Details on the Swing
October 26, 2009 by Dave Hudgens
Filed under Baseball Instruction, Featured
Many people ask me to explain how the hands start the bat instead of the upper body. I always teach for the hitter to pull his/her hands through with the bat head back. But several players have said that when they pull their hands through it seems as though it is done with my front shoulder and front forearm and this pulls me off the ball.
So I wanted to post this to make it 100% clear, the hitter must think hands, otherwise the front side will take over, pulling off of the ball. I also have hitters think about the backside pushing through the front side. The bat head must stay behind the hands until the knob of the bat becomes even with where the front hip was. It’s critical that the hands stay inside the ball, in doing so, will allow the hitter to be short and accurate to the ball. Good luck.
Nate Barnett on Sun, 1st Nov 2009 10:51 pm
Good advice. I sometimes have hitting pretend someone is pushing lightly on their front side shoulder blade once the hips begin to rotate. Depending on the kid they tend to get the idea that the hands must get going first without pulling the bat through with the front shoulder.