Jack Jenkins
Moderator
Absolute #5: Take a straight line to and through the ball.
This should be considered the real "end" of the swing. I teach a "kill zone" just in front of the front leg where a hitter tries to get to at contact to hit with maximum force. This will not always be exactly where you make contact, and it is a pitchers job to keep you off balance with different speeds. Being sure the "end of your swing" is extension straight through the ball will allow the hitter to have a longer zone that the bat travels and hit the ball more often.
I have two orange stripes about four feet long, set at the width of the plate out in front of home plate going toward the pitcher. I call this the "hitting lane". This lane needs to be where the hitter keeps their focus (and bat) both at contact and through to extension. Your bat should stay in the lane as long as possible giving the hitter a long straight line through the ball. This is what I call the "hitting process": 1)See the ball into the kill zone (with both eyes) 2) Get maximum force to contact 3) Stay to and through the ball to extension. What happens next is follow through and quite frankly has little to do with hitting. I don't emphasize follow through, or how it should look, I emphasize extension. If a hitter gets good extension at the end of their swing, they will typically have the kind of follow through we like to see which is up over the back shoulder. Hitters that finish at or below their shoulder typically have little or no extension.
This is critical to teach because a bat that is delivered from contact directly to follow-through will result in those flares to right field (or infield) or foul territory on a righty and just the opposite on a lefty. You will also see many weak ground balls and balls off of the end of the bat or misses completely. The bat needs to stay in a straight line and in the hitting lane every time to extension.
So is this rotational, linear or both? I don't care! In the hundreds of hours of video and live swings I have watched it is a little of both, but most importantly does not and should not be given a label or title. It is hitting with maximum force. The starting of the swing with the lower half generates the torque and the bat path through the ball keeps the bat in the hitting lane longer and produces high batting averages. I call it a good swing.
For the young hitter it is important to focus on the Absolutes without overwhelming them with too many other details. In the midst of learning to hit you will always see something that needs improved, fight the urge to cover every detail. Let them experience success, then build toward perfection.
With a newer young hitter we will move to the Tee and swing away to extension, with a goal of having the bat head toward the pitcher, in the hitting lane with arms locked out. Using the "process" keeps it simple and keeps the focus on the keys to hitting the ball hard and consistently: See the ball into the kill zone, get maximum force to contact and stay through the ball to extension.
We do these drills every lesson emphasizing both maximum force at contact and getting extension by stopping at both points (contact then extension)over and over along with swinging all the way through. Hitting a ball that is thrown at you is a REACTION. Hitting a golf ball as an example is an ACTION. So fastpitch hitters are REACTING to a ball being thrown at them. You need to rehearse your reaction so you are REACTING correctly. A rehearsed reaction is what makes elite hitters elite hitters and not elite swingers.
Rehearse it over and over and rehearse reacting to all parts of the strike zone and beyond. Take control of that umpire that calls them low and away by practicing hitting them in your garage low and away.
Keep working toward perfection!
Coach Jack Jenkins
This should be considered the real "end" of the swing. I teach a "kill zone" just in front of the front leg where a hitter tries to get to at contact to hit with maximum force. This will not always be exactly where you make contact, and it is a pitchers job to keep you off balance with different speeds. Being sure the "end of your swing" is extension straight through the ball will allow the hitter to have a longer zone that the bat travels and hit the ball more often.
I have two orange stripes about four feet long, set at the width of the plate out in front of home plate going toward the pitcher. I call this the "hitting lane". This lane needs to be where the hitter keeps their focus (and bat) both at contact and through to extension. Your bat should stay in the lane as long as possible giving the hitter a long straight line through the ball. This is what I call the "hitting process": 1)See the ball into the kill zone (with both eyes) 2) Get maximum force to contact 3) Stay to and through the ball to extension. What happens next is follow through and quite frankly has little to do with hitting. I don't emphasize follow through, or how it should look, I emphasize extension. If a hitter gets good extension at the end of their swing, they will typically have the kind of follow through we like to see which is up over the back shoulder. Hitters that finish at or below their shoulder typically have little or no extension.
This is critical to teach because a bat that is delivered from contact directly to follow-through will result in those flares to right field (or infield) or foul territory on a righty and just the opposite on a lefty. You will also see many weak ground balls and balls off of the end of the bat or misses completely. The bat needs to stay in a straight line and in the hitting lane every time to extension.
So is this rotational, linear or both? I don't care! In the hundreds of hours of video and live swings I have watched it is a little of both, but most importantly does not and should not be given a label or title. It is hitting with maximum force. The starting of the swing with the lower half generates the torque and the bat path through the ball keeps the bat in the hitting lane longer and produces high batting averages. I call it a good swing.
For the young hitter it is important to focus on the Absolutes without overwhelming them with too many other details. In the midst of learning to hit you will always see something that needs improved, fight the urge to cover every detail. Let them experience success, then build toward perfection.
With a newer young hitter we will move to the Tee and swing away to extension, with a goal of having the bat head toward the pitcher, in the hitting lane with arms locked out. Using the "process" keeps it simple and keeps the focus on the keys to hitting the ball hard and consistently: See the ball into the kill zone, get maximum force to contact and stay through the ball to extension.
We do these drills every lesson emphasizing both maximum force at contact and getting extension by stopping at both points (contact then extension)over and over along with swinging all the way through. Hitting a ball that is thrown at you is a REACTION. Hitting a golf ball as an example is an ACTION. So fastpitch hitters are REACTING to a ball being thrown at them. You need to rehearse your reaction so you are REACTING correctly. A rehearsed reaction is what makes elite hitters elite hitters and not elite swingers.
Rehearse it over and over and rehearse reacting to all parts of the strike zone and beyond. Take control of that umpire that calls them low and away by practicing hitting them in your garage low and away.
Keep working toward perfection!
Coach Jack Jenkins
