Hitting and Hitters Discussion Hitting fixes

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Marc if you have seen the 24 inch hammer Don uses on RVP it was made here in the garage as well as the first WhipHit that Coach B has on the market. The bigger hammer that was in USA TODAY with the Chinese player and Mike was also made here and is used by Greg Walker Chicago White Sox hitting instructor, Jim Leferveer, Bustos as did Don when he was with Detroit.

We use the WhipHit to demonstrate hand path by having the hitter hold the bat handle and then we hold the ball....we want to see where their hands are going ie over the plate or inside the path of the ball. We then show them they are stronger when they slot the back elbow away from the body verses too close. We are looking to see if they can feel being connected as our friend Elliott (ifibuiltit) says.

All of our kids use the WhipHit and our girls in China use it for BP as well when Coach wang was not around. We start them one handed then both hands and then soft toss.

For the hammer drill (we only use a ball peen hammer as the claw hammer catches in the hair) we mounted a softball on a wood stick or dowel rod with a metal washer in the middle of the ball so it will make an audible click when you hit it with the hammer and we have cut the outer third of the ball off as we want the hitter to focus on keeping the hands inside the plane of the pitch. SBFAMILY daughter was here when Mike was in town and we worked with his daughter and we cut a ball that she has attached to her bat bag as a reminder.

We have a saying see it, feel it and fix it....we try to put everything we do in measurable and observable terms that reasonsible people could agree upon and then how to test it....from the book Out of the Crisis by Dr. Deming.

Marc thanks for sending the cd's to the house...great interview with Mike.

Gerry please send Marc a picture of the new hand path device as he is a friend of Coach Bastain and would understand it.

 

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Hitter

Do you like th Whip-Hit??? Is that the ball on a cable on the handle of a baT???

 

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I hope this does not get off topic....whatever that may be now!! I see a lot of kids who have no idea what it means to be a "good two strike hitter". I see a lot of girls and boys still swinging for the fences w/ two strikes. Do you think the girls are too stubburn to just do what it takes to get on base. Nobody wants to choke up and shorten their swings to make contact. Do you think we as coaches overlook this aspect of the game. I think sometimes we get caught up in the building of "the super hitter", we forget about the small things that make this game great. I am curious to what everyone-else thinks!

Mike

Good question, we teach at a 2 strike count to go what to we call an attack mode or pre load , shorten everything up and put the ball in play, for years i heard on a 2 strike count to defend the plate and it never made sense to me, you have now Put the girl on the defensive, she is no longer aggressive shes swinging like shes trying not to miss, on that 2 strike count we want them aggressive and to go after somethnig that they feel is in their zone and attack it, another plus is it means alot less 3rd call strikes , the hitter isnt looking for that perfect pitch or froze in a defensive posture

Tim

 

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Hitter

Do you like th Whip-Hit??? Is that the ball on a cable on the handle of a baT???

http://thewhiphit.com/

Howard invented the Whip hit. It is used at all the clinic's for helping understand hand path.





Straightleg

 

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http://thewhiphit.com/

Howard invented the Whip hit. It is used at all the clinic's for helping understand hand path.





Straightleg

and good for controling unruley parents

 

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2 strike hitters go to college, strike out batters just go and keep going. If every kid batted the same, then teaching wouldn't be needed. We can watch every girl bat on the Olympic team and not one has the same swing or approach, but most commonly have the same meeting point to contact the ball. Front shoulder, back foot, back heel, level shoulders, elbow up, elbow down, knees bent, stutter step, rotate the hips, stiff front leg, front leg blows out, all arm swingers; there is a lot we can discuss, but each kid is different and you have to be able to correct a kids bad habits or strenthen them, so the bad habit is gone or becomes an asset. Eye hand coordination is the most important thing I know, but no one ever discusses it, we always jump to squish the bug or not, over rotation and all the other stuff. A kid could have the most beautiful swing, but if eye hand isn't any good then what is it, just a beautuiful useless swing!

 

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Whats everyones favorite training drills for hand eye coordination?

 

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I found a site that I make my dd go on, I don't know if it helps her or not. She like it though! Kind of fun!

http://sportseyesite.com/?affiliateID=40369

Mike

 

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kids bad habits or strenthen them, so the bad habit is gone or becomes an asset.

"Nuns and Monks have bad "Habits" kids have bad mechanics...."

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Religious_habit

Thanks Howard!!!

 

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2 strike hitters go to college, strike out batters just go and keep going. If every kid batted the same, then teaching wouldn't be needed. We can watch every girl bat on the Olympic team and not one has the same swing or approach, but most commonly have the same meeting point to contact the ball. Front shoulder, back foot, back heel, level shoulders, elbow up, elbow down, knees bent, stutter step, rotate the hips, stiff front leg, front leg blows out, all arm swingers; there is a lot we can discuss, but each kid is different and you have to be able to correct a kids bad habits or strenthen them, so the bad habit is gone or becomes an asset. Eye hand coordination is the most important thing I know, but no one ever discusses it, we always jump to squish the bug or not, over rotation and all the other stuff. A kid could have the most beautiful swing, but if eye hand isn't any good then what is it, just a beautuiful useless swing?

I would agree exactly how you get to toe touch may be vastly different from player X to Y and at toe touch most look somewhat similar.

The next concept is hands to the ball.

Turn the hip outward.

Stride verses no stride.

Stiff front leg verses flexed leg.

Front shoulder rotates open verses staying more closed or making a good first move.

Swing down on the ball.

Swing level to the ball or cast out over the plate.

Head up when at contact.

Head down when at contact

Hands inside the path of the ball.

Staying on the plane of the pitch or what is termed the Big Zone.

In my opinion you will see 95% of the former Team USA staying inside the plane of the pitch.

Can you expalin it well enough so that the hitter can understand it in measurable and observable terms that reasonable people could agree upon it and then how could we test to see it it worked better. The hitter must see it, feel it and fix it in our opinion.

If you have been to our clinic's you would know we explain how the eyes work and words like convergence, accommodation and how important it is when we set up in our stance as to having what we term a good two eyed look by using a square stance or 5 degree open or closed stance (as described from the Science of Hitting by TSW) to allow you to see the ball better without any tension in your neck or shoulder muscles.

We use Dr. Terry Brahills book Keep Your Eye on the Ball as a reference and Dr. Bill Harrison of Slow the Game Down.com of which I attended his vision clinic and use many of his concepts. Don Slaught introduced Dr. Bill as most people call him to me in 2004. One of his many insights to helping to keep the head in the zone a little longer is to glue a rag inside the tee so you can see it the rag after you hit the ball and looking through the net as if there is a pitcher through the net so you will track the ball by giving your head a head start and then using your eyes.

We show a clip of what the six extra ocular muscles are and what they do to help with accommodation or eye teaming. In our hand out we also list Burton Worell's ocular drills web site and go over the pencil drill and Crystl usually brings her Nintendo DS Flash Focus game.

We also do the timing drop drill and train using one hand drills with special weighted PVC sticks and an inside / outside drill.

So we are not speaking for anyone else in my opinion when we use these concepts at our clinic or in our instruction we teach.

If I did not answer your questions please feel free to PM me.

 

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Gerry I have the pictures of the hand path device and did a video and sent them to Elliott ( Ifibuiltit). Good Post Shayne. needed some humor on here! Len I will send you a picture of what I meant, I think you took it out of context. I think we can agree that Rotation starts with heel plant and the back elbow coming down into the slot position. If you have seen a kid with a gate swing, the hips are moving with the hands and it's real ugly.

Marc let me know if you want to see it. I think I posted some remarks on discussfastpitch.com about it.

 

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SB

Could you send the same information to Marc per Howards request.

I would also like to see your video.




Thanks
Gerry

 

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I would still like to know more about coach's that teach armslapping.

Slapping the front arm.


Just curious on what mechanics are achieved by this. There are a ton of girls who I see do this.


Is it a result of working on a drill?
Quicker swing?
Shorter swing?




Straightleg

 

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I have your e mail address. Need Marc's . He can PM me with the info. I did a short demo for Dana Eilliott. He couldn't understand the drawings we sent him. I showed Shayne how to use it.

 

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Chip I did not take it that way...I was trying to point out even though they had success before RVP they were still open minded and able to learn even more in my opinion. RVP allows you to capture the swings and compare MLB and Team USA swings and many NPF swings. They also have a teaching package for soft ball and base ball were they explain it.

They do an excellent job of why not to swing down or level on the ball and keeping the hands above the plane of the pitch. You have been to the same NFCA conventions I have....why is it so difficult (not you in particular) to see the logic of Don, Sue and Mikes approach especially with Teams USA, Bustos success as well as Canada and Australia. Yes Bustos use to squish the bug admits to it at the clinics so why discuss what does not work as well and focus on what could be done to improve? This is why Michael Bastian and I introduced the RVP concepts to the Chinese National Softball Team however they reverted back when Coach Wang took over and it went backwards again.

I believe Marc did an interview with Mike while in China by phone...welcome Marc.

I am repeating myself however many will look for the holy grail of hitting and so far I will take RVP for now as it was just updated again....in my opinion it works.

Howard
I have been to 8 NFCA national conventions and taken 8 NFCA, NFCC College Courses, I have heard some the very best college coaches and players speak as well as demonstrate. I have been fortunate enough to spend time with Major League baseball players as well as Major League hitting coaches. These are great opportunities I have been afforded and I have learned things that I never knew existed.

Just like you, I have tried to pass my knowledge on. Some people look at me like I have 3 eyes; I do not take it personal. Before I work with any player I ask if they are taking lessons and I totally respect that. I also tell them regardless of what I teach them, they should do what the coach asks them to do. As my good friend Darrin says, the coach determines who plays not the pitching or hitting instructors.

I have the greatest job ever; I get to coach young people. I am competitive so I get my competition fix when we play, some days are better than others and I have learned (finally) that losing is not the end of the world and winning does not make my world any brighter. Lessons are my favorite and I am blessed with awesome young players and parents who get it.

Anyway, we all feel pretty strongly about what we know and teach. We will never all agree on technique and that is a good thing, we do not need too many yes men/women around, we would stop learning.

 

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Good question, we teach at a 2 strike count to go what to we call an attack mode or pre load , shorten everything up and put the ball in play, for years i heard on a 2 strike count to defend the plate and it never made sense to me, you have now Put the girl on the defensive, she is no longer aggressive shes swinging like shes trying not to miss, on that 2 strike count we want them aggressive and to go after somethnig that they feel is in their zone and attack it, another plus is it means alot less 3rd call strikes , the hitter isnt looking for that perfect pitch or froze in a defensive posture

Tim

Tim
I have always found the "protect the plate" advice misleading. The batter has the bat, be aggressive. I have a different take on 2 strike hitting than you. I do not want hitters to change anything, that's why they practice hitting. I want them to open up the strike zone some, I hate called 3rd strikes. Babe Ruth held 2 world records simultaneously, home runs and strikeouts. Gotta take the good with the bad. I appreciate your philosophy and many use it very successfully.

 

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Chip the attack mode was actualy just a drill we used to work on form, and it evolved into what it is today, we were looking to find a way to reduce the 3rd call strikes, and believe it or not theres still alot at the elite travel level. that kind of blew my mind after seeing it week in and week out, so we wanted a key word to make things simple for the batter on 2 strikes so they diddnt just stand there like a maniquin, we tried it , had success with it , looked at one another in shocked belief and kept it. There is even a D1 college that is using it before a 2 strike count, and using it very succesfuly, so its one of those happy little accidents that just evolved,

 

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I know people are going to think I'm crazy for this, but that's ok!! Guitar Hero is a good game to work on hand-eye!! Was watching my dd play earlier, she was blowing my mind. When we first got this game she had a hard time on easy, now she can beat a song or two on hard. I can't do it!! Plus the bonus about this game it teaches them about REAL MUSIC!!! LOL

Mike

 

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Len I will send you a picture of what I meant, I think you took it out of context. I think we can agree that Rotation starts with heel plant and the back elbow coming down into the slot position. If you have seen a kid with a gate swing, the hips are moving with the hands and it's real ugly.

Hi SB

I actually believe hip rotation should start right after toe touch. I believe the planting of the heel comes from the combination of linear weight shift and hip rotation. If people think differently that's okay with me, but if one closely watches videos of a great hitter like Crystl Bustos they will see that the hip rotation does indeed start after toe touch and before heel plant.

Len

 

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I would still like to know more about coach's that teach armslapping.

Slapping the front arm.


Just curious on what mechanics are achieved by this. There are a ton of girls who I see do this.


Is it a result of working on a drill?
Quicker swing?
Shorter swing?




Straightleg

I never understood this batting style. These types of batters are basically using nothing more than rolling wrists when hitting the ball. Everything else they have done in their swing prior to contact (load, linear movement) come to a screeching halt just so they can finish their swing with their wrists. This style usually has little to zero hip rotation. The coaches or instructors who teach this type of swing might think it is a quicker and shorter swing but in reality it normally produces a weak hit ball...if they hit it. Most good slappers do not even use this style of swing because it gets them on and off the plane of the pitch too quickly.


Len