Hitting Opinions and Absolutes

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I know we all agree more than we will admit
alot of it is teminology.
If you have a daughter that pitches like I do you hear line of force more than linear but it is the same thing
I compare it to running I think we all teach keep our elbows in and tell the girls cheek to cheek, dont swing your arms and fight against your body
same as a swing dont fight against the the big zone by rotating to soon

EVEN though there is rotation toward the end of the swing or the bat head would never get out in front of the plate
either the hips rotate or the wrist snap or hopefully both happens or we would just end up stepping at the pitcher
I am not very good at the typing sorry if there is confusion

 

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Something I have been watching video clips on and reading about the last few days , is hip torque a natural part of the rotation. At hitting paratice tonight i filmed my dd in a before and after to see if concentrating on her hip torque would increase bat speed, not realy surprising it did, the surprising thing is the difference she felt in her bat speed. her being a lefty once the back elbow is in the slot she made a mental effort to realy tourque her left hip,,,, i was amazed that even without a bat speed indicator you could see and she could feel the difference. So my question to you who are more advanced at hitting instruction is, have you ever tried this and if so were your findings as positive, thanks in advance

Tim

 

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Hey Tim

Was she paying close attention to tourqing the left hip or the left glut?

Babe Ruth would torque so hard sometimes that his back foot would come even and sometimes surpass his plant foot. It's very powerful to do so but can be hard to keep the entire body in correct hitting posture. I'm not trying to talk you from not doing this. Just make sure her entire swing remains under control.

In the day we called it "ripping the hips through". When I played I naturally did this on an inside pitch.

Len

 

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Something I have been watching video clips on and reading about the last few days , is hip torque a natural part of the rotation. At hitting paratice tonight i filmed my dd in a before and after to see if concentrating on her hip torque would increase bat speed, not realy surprising it did, the surprising thing is the difference she felt in her bat speed. her being a lefty once the back elbow is in the slot she made a mental effort to realy tourque her left hip,,,, i was amazed that even without a bat speed indicator you could see and she could feel the difference. So my question to you who are more advanced at hitting instruction is, have you ever tried this and if so were your findings as positive, thanks in advance

Tim

Tim what I have seen over the years, the more weight that is shifted into the inside of the back leg at toe touch allowing the hips to continue forward the more power we generate as connection begins.

This is also why from the attack mode if you have to make any additional moves; separating the hands rearward more, turning the shoulders in more, shifting the hips back more, raising the hands lowering the hands or re planting to toe touch you probably were not in an efficient position at toe touch to begin with in my opinion.

As connection begins to happen the lowering of the elbow and the hands passing in front of the back shoulder, if the hand and elbow are stacked pretty much directly over the top of each other or what we term staying strong on the back side you will absolutely generate more rotation in the hips. Have the hitter get into their stance and try to push their back hand forward without the elbow coming down first and then repeat as the elbow goes into the slot and you should feel the hip torque and see it the hip try to move. When the hands are getting ahead of the elbow we usually see the hard grounder line drive and when the elbow stays with the hand we usually see the hands stay above the plane of the pitch especially if you made a good first move with the lead arm elbow and the hitter is thinking pulling the bat and whipping it.

You are correct you can hear it and we can measure the difference in bat speed. If working off the tee you should see the ball in the zone and if in a cage it should be in the upper top of the cage or back of the cage. Look for the elbow to be lined up with the seam of the pants and the elbow and hand somewhat lined up or stacked over each other. Film her from the third base dugout to get a real good shot of it. When done really well you will see the back foot actually skip forward or be off the ground completely.

 

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Hey Tim

Was she paying close attention to tourqing the left hip or the left glut?

Babe Ruth would torque so hard sometimes that his back foot would come even and sometimes surpass his plant foot. It's very powerful to do so but can be hard to keep the entire body in correct hitting posture. I'm not trying to talk you from not doing this. Just make sure her entire swing remains under control.

In the day we called it "ripping the hips through". When I played I naturally did this on an inside pitch.

Len

Len have you ever visited this site? http://www.hittingisaguess.com/Perry_vlog.html

Great footage on Babe Ruth...

 

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Len have you ever visited this site? http://www.hittingisaguess.com/Perry_vlog.html

Great footage on Babe Ruth...

Yup! great site. Chip turned me on to that site.

Len

 

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Chip I will give it a try however Adair explains what happens in his Physics of Baseball book and this is on line....http://www.thefreelibrary.com/McGwire+at+bat-a021196063

My take on it is we are linear or on our line of force if we are striding straight ahead or what some term as translatory. Our hands are moving somewhat linear inside the path of the ball and then somewhere around or near toe touch our linear phase is completing and we begin to plant the heel and rotational forces are starting and this rotary or angular motion starts to occur shoulders, torso etc. turning or rotating.

Much of the linear and rotational controversy is tied to Lau and Williams in my opinion and that is all I have to say about that as that could be a thread by itself.

However Epstein demonstrates this by swinging a ball on a string and says that is rotational...period. In my opinion you can hold the string and throw the ball and when it gets to the end of the rope depending on the angle you throw the ball it will become angular and pivot or become rotational.

Angular movement is rotational movement and the stride is linear or translatory and the pivot point of the swing which is said to be about 6 inches below the knob of the bat is a moving axis in my opinion until you decide to swing the bat and the bat takes a right angle to your release of where your shoulder elbow and wrist unhinge or release the bat based on the flight of the ball.

Bottom line is I see it as linear and then becoming more rotational or what I think is semi circular or elliptical and not totally rotational.

The step stop, kick the hip out and throw the hands at the ball hitters may think that is purely rotational in my opinion.

The first person I heard use the term and explain trans-rotational hitting was Bastian.

 

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I like the handle of the bat to be between the palm pads and the first knuckle at the end of the fingers....basically that means the bat handle should be in curled fingers.

I bought the turbo slot bloves for my team the last few years with the pads between the thumb and index finger.
It takes a while to break them in but the kids see how it helps keep the bat away from the weak part of the hand and they love them.

 

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I've heard about those gloves but have never used nor even seen a pair. I need to look those up and check them out.

Len

 

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Crystl used to have an endorsed line of these gloves, but those are unavailable now. You can still get the Turboslots online, but we've got our last two pairs from our local MC Sports.

http://www.turboslot.com/home.aspx

Check out the demo on the website. Did a demo of this with Bustos a couple of years ago and it works.

 

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I've heard about those gloves but have never used nor even seen a pair. I need to look those up and check them out.

Len

CB endorsed the gloves and had a contract with them until they sold out to Easton and now she is with Wilson.

Most rest the bat on the pad verses pinching the thumb to the index finger and that is where we had the greatest success using them in my opinion.

Despite who now owns them it is a good product.

We also like the Edge Weighted Batting gloves.

 

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Len it takes a while for the kids to get used to them but after they see how much support they give the weak part of the hand my girls would not use anything

 

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My dd has used turbo slots for about 4-5 years.
Girls that try them like them.

I have a couple of used pairs my dd's have out grown. Still in good shape



Howard
How will we get turbo slots in the future?
Is wilson taking them over.




Straightleg

 

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My dd has used turbo slots for about 4-5 years.
Girls that try them like them.

I have a couple of used pairs my dd's have out grown. Still in good shape



Howard
How will we get turbo slots in the future?
Is wilson taking them over.




Straightleg

Easton bought Turbo Slot out and now it is produced under Easton Turbo Slot.

CB does not represent them any longer as she works with Wilson and Akidemia.

 

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The edge weighted gloves are a very important item to have if your dd wants to move up in bat size or switching from a balanced to an end loaded bat, or just to work on bat speed, streghtening her body while using the proper mechanics will go a long way.

Tim

 

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I will be working the Ice Clinic. DD wears a pair during hitting practice and doing drills. So if you want to see a pair stop and see me.

 

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The edge weighted gloves are a very important item to have if your dd wants to move up in bat size or switching from a balanced to an end loaded bat, or just to work on bat speed, streghtening her body while using the proper mechanics will go a long way.

Tim

Tim.
Bought edge weighted gloves a few months ago, have not used them yet.

What will be gained?

If you put weight on the hands, wont you have a tendacy to drop them, or pull the knob lower across the chest.


What do you see improve in the swing.

Any comments from anyone that use these would be appreciated.





Gerry

 

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Tim.
Bought edge weighted gloves a few months ago, have not used them yet.

What will be gained?

If you put weight on the hands, wont you have a tendacy to drop them, or pull the knob lower across the chest.


What do you see improve in the swing.

Any comments from anyone that use these would be appreciated.

you create a stronger swing , by stregnthing the muscles involved, its resistance weight training for your forearms , do her tee work and change nothing we do in the workout, if the weights she has that came with them are to heavy you can buy lighter ones to start, just treat it like weight training, lighter weight and fewer reps and build up to where shes getting a good workout but not scarificing her hand path or mechanics, you will notice a difference in over all stregnth and even bat speed, and then if you want to move her up one size in a R/T like you had stated earlier youll have less wory about the e/l changing her hand path

Tim

 

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Thanks Tim

Makes sense

I will do just that. Howard suggested I start with half the weight.

Will be wary of bad hand path.


Gerry

 

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They come with four weights in each glove. We removed two , when she is hitting. Gerry when you filmed swifty she was wearing them. The problem is people think heavier is better. Then they go with four right at the start. Work up to what is her comfort level.