Hitting and Hitters Discussion Hitting question/observation

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I've been to a few games the past week, high school all the way down to 10u. Suddenly I've seen about 10 kids with the same swing. They load to toe touch very early and hold until the swing. It's not a pre-loaded position. They take their stance, load to toe touch at the first movement, hold then swing. Obviously somebody in NWO is teaching this, all I've seen those kids do is foul it off late or end up way in front and hit weak grounders. Was there some sort of RVP memo I missed that states this is the most effective new way to swing? I'm not a hitting guru, I know enough to get my kids to the right teacher and converse with that teacher to re-inforce what they are being taught.

What's the deal with this 2 part swing? Is it correct or is somebody not understanding the RVP software?

 

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It sounds like what I would call the attack mode. I use it for kids just learning the system. It actually is a pre load, all they have to do is pull the trigger. my advanced kids will use it on a 2 strike situation.

But without seeing them I cant be sure. Just understand that kids who come into hitting late into the instruction season may struggle with this or any other form until they have practiced it enough to become muscle memory. So alot of times I have seen this as a work in progress.

Tim

 

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What are they doing with their hand when they go to toe-touch?

Generally many teach their players to go to toe-touch and load the hands very early. I know you said it wasn't a pre-loaded position. As time goes goes on and the player gets better at it the thought is that the time between the loading of the body and the actual release of the swing reduces until the negative and positive movements are more fluid.

So... do you recall what the hands are doing?

 

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It sounds like what I would call the attack mode. I use it for kids just learning the system. It actually is a pre load, all they have to do is pull the trigger. my advanced kids will use it on a 2 strike situation.

But without seeing them I cant be sure. Just understand that kids who come into hitting late into the instruction season may struggle with this or any other form until they have practiced it enough to become muscle memory. So alot of times I have seen this as a work in progress.

Tim

Yes, this. I also use something like that in a 2 strike situation especially against a very tough pitcher and we are looking for a higher percentage to get the ball in play.

 

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It doesn't look like the 2 strike punch, Tim might be on it. It does look similar to attack mode, the difference is they all took a long stride forward while loading into toe touch. They appear to be all out of sequence lol, it's an ugly looking swing with no pop, but they could be new and are strictly not exucuting it properly. Just seeing so many kids at different levels all doing it made me ask the question lol.

 

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The attack mode was created to check to make sure we were in an attacking posture as Don describes it.

We then came up with the attack mode. The hitter measures off from the plate, bends at waste and softens the knees. Loads/ coils and separates to toe touch. We then look at the stance to see if there is flex/ bend in the lead knee, are they on the inside edge of the lead foot, is the weight inside the back knee or over it?

Are the hands at least at the ear level of the top hand? Between the legs it should look like the shape of a pyramid. The weight distribution is being balanced by the lead foot weight being on the inside edge of the foot and a flexed lead leg. The weight is inside the back and the weight should be felt around the big toe and toe next to it.

Then they hit a ball off the tee from the attack mode drill. All we should see is a motion of the lead foot heel coming down and a lift of the back foot heel as the back elbow is coming down as the lead elbow comes up or what we term box.

If the hands had to come back further or the hips had to sway back or turn more, if the hands had to be lowered or raised then in our opinion it was not an effective swing.

When we first starting doing this drill some of the hitters started using it during certain situations such as two strikes or full counts and have been very successful from this position.

Some of our kids actually use it all the time when hitting.

When we teach the matrix drill you get to this attack mode at separation to toe touch.

In my opinion if you do not see what I have attempted to describe it might be a hybrid swing or a variation of what they thought was said.