http://www.swingawayblog.com/2010/01/18/striding-to-where-the-ball-is-pitched/ Thu, 24 Jun 2010 16:16:41 +0000 hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v=3.0 http://www.swingawayblog.com/2010/01/18/striding-to-where-the-ball-is-pitched/comment-page-1/#comment-2746 Dan Buck Sun, 24 Jan 2010 02:54:56 +0000 http://www.swingawayblog.com/?p=276#comment-2746 Strides are another reason many players have horrible timing... especially with pitchers who change speed often. WHAT IS THE ADVANTAGE OF THE STRIDE? Albert Pujols is a prime example that a stride is NOT necessary... if you like to hit from a wide-based, spread-out platform (like Pujols) start there... why stride there. One more thing that can go wrong, one more timing element that has NOTHING to do with barrel to the ball. It looks good, it gives a false sense of "timing" and rhythm... but it does not generate bat speed nor help create additional power. In fact, as this article points out, most strides often get a player to "drift" forward with the stride momentum and they leave their core and hit with "forward balance" and get very little power from their backside... Watch Pujols smack a HR and see how long his stride is... "zero inches". He lifts his heel and braces himself against the front foot. His hands are back, loaded, barrel tilted toward the umpires head, and he merely drops the bat head with incredible quickness! Foot strides, push back loads, long swings from behind the head (going back first) do nothing but complicate a swing, make you commit earlier, and often throws off timing and balance. Quiet and Quick! That's the key to consistent hitting! Strides are another reason many players have horrible timing… especially with pitchers who change speed often. WHAT IS THE ADVANTAGE OF THE STRIDE? Albert Pujols is a prime example that a stride is NOT necessary… if you like to hit from a wide-based, spread-out platform (like Pujols) start there… why stride there. One more thing that can go wrong, one more timing element that has NOTHING to do with barrel to the ball. It looks good, it gives a false sense of “timing” and rhythm… but it does not generate bat speed nor help create additional power. In fact, as this article points out, most strides often get a player to “drift” forward with the stride momentum and they leave their core and hit with “forward balance” and get very little power from their backside…
Watch Pujols smack a HR and see how long his stride is… “zero inches”. He lifts his heel and braces himself against the front foot. His hands are back, loaded, barrel tilted toward the umpires head, and he merely drops the bat head with incredible quickness! Foot strides, push back loads, long swings from behind the head (going back first) do nothing but complicate a swing, make you commit earlier, and often throws off timing and balance.
Quiet and Quick! That’s the key to consistent hitting!

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