4 for Lauryn, which goes into:
The ‘Pat’ – “pat on the back”, or what Lauryn progressed on mechanically, and
The ‘Pop’ – “pop in the mouth”, or what Lauryn will be working on in the coming weeks.
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PLEASE NOTE: to those fast-pitch softball coaches who take offense to me using Josh Donaldson as a swing example for Lauryn, I used Sierra Romero in the past few sessions – so get off my back! 😛 lol
In following, I only wanted to highlight one specific part of Lauryn’s hitting homework, the Reverse C-Shape at impact, her body illustrates in the image above. For lefties the C-Shape Impact looks like a normal ‘C’. This was a concern for dad before I did the above this Feedback Session #4.
CLICK HERE for a post I did on the Snapping Towel Drill, where I posted an image of one of my 13yo baseball hitters in this same position with a little more explanation of what the C-Shape is. In the main video above and in this post, I wanted to offer up another more effective fix than the Snapping Towel Drill…
The Hunched Posture, if you look at the above image of Lauryn on the left, her abdominals are stretching, which indicates the low back could possibly be in hyper-extension…not good. This is not adhering to the One-Joint Rule discussed in this post.
The answer can be found in what Gymnastics refer to as the Hollow Hold Position:
Here was the corrective programming homework I gave Lauryn:
Week 1: 1 set X 20-30 secs hold,
Week two: 1 set X 30-40 secs hold,
Week three: 2 sets X 30 secs hold, and
Week four: 2 sets X 45 secs hold
…Do every other day.
The keys with this move is constantly applying pressure into the ground with the low back, and rounding the shoulders forward to create a ‘spoon’ or ‘hollow’ position with the chest.
This helps with pelvic control (rotating the pelvis to posterior), stabilizes the low back, and is KILLER for the abs – in a good way.
Look at the following three hitters and tell me what shape their spine starts in…
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Sadaharu Oh (868 Career Dingers in Japanese Baseball Leagues):
The Hollow Pinch Drill
The drill steps go like this…
Hitter pinches their belly button to their belt buckle,
Hold from stance to start of swing, and even into follow through.
Once they get it, they won’t let go of it. My hitters report back their feelings that the Hollow Pinch:
“Just feels better”,
“Helps show numbers and downhill shoulder angle”, and most importantly,
“My back feels nothing while swinging” (a good thing! lol).
And like in Lauryn’s case, we see a much more effective impact position less than 24-hours later. Go easy on those pitchers out there Lauryn 😛 lol
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https://hittingperformancelab.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/10/Warning-This-Youth-Softball-Players-Swing-Could-Lead-To-Pinching-Lower-Back-Pain-How-To-Fix.png423800Joey Myershttps://hittingperformancelab.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/10/hitting-performance-labs_c90c0362088ef1d3d528f3078f4f8ac1-300x75.pngJoey Myers2022-10-24 09:00:582022-10-26 22:53:03Youth Softball Player Pinching Lower Back Pain While Swinging Bat: How To Fix Stress Fracture, Sciatica Nerve, & Spondylolysis
I often post inspirational baseball quotes from top MLB hitters on my Facebook fan-page. So I wanted to share my top five player quotes and photos that get the most engagement on Facebook…ENJOY!
Even though Derek Jeter was the 6th overall pick by the Yankees in the 1992 draft, he made over 50 errors at Shortstop his first year in professional baseball! The Yankees doubted him and talked about moving him to the outfield. He improved on his fielding, and the rest is history.
Whether it was brutal contract negotiations with the Yankees, media scrutiny from one of the biggest cities in the world, “Stat-heads” saying he had no range to his glove side, or injuries, Derek Jeter found a way to beat the critics, his competition, and inevitably etch himself into the Hall of Fame.
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Fangraphs lists Giancarlo Stanton as a beast, 6-foot, 6-inches, 240-pounds! And according to Wikepedia.com he was a three-sport athlete. Before being drafted in 2007 by the Marlins, he was offered a baseball scholarship at USC, and offers to play football at UCLA and UNLV.
I love hearing this quote come from such a “big” guy. I subscribe to the fact that Giancarlo Stanton was such a well-rounded athlete, and didn’t have access to year-round baseball that contributed to his success so far.
Unfortunately, a lot of Little League coaches and parents focus on just hitting the ball, instead of hitting the ball hard. These types of baseball quotes are great to put hitting into perspective.
Jose Bautista
Photo courtesy: BirdDogRealty.net
One of the “smallest big hitters” in baseball. FanGraphs.com lists him at 6-foot, 205-pounds. But his Metrics make him look like Giancarlo Stanton!!!
These types of baseball quotes are based on mindset at the plate. And after watching Jose Bautista swing, we can see he doesn’t get cheated…shocker, I know. Consider this…
One of my hitting friends Bob Hall from Canada shared with me something he heard from a scout about having a plan at the plate…
You’re either a fisherman OR a hunter. The fisherman waits for the fish to bite, while the hunter stalks his prey. I tell my hitters to use both, depending on the pitcher’s accuracy and hitting situation, to their advantage.
Sadarharu Oh
Photo courtesy: rnishi.Files.Wordpress.com
Sadaharu Oh, another small slugger, is listed at 5-foot, 10-inches, 173-pounds according to Baseball-Reference.com. Why is this significant?
During Hank Aaron’s time, Sadaharu Oh played in Japan and was considered the Barry Bonds (career home-run leader) of Japanese baseball. He blasted 868 dingers over the span of 22 seasons…and that’s almost 40 per year!
CLICK HERE for a post I did asking for my reader’s reaction on his mechanics. Judging by these types of Sadaharu Oh baseball quotes, technique was his saving Grace. It had to be, because he had to “do it right” to compete the way he did.
And sure, against today’s Major League pitchers, Sadaharu Oh probably wouldn’t hit as many homers, but man, how consistent his power was over 22 seasons. I agree with one of my reader’s comments from the article link above, that if Oh played in America today, they’d have made him a slap hitter, much like they did Ichiro, because of his small physique. Ichiro can hit the long ball, but not allowed. Darn shame 🙁
And last but certainly not least…
Ted Williams
Photo courtesy: ESPN.Go.com
I don’t think Ted Williams needs an introduction. Looking at this picture, it seems to be around his magical .406-year, three years into the Big Leagues and weighing about 180-pounds, soaking wet, while standing at 6’3″! He had the height, but definitely WAS NOT gifted with body mass.
In his biographies he often cited “inhaling” multiple malt shakes per day to put weight on his frame. Too bad he didn’t have access to the information we have on that today!
In baseball quotes like this, Ted Williams talks like a man who struggled to do it right. “…you can’t make a hitter, but I think you can improve a hitter,” is not something Daryl Strawberry would say. Failure is a huge part of hitting, way more than pitching. We learn from our failures more than our successes. Our hitters need to know from an early age that failure is okay. As long as we use it as a tool to get better. Progress is a process.
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In the second installment to the Hitting Backwards: 4 Common Mistakes Hitters Make video series, starring Adrian Gonzalez, we discuss why “walking away from the hands” doesn’t make sense. A-Gon is a bigger hitter (*6’2″, 225lbs) who uses human movement science correctly to generate explosive rotational power.
*(According to Baseball-Reference.com)
We’ll use Adrian Gonzalez’s swing to talk about:
The simple science of loading,
How big hitters get away with ineffective mechanics, and
The power secret you are missing.
Contrary to popular belief, “walking away from the hands” is NOT how we load properly. It decreases turning speed by arm barring. In the 2014 Sochi Winter Olympics, if controversial gold medal winning ice skater Adelina Sotnikova could turn faster by barring an arm out, then don’t you think you’d see her do that?
SCIENCE-BASED TRAINING:
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According to the book Anatomy Trains by Thomas Myers, the human body is loaded by connective tissue called Fascia, which is:
A cotton candy-like material,
To the body, like steel is to the building industry,
Connective tissue your bones and muscles float in,
Gives muscles their shape, and
At a constant battle to balance compression and tension forces within the body…Thomas Myers calls this Tensegrity (Tension-Integrity)
Big Hitters Get Away with Ineffective Mechanics
We’re studying the wrong hitters. Pujols. Hamilton. Griffey Jr. Paul Goldschmidt.
Ken Griffey Jr. was the perfect example of “walking away from the hands”. People don’t realize, he succeeded despite ineffective mechanics, not because of them. Here are some other notable athletes getting away with ineffective mechanics:
Kevin Durant, NBA’s leading scorer, succeeds despite flawed shooting mechanics. His knees crash in, which is called Knee Valgus.
Tiger Woods succeeded despite being ineffective mechanically, later in his career (4 knee surgeries, in addition to numerous Achilles and back issues). CLICK HERE to read this “Muscle Power Golf, Not!” post about this.
Numerous pitchers throw 95+mph despite career shortening flawed mechanics (Kerry Wood and Mark Prior just to name two)
Spend more time analyzing hitters like: Braun, Cano, David Wright, Jose Bautista, McCutchen, Hank Aaron, and Sadaharu Oh (Japan’s career home run leader). These small-sluggers have to move friction-free (or nearly) to compete. Big-sluggers with friction-free swings include: Miguel Cabrera, Adrian Gonzalez, David Ortiz, and Chris “Crush” Davis.
Power Secret You Are Missing
Of the nine fascial lines mentioned in Thomas Myers’ book Anatomy Trains, the Spiral Fascial Line (SPL) is very important to hitting…according to Thomas Myers:
Photo credit: Thomas Myers
“The overall movement function of the SPL is to create and mediate spirals and rotations in the body, and, in eccentric and isometric contraction, to steady the trunk and leg to keep it from folding into rotational collapse.”
I call this the ‘Springy X Pattern’. Imagine an ‘X’ on the front and back of the torso. When one leg of the ‘X’ shortens, then the other stretches. Golf training expert Jason Glass of Jason Glass Performance calls these Rotational Power Slings.
Adrian Gonzalez “spring loads” his swing using what I call the Catapult Loading System (CLS). It takes the Stability ‘X’ Pattern or Rotational Power Sling concepts and applies them to hitting.
Here are a few other world-class spring loaded athletes who’s movements are very similar to a hitter’s:
Golfers,
Olympic Shot Putters
Olympic Throwers – Javelin, Discus, and Hammer
Lacrosse
CLICK HERE in case you missed Part-1 to the Hitting Backwards: 4 Common Mistakes Hitter’s Make video series. And CLICK HERE for Common Mistake #3, where we look into why a friction-free hitter SHOULD NOT land with the front toe closed…
'Add 40-Feet' To Batted Ball Distance
Swing Study reveals how tens of thousands of hitters are adding 40-feet to batted ball distance by using one simple strategy.
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https://hittingperformancelab.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/08/Adrian-Gonzalez-Swing-Breakdown-Power-Hitting-Drills-Helping-Hit-Bombs-Farther.png423800Joey Myershttps://hittingperformancelab.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/10/hitting-performance-labs_c90c0362088ef1d3d528f3078f4f8ac1-300x75.pngJoey Myers2022-08-16 09:00:112022-08-16 16:54:56Best Baseball, Softball, & Slow Pitch Power Batting Drills To Increase Hitting Bombs Farther And Improve Keeping Front Shoulder In
Baseball Batting Techniques: Simple Way To Use Forward Momentum That Works For Elite Hitters
Dustin Pedroia, the King of FoMo. Photo courtesy: Rick Osentoski-USA TODAY Sports
In this baseball batting techniques post, we’ll talk about how elite MLB sluggers employ Forward Momentum (FoMo for short).
I’m going to answer the following questions from my readers:
Does a hitter transfer all their weight to the front leg at some point in the swing?
Does FoMo stride need to be big or small?
Does the back foot “follow” the front with FoMo?
Can a wide no-stride hitter utilize Forward Momentum?
Are FoMo hitters more vulnerable to off speed and breaking stuff?
Keep in mind, forward momentum is the objective, and in this baseball batting techniques post, I’ll show different elite hitter examples of forward momentum. The important thing isn’t what you use to get Forward Momentum, it’s the Forward Momentum itself.
Let’s get to it…
Does a hitter transfer all their weight to the front leg at some point in the swing?
Yes. With elite sluggers, it’s rare you don’t find them shifting their weight from back to forward. We typically see one of a few baseball batting techniques associated with FoMo: 1) a “Float”, or a slight weight shift back, then 2) a “Free Fall” forward.
And FYI during the Float, yes it’s okay for the back knee to drift over the foot, and NOT have to unnaturally be ‘shoved’ inside it.
You’ll see the following hitters, who try and start with the back knee inside the back foot (Jose Bautista), will accidently float the knee back out before falling forward.
The dead give away of elite hitters shifting their weight is to look at the weight distribution at impact. You’ll see a weight-free back leg at the start of the turning pelvis…
Andrew “Cutch” McCutchen
Troy “Tulo” Tulowitzki
Jose “Joey Bats” Bautista
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Whatever the hitter is comfortable with. In other words, don’t be so specific in teaching certain Forward Momentum baseball hitting techniques. Remember, the objective is that they’re employing Forward Momentum. We don’t really care how they get there.
Feel free to recommend your hitters tinker with and test the following FOUR stride types:
Josh “The Bringer of Rain” Donaldson (BIG Leg Kick)
Dustin “Laser Show” Pedroia (MEDIUM Leg Kick)
Robinson “Mercedes” Cano (SMALL Leg Kick/Slide Step)
Victor Martinez (Toe Tap)
Does the back foot “follow” the front with FoMo?
It doesn’t have to, but I like it too. If a hitter gets too wide with the stride, and the back foot isn’t allowed to follow, then the hitter will have a challenge getting a tight back knee angle, which is responsible for a better ball launch angle. CLICK HERE for the back knee angle Zepp experiment.
Roberto “The Great One” Clemente (watch at the 0:33 mark and beyond)
Mike “Millville Meteor” Trout
Bryce “Bam Bam” Harper
CLICK HERE for one of my favorite baseball batting techniques, the Back Foot Variance Drill.
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Can a wide no-stride hitter utilize Forward Momentum?
Here are my questions for a coach who would ask this about baseball batting techniques:
“Why are you hooked on being so wide with the feet at the start, and/or not allowing a stride?…”
“Is it about minimizing head movement?”
“Is it cutting down on moving parts?”
“Is it a timing thing?”
Coaches on Facebook have told me, the stride is too hard to teach, or for a young hitter to get. Apparently this poison was shared during a speech at the American Baseball Coaches Association (ABCA) conference.
I’m not convinced, especially when 3-year-old Chinese females are learning some of the most complex human movements in Gymnastics.
Furthermore,
Look to other explosive athletes that almost NEVER start wide with their feet:
Pitchers,
Olympic Divers,
Olympic Throwers,
Soccer Players,
Quarterbacks, Linebackers, and Deep Backs…
Sometimes, it’s not about choosing particular baseball batting techniques. It’s a mindset. I always stress to my hitters, get athletic from the start, and be athletic when you land, so you can transfer the max amount of energy from your body, into the barrel, then to the ball.
About head movement, it’s going to happen. CLICK HERE for a compelling baseball batting techniques analysis by Dan Farnsworth at FanGraphs.com, that demystifies that elite hitters are keeping their head still (Read under “Keep Your Head Still” section).
If it’s about timing, then it’s the timing that must be adjusted. There are only two timing elements:
When the hitter starts their swing, and
How long they ‘Float’.
A hitter can change one or the other, or both. It’s up to them.
Those are the adjustments, it’s not a “stride issue”. CLICK HERE for my favorite baseball batting techniques for timing.
Even big guys use Forward Momentum. It just looks more subtle…coming in the form of a ‘sliding’ of the pelvis (Cruz and Pujols are great examples of this below)…
Miguel “Miggy” Cabrera
Nelson “Boomstick” Cruz
Albert “The Machine” Pujols
Are FoMo hitters more vulnerable to off speed and breaking stuff?
This is common issue #2 that coaches have with Forward Momentum, a hitter cannot adjust to breaking or off-speed stuff.
I invite you to look at the following sluggers who use FoMo, and their stats don’t reveal they had trouble adjusting to off speed and breaking stuff:
All these hitters had exceptional power, high averages, low strikeouts, and high walks compared to today’s hitters.
Last but certainly not least…
David “Big Papi” Ortiz
And how about Big Papi? Why wouldn’t we mention him, right?! He just hit his 500th career homer! He starts and finishes in the same spot, but there’s a whole lot of FoMo going on in-between:
In Conclusion
When it comes to baseball batting techniques, Forward Momentum is the objective. How we get our hitters there doesn’t really matter. Just give them examples of how to accomplish more FoMo, and allow them to tinker and test until they find something they’re comfortable with doing.
CLICK HERE to Enter for a chance to Win one free account access to The Truth About Explosive Rotational Power online video course (a $77 value). You have until 12:00pm PST today to enter. To better your chances of winning, you can spread the word on social media. I’ll be picking the winner Monday, September 21st, and reaching out via email. Good luck! 😀
Contest UPDATE: this contest is now closed, and Jon Ball was our winner!
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https://hittingperformancelab.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/09/baseball-batting-techniques-dustin-pedroia-forward-momentum-e1442543731835.jpg333500Joey Myershttps://hittingperformancelab.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/10/hitting-performance-labs_c90c0362088ef1d3d528f3078f4f8ac1-300x75.pngJoey Myers2022-07-05 09:15:142022-07-05 18:14:19Fun Youth How To Teach No Stride Length, Toe Tap, And Leg Kick Hitting Tips For Beginner Baseball & Softball Swing | Where Does Front Foot Land, And When, Hit Drills For 6 To 10 Year Olds
Do ONLY strong baseball, fast-pitch, and slow-pitch softball players hit farther home runs? And how far? Can an “average” person hit home runs? See how 14u small slugger Hudson White beat BIG slugger Blaze Jordan in the Power Showcase home run derby. Learn Sadaharu Oh lessons on how to hit the first homer.
Sadaharu Oh: 5’10” 173-lbs, 868 Dingers Over 22-Years – How?
Sadaharu Oh photo courtesy: rnishi.wordpress.com
According to Baseball-Reference.com, the “Barry Bonds” of Japanese baseball, Sadaharu Oh:
Is 5-foot, 173-pounds, and
Hit 868 homers in 22 years (that’s almost 40/season!!)…
How did he do this?
Sadaharu Oh Analysis: Your Mission, if you Choose to Accept it…
Watch the above hitting footage, and identify – what you think – are the two most critical things contributing to his consistent power at the plate over a 22-year span.
Of course, Sadaharu Oh probably wouldn’t have put up those kind of numbers against today’s Major League pitchers. BUT still…his body type…that many homers…for that long???!
I had an interesting conversation about Oh with one of my colleagues about if he were playing today, and was recruited over to the MLB, that coaches/instructors would probably make him a slap happy version of Ichiro Suzuki.
This actually makes A LOT of sense when you look at conventional American baseball/softball wisdom to make a “small left handed hitter” into a situational ground-ball inducing machine. There NEVER would have been a “Sadaharu Oh”!
I agree there are roles to play in a lineup, and of course there’s a time and place for situational hitting, but if we taught ALL our hitters effective hitting mechanics, then what kind of metrics could a small slugger put up in-between?
Could we have a Dustin Pedroia-type who hits a 162-game average 15 dingers and 44 doubles?! In addition, to be a bunting, hit-and-run, move ’em over extraordinaire! Why can’t EVERY hitter experience repeatable power…?
A couple things to keep in mind when analyzing and commenting:
Use human movement science as a rule of thumb (un-weighting, spinal engine mechanics, springy fascia, etc.),
Be open minded and positive in the comments (no “spitting” on someone’s shoes PLEASE),
Clarify by giving a “time stamp” in the video to see what you may be talking about…
You can post your thoughts in the “Leave a Reply” section below…
'Add 40-Feet' To Batted Ball Distance
Swing Study reveals how tens of thousands of hitters are adding 40-feet to batted ball distance by using one simple strategy.
Click the button below to access the FREE video that's been downloaded over 30K times!!
https://hittingperformancelab.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/12/sadaharu-oh-stance.jpg400234Joey Myershttps://hittingperformancelab.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/10/hitting-performance-labs_c90c0362088ef1d3d528f3078f4f8ac1-300x75.pngJoey Myers2022-06-21 09:15:152022-06-22 01:42:25Do ONLY Strong Baseball & Softball Players Hit Farther Homeruns? How Far? Can Average Person Do It? Sadaharu Oh Lessons On How To Get First One!
How To Turn Fastpitch Softball Hitting Mechanics Into A High Level Baseball Swing…Can It Be Done?
Can fastpitch softball hitting mechanics be equal to baseball?
Why is the fastpitch softball swing different than baseball? Or is it? How about vs slowpitch softball? Interesting discussion on swing plane, leg kick, launch and attack angle, ball exit velocity and bat speed. Check out this 2022 age chart for exit velocity recommendations. Quick bullets:
(WARNING: this fastpitch softball hitting mechanics post is a mini-RANT, about 2,000+ words, so please set aside about a 10-min reading time)…
I received this email the other day:
“I cringe when see hitting programs that are designed by baseball players and say they teach softball hitting as a 17 year fastpitch softball coach and 26 year slow pitch player the fundamental difference in the swing many programs ignore especially when teaching fastpitch the swing has to take the most direct path to the pitched generally released at 3 to 4 feet verse a baseball is released at roughly 7 such as right view pro I’ve seen many teams and worse players swings destroyed by coaches teaching baseball to softball players please take this in account, thanks”
Before addressing this reader’s email, I wanted to mention something for those who teach fastpitch softball hitting mechanics…
Later in the post, I want to make a BIG ASK to coaches and instructors currently working with fastpitch softball hitters that are using HPL hitting principles, to please share your triumphs and/or sticking points with us.
But before we get there,
I wanted to address a couple fastpitch softball hitting mechanics points from the email above:
Translating baseball into fastpitch softball hitting mechanics,
Differences between the two swings?
The BIG ASK…
Translating Baseball into Fastpitch Softball Hitting Mechanics
Who can we trust to give effective information when searching “fastpitch softball hitting mechanics” on YouTube?
The BIGGEST problem with most self-proclaimed “baseball hitting experts” online is…
They promote a hitting ‘philosophy’ or ‘theory’.
Their theories are a mish-mash of popular hitting programs, books, websites, YouTube channels, etc.
Did you know…
There’s a more certain standard – or measuring stick – that most hitting experts ignore, or just plain don’t understand?
Hitting MUST be based off human movement principles, or rules, that are validated by science…NOT philosophy or theory.
We’ve reverse engineered the hitting system promoted at the Hitting Performance Lab.
What does that mean?
Good news for coaches teaching fastpitch softball hitting mechanics…
You can bring a certain and more effective hitting standard to teaching your athletes how to hit.
And it WORKS a majority of the time!!
Beautifully.
Do you remember the first time you stumbled into an online hitting forum, discovering how much of a pissing contest it was?
The people who “seemed” to have authority on the subject of fastpitch softball hitting mechanics were coaches who:
Had coached the longest,
Had played the longest OR had the biggest collection of trophies at the highest level, or
Had watched a million hours of slow motion video of ONLY ‘the best’ hitters.
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Someone belligerently throwing 30+ years of coaching experience in your face, most likely has the same one year of coaching experience repeated each year for 30+ years. If you’re not growing, you’re dying. And if you have to talk about how many years you’ve been coaching to desperately seek significance, then most likely your teaching has been obsolete for some time now.
You don’t hear Coaches Augie Garrido, Gordie Gillespie, or Bob Bennett lurching around online forums shoving their weight around demanding that people listen and respect them.
Note to thosewho’ve played the longest or have the biggest collection of trophies at the highest level…
The same lurching ego behavior can be seen, and is being used by you too.
As a matter of fact,
I just ran into an ex-pro guy last night on Facebook (I assume he was because he said he has a helluva playing resume, lol).
Brother, I hate to tell you, but…
Playing and teaching are totally different skills sets. I don’t care what your playing resume is, because you’re starting over as a coach.
Furthermore, you MUST teach the RIGHT things. The right fastpitch softball hitting mechanics.
Just because you ‘swung down on the ball’ to create backspin, DOES NOT mean that’s what actually happened if we looked at your swing using slow motion video.
I’m sorry, but what’s ‘feel’ and what’s ‘real’ are two totally different things.
Note to those coacheswho accumulated a million hours watching slow motion video of ONLY ‘the best’ hitters…
Although these hitters are and were effective in their swings, they also have, and had, ineffective human movement. I’m sorry, but what’s ‘feel’ and what’s ‘real’ are two totally different things. that MUST not be repeated by younger and/or smaller hitters.
Not just because younger hitters don’t have the capability of doing them, but because THEY SHOULD NOT be doing them, PERIOD.
In other words, they succeed, and succeeded, DESPITE elements of ineffective mechanics, NOT because of them.
Who you study is VERY important.
Big sluggers can get away with murder because of their body mass. Think of some of the BIGGER hitters you’ve come across, swimming in the fishbowl that is a Little League baseball field.
You’ll learn more of what effective fastpitch softball hitting mechanics look like from smaller sluggers like (6-feet on down):
Sierra Romero
Lauren Chamberlain
Sadaharu Oh (if you don’t know who this is, you need to study up!!),
Hank Aaron,
Pete Rose,
Ty Cobb,
Josh Donaldson,
Dustin Pedroia,
Jose Bautista,
Andrew McCutchen, and
Robinson Cano.
AND by the way, video analysis is important,
Sierra Romero is a great model for the Catapult Loading System. Photo courtesy: fastpitchnews.org
But MUST come SECOND ONLY to the human movement “rules”.
Now listen close, because this is IMPORTANT to translating fastpitch softball hitting mechanics into baseball…
Once we strip away a coach/player’s elevated credentials and/or experience, then look at their analysis through the lens of human movements “rules”, that are validated by science, and it’s revealed how inconsistently ineffective their teachings really are.
They soften their system’s ineffectiveness by saying,
“Well, every hitter is different and what works for one hitter may not work for another”…OR,
“You can’t teach young hitters to do what MLB hitters are doing.”
BULL.
They’re copping-out.
But it’s not their fault.
They just don’t know any better.
They’re not growing, they’re dying.
And if you believe that what works for one hitter may not work for another, then CLICK HERE to read about the HPL One-Swing-Fits-All system. It’s not what you think it is.
The HPL hitting system works…consistently, no matter if we’re talking fastpitch softball hitting mechanics or baseball…7yo or 24yo…male or female…big or small.
We have literally thousands of coaches and parents across the nation putting into practice the HPL hitting principles, and get this…THEY ACTUALLY WORK!!
I get a steady stream of weekly emails, from coaches, sharing their success stories with the system from both the baseball and softball worlds.
(If you go to the HPL homepage, scroll all the way down to the bottom, and you’ll find over 45 rotating testimonials from these coaches and players under “Customer Testimonials”. It rotates through 5 of them at a time, then if you refresh the screen, then it’ll rotate through another 5).
The good news for the fastpitch softball hitting mechanics coach, is that credentials don’t mean a thing.
It’s outcomes.
Does your system consistently work?
Do you have a:
98-lb 11yo hitting the ball 300-feet, multiple times?
95-pounder hitting their first dinger over 270-feet? (this is actually the brother of the above hitter but 2 years younger)
115-lb 11yo not only hitting the ball 300-feet multiple times, but hitting over 40 homers in one season…to ALL fields?
66-lb 11yo hitting the ball over 180-feet? OR,
a 115-lb 13yo hitting the ball 330-feet?
The video below is of my hitter #1 above hitting his 300-foot monster shot. Please note, he was playing on a field in Manteca, CA that had 315-foot fences, so the ‘shot’ was a long double, not a homerun. Dad played baseball at Division-1 Chico State in the late-90’s, and shared the batted ball’s estimated distance, in the following text message to me:
“This is Orin hitting the farthest ball he’s ever hit. It landed a couple feet short of the warning track in Manteca, which is right around 300-feet away”.
If you aren’t achieving these types of outcomes with your hitters, then I fear that you should rethink the effectiveness of YOUR hitting system.
Grab This FREE 'Timing Master Class' Video
Struggling to get your hitters ON-TIME in games? Discover HOW TO build effective laser-focused timing, so your hitters can be ON-TIME more often. These principles are validated by REAL science.
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Now, before getting into the differences between fastpitch softball hitting mechanics and baseball…
It should be pointed out,
That I’ve spent 10+ years in the corrective fitness industry with too many certifications to count. I’m self taught and have a passionate curiosity for the science of human movement, by people such as:
Dr. Kelly Starrett,
Thomas Myers,
Ida Rolf,
Dr. Erik Dalton,
Dr. Serge Gracovetsky, and
Many others…
And it’s interesting to note, that I learned more about the swing from the aforementioned people, than in all 17 years of my baseball playing career, the last four of those playing at Division-1 Fresno State!!
The bottom line is this,
There are certain ‘rules’ to human movement that are validated by science. These “rules” don’t care if you’re male or female…black or white…7 yo or 24 yo…big or small.
THEY WORK FOR ALL HUMANS!!!
The ‘rules’ are like bumpers at a bowling alley. They’re guidelines to an effective swing. What happens inside the bumpers doesn’t matter, just as long as you work within them.
Now, on the differences between the two swings…
A friend of mine since High School, made this comment on a Facebook Post of mine:
“As a former baseball player and current fastpitch softball coach. I think hitting a softball at 43ft is harder than hitting a baseball from 60ft. I’m talking about straight fastballs too, special pitches would be difficult for anyone. My first year coaching softball I had a hard time hitting a pitch. Had to adjust everything I learned from my baseball swing and vision.”
I told him, if he grew up playing fastpitch softball and hitting from the closer distances, he’d be a much better fastpitch softball hitter today!
It’s about collecting data.
The main differences in the two swings are:
Reaction Time (or timing), and
Knee Action.
Reaction Time (or timing)
Getting back to the original reader email, two differences they mentioned:
“…the swing has to take the most direct path to the pitch”,
“…the pitch is generally released at 3 to 4 feet verse a baseball is released at roughly 7″…
Look, the first issue is about reaction time.
Fast-pitch softball hitting mechanics DO NOT call for ‘shorter swings’ than a baseball player. They have to start their swings sooner!
If we start teaching hitters to ‘swing down on the ball’, be ‘short to it’, or an A to B barrel path, then we set the hitter up for inconsistent productive outcomes.
Why inconsistent productive outcomes?
Because an A to B barrel path is ineffective when looking at it through the lens of validated science:
Centripetal v. Centrifugal Forces,
Transferring Linear into Angular Momentum, and
Inertial Forces changing directions.
Two priority hitting objectives, for ALL hitters, MUST be to:
Get the barrel on the plane of the pitch as early as possible, and
Keep the barrel on plane for as long as possible.
We coaches have to build a large margin for error into the swing, not shorten it.
WHY?
Because of a major dose of uncertainty, hitters don’t know what type of pitch is coming, its speed, or its location beforehand.
By the way, swings can still be compact without an A –> B barrel path. We MUST be teaching both hitters, more of an A –> B –> C path. My readers call the latter, the Nike Swoosh barrel path.
The second reader issue above has to do with the angle of the downward traveling pitch.
And YES, even a softball is traveling down by the time it reaches the hitter, thanks to Gravitational Forces and air density.
As soon as the ball leaves the pitcher’s hand (both fastpitch and baseball), the ball begins slowing down, rotating less, and ultimately falls towards the earth.
What is clear though, is the down angle of a fastpitch fastball isn’t quite as drastic as a baseball fastball. A fastpitch fastball just isn’t exposed to Gravitational Forces long enough.
Which is also to say, evidenced in the Sports Science video above, since there’s less distance for the softball to travel, it loses less energy than a baseball will. So that’s why we see Jennie Finch put a hurtin’ on that force plate!!
If you had the baseball pitcher throw from a distance of 43-foot, I think he’d crush the force plate as well. Just my thoughts…
So reaction time and the hitter’s barrel attack angle being different,
How does a fastpitch softball hitter manage her barrel attack angle differently than a baseball hitter?
With…
Knee Action
Lauren Chamberlain wide stance, but uses shifting foot pressure and HER KNEES to hit. Photo courtesy: YouTube user Paul Arebalo
In order to compensate for the slight difference in the downward angle of the pitched ball, a hitter should adjust the bending of their knees as follows…
Fastpitch hitter:
Front knee at landing should be bent between 160 and 170-degrees (at 180-degrees, the leg is straight) to optimize Ground Reaction Forces, build in margin for error on off-speed and breaking balls, while also not giving up too much on Time To Impact.
Back knee at impact should be bent between 105 and 115-degrees to get on path to the bottom half of the ball.
Baseball hitter:
Front knee at landing should be bent between 150 and 165-degrees for the same reasons above, but with more access to a longer Time To Impact,
Back knee at impact should be bent between 90 and 105-degrees to get on-path to the bottom half of the ball.
Grab This FREE 'Timing Master Class' Video
Struggling to get your hitters ON-TIME in games? Discover HOW TO build effective laser-focused timing, so your hitters can be ON-TIME more often. These principles are validated by REAL science.
Click the button below to access the FREE video that has been downloaded over 6K times!
– a highly recommended read by the way.
, and baseball quotes like this of his sum up his whole career.
