Hitting Opinions and Absolutes

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Attitude.......coming from a football back ground, i think the movie Marshall said it best....Mobile, hostile , agile, do not go to the plate swinging the bat like your trying not to miss, Own the plate and the pitcher, be her worst nightmare, Howard teaches dancing with the pitcher, I personaly like to take it one step further and call it messing with the pitcher, get in her head. Every pitcher has a weakness, be it mental or physical, become a student of the game and exploit her weaknesses, granted this is for an older player, but it never hurts in my opinion to plant the seed of becoming an aggressive hitter when they are younger. The players can be ladies off the field, when you cross the chalk, nothing else matters, that is what will get a young lady noticed when its time for her to graduate and move to the higher level of college ball

I am a big "We are Marshall" fan...took my whole team to see it after my brother in-law came in from Huntington to take me and my whole family to see it the week it was released. He is heavily involved with Marshall and was part of the movie making process. I would recommend evey coach take their team to see this movie to bond. It goes a long way in showing what can be achieved through perserverence after adversity! I love the scene right before the plane crashes when the coach talks about "winning is everything".

Sonny

 

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It looks like we're all in agreement when it comes to attitude. In a nutshell, we all seem to believe that if a batter is aprehensive at the plate, that batter's chances of sucess are minimal.

Earlier in this thread Mstbozz (Mike) queried about the position of the head. Hitter and maybe a few others touched on it a bit. What about the eyes? Should the eyes remain parallel to the ground at all times or should they stay true to the batter's trunk? I think we agree that the batter should see the pitcher with both eyes. I personally believe the eyes should not stay parallel to the ground throughout the entire swing. I'm all about head turn but not a fan of head tilt (side to side). I believe the eyes should stay true to the trunk of the body, not true to the ground. I also believe the chin should be neutral at stance and slightly tucked during the swing starting at toe-touch/load.

Len

 

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I look at the eye brows and see if they are level. So I agree above. Only time they might not be level would be at contact when the head is down and they keep the head down thru extension. With young kids they have a habit of pulling out and trying to see where they hit the ball. Taking away the power of the swing. Watching some MLB players they do have somewhat of a tilt at contact.

 

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As we described before the stance sets up how we will see the ball and by doing this in front of a mirror the hitter sees it, feels it and hopefully fixes it.

Prior to the pocket laser pointers there was a pointer you carried in your pocket that looked liked an ink pen. We took a construction helmet liner and put a bracket on the front of it and a clip on the pointer and a small soft ball on the end of the pointer. We put the helmet liner on the hitter and ask them to see if they can see them self in the mirror. Usually they say yes! Now I extend out the pointer and what they see is their nose is pointing towards the second baseman's playing position as a right handed hitter and the pointer is making the point the head is not turned far enough to the left. They also feel the tension in the eye socket.

When they try to turn their head farther they feel uncomfortable so we move their right foot 5 to 10 degrees which amounts to 2 to 4 inches towards home plate and they feel better and see the ball better.

What I have seen over the years are kids who track the ball by just moving their eyes; kids who try to just turn their head and then those who learn to give their head a head start and use their eyes or a combination eye and head movement and those are the better hitters in my opinion.

Ideally you want to track the ball off the fovea of the eye or center of the eye. From Keep Your Eye on the Ball,"This subject tracked the ball well (less than 2 degrees error) until the ball was 9 ft. in front of the plate, then he fell behind. When the ball was 2 ft. in front of the plate, the image of the ball was 34 degrees off his fovea. To see what it means for an object to be 34 degrees off your fovea, hold a 1 ft. ruler at arms length. If you look at the left end, the right end will be about 34 degrees off your fovea. While looking at the left end, you will not be able to read the numbers on the right end. The ball covered the distance between 9 ft. and 2 ft. in front of the plate in 67 milliseconds (ms) for an angular velocity of more than 500 degrees per second-much too fast for humans to track."

Brian Harper a professional ballplayer, "He tracked the ball using head and eye movements, keeping his eye on the ball longer than our other subjects did. He was able to keep his position error below 2 degrees until the ball was 5.5 ft. from the plate, at which point he began to fall behind. When the ball was 2 ft. in front of the plate the image of the ball was already 16 degrees off his fovea and was going 1,100 degrees per second. Thus, he was no longer tracking the ball."

TSW could read a record label on a 33 1/3 LP and a 45 however he could not track the 78. Most humans have difficulty doing this much above 48 to 54 rpm

There are devices you can hang onto the wall that you can adjust the rpm on for eye training. Google Burton Worrell for his vision drills as this is what we encourage all of our kids to do that I work with and at our clinics.

Instead of using a ruler I cut off the handle of a wooden bat and put a drill rod on it and drilled a hole in the ball and put 6 numbers on the ball. They hold the wooden bat handle and look straight ahead and can not read the numbers on the ball (12 inches) away. I then have them keep their eyes looking forward and turn their nose to the ball so they feel the strain they put on the eyes in the eye socket and then repeat leaving the nose forward and turn the eyes to the ball to feel that tension and then turn the eyes and the head towards the ball and give the head a head start and track with their eyes to give them a concept of what we are talking about and try to get them to feel while in the batters box.

We keep the head slightly down as if we are tracking the ball as we are stronger with our head down as we engage the intrinsic muscle group because our head is below the horizon. I agree to much tilting of the head makes for a bad picture of an incoming pitch.

Don Drysdale of the Los Angeles Dodgers was once quoted as saying, "The pitcher has to find out if the hitter is timid. And if the hitter is timid, the pitcher has to remind the hitter that he's timid."

If you do not have a good two eyed look how timid would you be if you could not see the ball until you got hit?

 

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Howard

Could you give me information on choking up on the bat.

What your thoughts are on this, and how do I show a student why this would be a negative.


Thanks
Gerry

 

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Have any of you coaches ever used a strobe light to teach hitting mechanics and head/ eye positioning?

We have used it for years especially when it it comes to the positioning of the head at contact while doing soft toss from the side. While the hitter looks forward at a red light and then loads, as they see my hand move down out of their peripheral vision they load and when I release the ball up they go to toe touch and they are tracking the ball with head and eye movements.

We have noticed over the years when the hitter misses they are usually over the ball or late. As they get better you can actually see the bat getting closer to the ball as they make adjustments.

It is mounted directly over the players head and set at about a medium pulse...not fast and not at its slowest speed.

We ask the parents and players if they have ever had seizures as the strobe lights have been linked to causing seizures in some people.

The first time I worked Crystl doing this she saw the flaw in her head positioning and lead arm elbow direction and it was the first time she had ever used this as a teaching tool.

 

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The knob of the bat is actually a type of locking device when the bat is held at the end and not choked up on. Just demonstrate it to yourself by holding the bat at the end and see if you have more control of the bat end tversus then choking up on it. I think you will find the knob will "lock" into the bottom of the hand and not allow the end of the bat as much freedom. I know Hitter will explain it better than I but that is what I have seen. I also thinks holding the bat at the end also allows a looser grip with the top hands so the player is more relaxed and not squezing the handle to death. Also allows the top hand to have the three fingered grip for knuckle alingment and whip during the swing.

 

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Howard

Could you give me information on choking up on the bat.

What your thoughts are on this, and how do I show a student why this would be a negative.


Thanks
Gerry

I only use it on two strike hitting...choke up a little and move in on the plate a little. TSW termed using more of a push swing and getting the ball into play using this technique when you have two strikes.

I have found out a player that chokes up usually and I preface usually is not a power hitter for two reasons. One is that by choking up the knob of the bat is not touching the bottom edge of the bottom hand binding it up. We demonstrate this by having the hitter choke up one inch and come to the contact zone and stop...then I gently push back on the bat and they try to resist from letting me push the bat backwards. Then they hold the bat at the knob and we repeat and they can feel the difference so we get them to feel they can deliver more power through increased leverage.

Reason two is usually the bat is too heavy for the hitter and what is funny it is usually a Rocket Tech or end loaded bat which is why they are choking up to begin with.

You and Dan were at the WSU clinic and All the girls that had RT's were choking up on their bats and most did not get to extension and had excessive bat drag from top hand torque. The knob on the RT's are smaller and fit inside the hand better and that feature is lost when they choke up. Another thing we see is the plastic cap and foam cups that hitters put on their bats to keep from wearing out the batting gloves or making their hands sore or stopping the sting from hitting off the end of the bat.

We encourage them to throw them away or give it to the oppsoing team as a friendship gift....and hope they use it right away!

 

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Has anyone had experience withe the SOLO HITTING MACHINES? Thought they looked interesting, just wondering if they are worth the money?

Mike

 

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Lady Knight and I ran into those on Sunday as well. It was almost always a Rocket Tech and a kid that was 12 to 14 years old. None had good swings and you just wonder why in the world they were using RT? I had to explain to a few dads the actually weight of a Rocket Tech and none new that they weighed more than posted.

 

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Barry Bonds choked up on the bat, he did ok.

 

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Barry Bonds choked up on the bat, he did ok.

I have found out a player that chokes up usually and I preface usually is not a power hitter for two reasons. One is that by choking up the knob of the bat is not touching the bottom edge of the bottom hand binding it up. We demonstrate this by having the hitter choke up one inch and come to the contact zone and stop...then I gently push back on the bat and they try to resist from letting me push the bat backwards. Then they hold the bat at the knob and we repeat and they can feel the difference so we get them to feel they can deliver more power through increased leverage.

You know what I am saying Chip that is why I said, "I have found out a player that chokes up usually and I preface usually is not a power hitter for two reasons."

Bustos does not choke up and she does pretty well also...different strokes for different folks however in general would you teach all your hitters to choke up?

 

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I think he did okay after he found the juice or the clear before that he was not a power hitter LMAO !!!!!!

 

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Here is a test we do in the batting cage with our bunters. Allow the ball to come into contact with the bat over the plate.
1. Chocked up
2. Not chocked up.
Then I allow my students to explain the feel they get. For a bunter chocking up is good in that it allows the ball to come off the bat dead. Slappers can do the same thing by moving the hands in different positions. I was at a small ball camp at a Divn 1 school and they used the different hand positions to show how it effects the strength in the grip.

 

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I think he did okay after he found the juice or the clear before that he was not a power hitter LMAO !!!!!!

yes, the problem is that plenty of other players in this era are doing the same and not as successful. Like him or hate him he could hit and hitting does not come in prescription form

 

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No doubt was not arguing with anyone just cracking myself up and thought I would share !!!! All the stuff he took did not create his ability to hit the ball just how far it went after he did.

 

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I have found out a player that chokes up usually and I preface usually is not a power hitter for two reasons. One is that by choking up the knob of the bat is not touching the bottom edge of the bottom hand binding it up. We demonstrate this by having the hitter choke up one inch and come to the contact zone and stop...then I gently push back on the bat and they try to resist from letting me push the bat backwards. Then they hold the bat at the knob and we repeat and they can feel the difference so we get them to feel they can deliver more power through increased leverage.

You know what I am saying Chip that is why I said, "I have found out a player that chokes up usually and I preface usually is not a power hitter for two reasons."

Bustos does not choke up and she does pretty well also...different strokes for different folks however in general would you teach all your hitters to choke up?

In general no, I certainly am not bothered by a hitter who chooses to choke up either. I have had a few over the years that choked up and they were not receptive to changing, they did not like it. The reality is that not everyone is going to have perfect mechanics, whatever the definition of perfect mechanics is. I have seen hitters do many things wrong and punish the ball, time after time and I have seen what appeared to be solid fundamentally sound hitters not have any prolonged success.

I once heard the greatest hitter of all time say either you can hit or you can't, there is some truth to that.

 

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No doubt was not arguing with anyone just cracking myself up and thought I would share !!!! All the stuff he took did not create his ability to hit the ball just how far it went after he did.

It did make his head bigger and a hat size of 8, he got big headed in every sense of the word.

 

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Choking up on the bat changes the perceived balance point of the bat, the perceived swing weight of the bat, and the angular momentum the batter can achieve with the bat. I say perceived because the actual balance point and swing weight of the bat didn't change, the batter makes the bat swing coverage shorter by choking up on the handle, causing the true characteristics of the bat to not be fully achieved. That's why I'm not a fan of choking up on the bat with two strikes and not changing my swing for that matter. I want the swing and the feeling of the swing to be fairly constant. I believe purposely causing variables in the swing defeats the purpose of obtaining a good, strong, reliable, and correct swing. My opinion is that if we are going to choke up on the bat and shorten our swing to "hunker down and really try to make contact and get on base", then why not swing like that all the time? I just don't get it and that is why I do not believe in it. Just my opinion...YOMV.

Len

 

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For laughs. Goggle Barry Bonds and they have all kind of pictures of him over the years. Then look at his head as he ages. Never heard of the head growing, but man did it!
If someone wanted to give us all a laugh they could post 5 pictures of Bond at different times. He was using something to make his head grow and it wasn't those adds we watch at night on TV, that we have to explain to our young kids!!!