Hitting and Hitters Discussion Hips leading your Hitting

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Like in this video, if you get your hips to lead in your swing while your hands are back you WILL be a more powerfull hitter.


Straightleg

 

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I have a feeling Howard is going to disagree with you on this one....

 

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Hehehe, Crush, we all might want to make sure that the popcorn is in good supply.

 

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Probably the only hit all year.

 

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Probably the only hit all year.

Are you kidding? You know this is Megan Langenfeld from UCLA. Hit something like 512, 20 home runs and was walked around 43 times... oh by the way...her team won the NCAA world series last May.

 

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I have a feeling Howard is going to disagree with you on this one....

I bet Hitter will not disagree. Anyone that knows anything about hitting will tell you that power comes from the core, and the hips are the central focal point of the core. If you release the hips too late then power diminishes.

Ted Williams called it "cocking the hip", or hip-cock. After the front leg positive move (read toe touch) and the negative move of the load, the next move should be the start of hip rotation. I believe hip rotation should start after toe touch, Hitter believes it should occur after heal plant, but in either case the hips should start to rotate (also reffered to as freeing the hips) before any forward movement of the hands. Straightleg is absolutely correct.

Maybe you misinterperated what Straightleg meant?

Len

 

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Hehehe, Crush, we all might want to make sure that the popcorn is in good supply.

I don't think popcorn will be necessary. This should be over fairly quickly. The releasing of the hips (hip rotation) is what actually starts the hands moving forward.

Len

 

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"Connection" - The point where the back elbow and hand aligns with the stripe on the pants. Looks like a pretty textbook example.

 

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I bet Hitter will not disagree. Anyone that knows anything about hitting will tell you that power comes from the core, and the hips are the central focal point of the core. If you release the hips too late then power diminishes.

Ted Williams called it "cocking the hip", or hip-cock. After the front leg positive move (read toe touch) and the negative move of the load, the next move should be the start of hip rotation. I believe hip rotation should start after toe touch, Hitter believes it should occur after heal plant, but in either case the hips should start to rotate (also reffered to as freeing the hips) before any forward movement of the hands. Straightleg is absolutely correct.

Maybe you misinterperated what Straightleg meant?

Len

I'm with Len on this one, the hips have to start their rotation before the hands come through. Your core gives you the power.

 

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The back elbow needs to move prior to the hip rotating or you will lose power. At the Last clinic I worked with CrysTl and Howard she gives a demonstration on how if the hips open early, before elbow comes through, there is a significant loss of strength. So I would say it is misleading to say that the hips Lead the swing. Look at her back elbow and how it stays connected with her back hip as it comes through. ( The elbow is actually just a little late at first but cacthes up very quickly) The hips are not leading this swing, they are connected with her elbow.



Now enter the deBate of Rotational vs. linear begins.

Langenfield did hit very well last season, but you can see in this swing that she does not move at all linear? How much farther would she hit the ball if she drove off the back leg??? That is what we get kids to feel at our clinincs!!

 

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The back elbow needs to move prior to the hip rotating or you will lose power. At the Last clinic I worked with CrysTl and Howard she gives a demonstration on how if the hips open early, before elbow comes through, there is a significant loss of strength. So I would say it is misleading to say that the hips Lead the swing. Look at her back elbow and how it stays connected with her back hip as it comes through. ( The elbow is actually just a little late at first but cacthes up very quickly) The hips are not leading this swing, they are connected with her elbow.



Now enter the deBate of Rotational vs. linear begins.

Langenfield did hit very well last season, but you can see in this swing that she does not move at all linear? How much farther would she hit the ball if she drove off the back leg??? That is what we get kids to feel at our clinincs!!

Maybe a better question is how much farther does she need to hit it. Is her average and slugging percentage not high enough? I believe there is more than one way to generate energy. I have seen this clip from an earlier point in time and she is generating plenty of energy. I would prefer to congratulate her on a swing that worked wonderful for her with her hips leading swing and she appears to me to have textbook connection.

 

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Like in this video, if you get your hips to lead in your swing while your hands are back you WILL be a more powerfull hitter.


Straightleg

Highly recommended for the player that is 100% correct on judging timing every time. So,,,, maybe 15 players around the country total. If you are in that ELITE skill level like player in picture, I agree 1000 percent. lol

 

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.527 average, 1.085 slugging pct. and 20 HR's while missing 11 of her team's games. I always get a chuckle out of the people who think there is only one way to do things ... hitting, pitching, shoot a basketball, take your pick! Maybe her parents were scorekeepers and the stats are inflated!

 

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I do think that the connection over the back hip looks good in the video and I had actually drafted something to that effect last night, but then I realized that I was too tired to put the words together for an argument that the connection over the back hip can occur in a particular swing mechanics but that people can still argue whether the player (especially a young female player) should be coached to do the fairly extreme and early rotation of the front hip that Lagenfeld takes in the video. How long will it take the younger player/student to learn how to hit anything but dead pull? How easy will it be for that younger player to keep the front elbow moving slightly up instead of flying both the front elbow and shoulder and, in many cases, the head? Lagenfield does an excellent job of keeping her head down on the pitch and the elbow moving slightly up, and she probably has great ability to go up the middle or to the opposite field, but for players who are just developing their stroke, I'm not at all sure that the fairly extreme rotation of the front hip so early in the swing is a good approach. I'll actually be interested in what Howard has to say about these things and about what, if anything, that early rotation of the front hip does to a young lady's ACL.

I'm certainly not contesting that the power of a swing comes from the core or that the hands should not cast forward of that core movement. I've been encouraging our players to do Marc Dagenais's softball-specific core exercises for a couple of years now. But I think you can tap that core power and the pull of the knob inside the ball's path with a strong linear first step and an elvis shifting of the hips as well as with the fairly extreme initial rotation in the video. And I think it's easier for a player to initially adopt a style that allows the player to hit up the middle (that is, a style that incorporates a strong linear first movement of the lower half).

I never played fastpitch. I certainly wouldn't change a thing about Lagenfeld's swing given her success. I just wanted to make sure that I had enough popcorn to read about the posts that I was sure would follow Crush1's comment. I'll be following the coming posts with interest and an open mind.

 

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Ah while I was laboring over my post I didn't realize all those other interesting things got posted. See I told you we could use some popcorn!

 

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2 Cents:

It is my understanding that the back elbow leads the back hip slightly as the hitter goes into connection. Crystl did a demonstration with me for my team where she had my back elbow behind my hip at connection. She placed one hand on the knob of my bat and told me to push as hard as I could. I am 6'3" and 290 lbs (depending on what truck scale I use) and I could not budge the bat 1". Believe me, I was trying to push as hard as I could. I then switched positions to my back elbow leading my back hip and repeated the effort and shoved her back 3'.

I believe that every hitter should practice to be 100% perfect in her swing. That is why Crystl and other reputable hitting instructors emphasize tee work and soft toss to be the mainstay of any hitting regimen. Balance and putting yourself in powerful positions throughout your swing are what will cause a hitter to be as successful as that player's abilities will allow. If a player practices to be perfect and falls a little short on game day, she will come closer to reaching her full potential than a player that just assumes that her swing is "good enough" This will apply to all disciplines of our sport, to all sports, and to life in general. JMHO

 

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Please don't mistake my post for any sign of disrespect for those who know far more than me about the skills of the game. The thing that I think is important for everyone to realize is that philosophies are constantly changing, and that those who offer lessons each have their own. There are certainly some techniques and generalities we all can learn from, but the point is that there is "more than one way to skin a cat" (sorry for the old-time, probably politically incorrect metaphor!). The one I always get a kick of is the periodic debates on here about the Hillhouse method of pitching. My daughter was a student of Bill's and I think that he helped her a lot, but for someone to conclude that all pitchers would be better off finishing to the opposite shoulder is just plain wrong. For anyone on here to suggest that Langenfeld is doing things incorrectly or could have done better if she had done such and such, just isn't going to gain any credibility with me ... just as I also would not conclude that everyone needs to hit the same way as her to be successful. My popcorn is popped ... let's hear what the experts have to say now ...

 

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I agree totally with coachjwb - some girls hit different than others. It is what works for that individual. It could be based on body type, hand quickness, etc. They aren't all the same. Use what works!

 

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Hey cgs, I always respect your thoughts. What kind of popcorn are you eating. I really like the cheddar cheese.

Something else for everyone to ponder is how much did Megan's style contribute to great vision and was that not partially responsible for her great hitting. Notice the relationship of the top of her helmet and the fence. There is not much up and down head movement. I have found that many players, whatever technique a hitter uses to obtain energy need a steady camera and lens in order to have great vision. Some lose the vision and you can see their head go up and down. Some can handle this and others cannot. There are trade offs for choices in my opinion.

 

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I agree totally with coachjwb - some girls hit different than others. It is what works for that individual. It could be based on body type, hand quickness, etc. They aren't all the same. Use what works!

I guess all MLB teams should fire their in house hitting instructors. They are at the top of the world in their game, and therefore should not need to "perfect" their swings any further because they cannot do any better. What will some so-called expert be able to offer a hitter like Pujols? They should just do whatever works.