Why Can’t You Have a Long Swing?
January 13, 2010 by Dave Hudgens
Filed under Baseball Instruction, Featured
It is very important to take a proper and consistent angle to the ball, the lower half of your body is what allows you to take this angle. If the feet and hips are not working correctly, the hands and arms will not be able to take the correct path to the ball. Also mentally the hitter must not be thinking home run or have these types of thoughts in his mind. These thought will throw off the proper swing rhythm and sequence of the swing. The approach must be fundamentally sound from the ground up or somewhere along the line you will reach your ceiling and improvement will stop. This is why it is so vital that these mechanics are learned as soon as possible, the more time that lapses, the more difficult it becomes to overcome.
A Long Swing can be the result of:
- Using too heavy a bat
- Having used an aluminum bat which has such a large sweet spot that gives the appearance of a good swing which can be deceptive until you face good pitching
- Trying to hit the ball too far and over swinging
Dan Buck on Sat, 23rd Jan 2010 7:46 pm
I can’t agree more that too many players (I coach both baseball and fastpitch softball) swing too hard and too long. One of the greatest draw backs of long swing and “busy” swing, is that pitch selection is often horrible! The shorter and quicker the path, the easier and quicker the bat had can “drop” into the hitting zone, the longer you get to look at the pitch before committing! The longer the swing path, the sooner you have to start your hands and commit to the ball. We promote barrel slightly tilted back, hands at the back of the swing, ready to launch straight forward (no backwards load as the ball is approaching), keeping your hands inside the ball (not casting out and around the ball, but straight to ball), with the foot turn, hip turn popping as the hands pass down and to the zone. Early hips or lazy turns are also big problems with younger hitters. When my players have adapted to the Shorter path, they ALWAYS strike out less, walk more and hit for higher average!
The swingaway is an amazing tool for tons of reps without having to load up, pick-up, or chase balls! It also promotes hitting to all fields and players can clearly see the results of letting balls get deeper to go the other way, or pulling a ball when you meet it out in front. LOVE IT! Best teaching tool invented for instructors!