Take Your Practice Swings into the Game

Question:

My 11 year old son hits much better in the more competitive AAU than in LL. In AAU, he really drives the ball. Line drive extra base hits. His mechanics are good. quick hands, uses legs, stays down on the ball. In LL, he doesn’t use his legs, swings at bad pitches, doesn’t drive the ball. I know its a mental thing. He says he is tense. I think its a holdover from last year. His first year in LL majors, he did not hit well then either. (partly because he got hit on the elbow.) He works really hard, takes extra BP. But this is primarily mental. How can I help him overcome this psychological barrier.

Answer:

It’s true when people say that this game is more mental then physical. You talked about him taking extra batting practice, which is very good, however how muck time is he spending creating good mental habits. As much time as he spends in the cage he should spend visualising himself having success. Let him go over mentally all the success he has had in his AAU league. Have him go up to the plate with nothing on his mind except him knowing that he going to have success in that at bat. With this attitude he will always dominate.

Switch Hitting Questions and Answers

Question:

When should a player start switch-hitting? What do you consider a good age to begin? How proficient should the hitter be from his strong side before he begins learning to switch-hit? Do you consider learning to switch-hit to be a big advantage for being recruited by college/pros? Just off the top of my head, it seems that many of the top hitters in the Majors are not switch hitters.

Answer:

My son and I started to work on switch hitting when he was about 10 years old, but he didn’t start switch hitting in games until he was 13. I wanted him to get a real feel for balance through his swing and develop more strength before I put him in a game situation. When he started switch hitting in games, he hit only left handed for the entire year (he’s a natural right handed hitter). This was the year he was going to go to the big field and I thought he might struggle somewhat switch hitting, but most kids struggle when moving up to the regulation size field anyway so I didn’t worry about it. He ended up having some success and has improved to the point to where he is a better hitter from the left side.

If you want your son to switch hit, you should have a reason for having him do so. Does he have some speed? If he has some speed, or potential to have speed, then there are some advantages to hitting from the left side. If he is going to be a power hitter with little speed, than I would say let him stay on one side. Most switch hitters are natural right handed hitters, there is a different advantage for left handed hitters. Most pitchers are right handed, hitting from the left side hitters will not have to deal with the offspeed pitch breaking away from them. Another big advantage to switch hitting is that players won’t be platooned if they are proficient from both sides of the plate.

If my son would have been a natural left handed hitter, I don’t believe I would have taught him to switch hit. But don’t hold me to that because I have a 2 year old and he hits off the tee lefty, I think because he watches his brother hit from the left side so much.

Teaching Players of All Ages

Question:

Your material is top rate. I am having incredible results with both my kids (boy – 7 and girl – 9). I am managing my son’s team as well as a coach for my daughter’s team. My approach thus far is to cover all aspects of hitting fundamentals with all the kids starting on the set up and working forward. My time with each player is limited to about 10 minutes a week. Are there fundamentals that I should focus on that will get more observable results than others? With these kids getting limited reps, the progress is slow. I have completed the entire swing and am wondering if I start back at the beginning as most kids still struggle with the basics. I would appreciate any thoughts.

Answer:

With young kids, I recommend you start with their legs. Make sure their legs are in the proper position, so that they can complete their swing staying on balance. The practice time you are able to give them is not enough alone.  Give them specific areas to work on, such as working on balance in front of their mirror at home. If they have a tee at home, give them something specific to work on. If you can get more help, I would set up more drill stations so the kids can get more swings. They need to swing the bat everyday to improve their skills.

Emotions on the Field

Emotions can have either a positive or a negative affect on your performance.  Let’s break down 3 components of emotion and how they not only affect you either in a positive or a negative manner but also how they interact with each other.

• Desire
• Fear
• Anger

Desire is present in every athlete.  It is motivating and relentless, it never gives up.  Desire positively affects athletes through motivation; it is the reason an athlete does not give up, despite any odds against him/her.  However, that same desire becomes a negative when it results in trying to do too much, or giving too much effort.

Fear can have a positive affect by improving your concentration, but it can also have a negative affect if you become too cautious, over-aggressive, or just “freeze-up”.

Anger can overpower all other emotions.  You can be very afraid of something, but if your anger is strong enough, you will forget your fear.  Anger can also motivate you and improve your focus.

Extension

If you make contact at extension there will be a loss of power.  There are many coaches that teach contact is made at extension.  However video has disproven that statement.  Making contact just before extension allows the hitter the ability to hit through the ball.

If you do all the mechanical techniques correctly, you will have the proper extension.  If you are not getting good extension generally it is due to a flaw in the swing.

• Extension should be just after contact and not at or before contact.
• You should see a “V” in your arms at maximum extension out front.
• Don’t drop the barrel of the bat below your hands from the backside, you still need to have a short, compact, swing.

Prepare for Greatness

Sports giants are people willing to pay the price for excellence.  Brooks Robinson took 200 ground balls a day from the time he was 12 year old until the end of his career.

Nolan Ryan is legendary for his dedication to his conditioning and his personal work habits.  In addition to having strong work habits, it is important to note the fact that dedication and effort is channeled toward specific performance goals.  On a day to day basis, the great athletes work on the things that are necessary to achieve their outcome goals.

Some may regard the hard work involved in developing the principles outlined in this book as a huge sacrifice, but a highly committed player doesn’t look at it as a sacrifice, but rather as a choice that involves sacrifice.  As a player, you need to decide what price you are willing to pay to become the best that you are capable of becoming- on and off the field.

Positive and Negative Emotions

Emotions can have either a positive or a negative affect on your performance.  Let’s break down 3 components of emotion and how they not only affect you either in a positive or a negative manner but also how they interact with each other.

• Desire
• Fear
• Anger

Desire is present in every athlete.  It is motivating and relentless, it never gives up.  Desire positively affects athletes through motivation; it is the reason an athlete does not give up, despite any odds against him/her.  However, that same desire becomes a negative when it results in trying to do too much, or giving too much effort.

Fear can have a positive affect by improving your concentration, but it can also have a negative affect if you become too cautious, over-aggressive, or just “freeze-up”.

Anger can overpower all other emotions.  You can be very afraid of something, but if your anger is strong enough, you will forget your fear.  Anger can also motivate you and improve your focus.

Swing Question: Rotation or Weight Transfer

I frequently am asked questions about the all time great hitter, Ted Williams and Charlie Lau. Williams is thought of as being a pure rotational hitter, while Lau was a pure weight transfer teacher. Both are misconceptions and misrepresenting the swing.

Percentage wise, Ted teaches more rotation but if you look at his old videos and still shots, you clearly see his weight going from back to center which is weight transfer. Lau embraced a pure weight shift philosophy and many of his still shots in his book do show hitters on top of their front leg, however, that isn’t what happened to those same hitters in real game action swings.

If any of you have Ted William’s book, The Science of Hitting, turn to the very last page and you will see a perfect swing. However, look closely. Ted has gone to the center position, with his back heel in the air, and his toe – NOT the ball of his foot – on the ground. This clearly shows you the weight has transferred to the center position therefore, it is not a pure rotational swing. A pure rotational swing that would involve no weight transfer, would consist of the weight spinning on the ball of the back foot. It is clear cut, he is definitely not spinning.

The swing is definitely a combination of both rotation and weight shift however, there are vary-ing degrees of this combination. Speaking in mathematical terms, look at it as a matter of the percent used of each. Some hitters will use a greater percentage of rotation, while others will use a greater percentage of weight shift. Ideally the swing should be 50/50. Fifty percent rota-tional, fifty percent weight transfer. Most great Major League hitters are at 50/50 – Palmeiro, A-Rod, and Giambi – just to name a few.

Results of having a pure rotational approach are that the hitter will be guaranteed to have a less effective, more inconsistent circular hand path. When taking a circular hand path through the zone, the barrel of the bat stays on the contact plane for a very short time. This leads not only to an improper hand path but also to inconsistent contact. In addition to that, these hitters will have a greater likelihood of rolling over the ball with their top hand which in turn leads to more weak ground balls being hit.

Contrast that to a hitter using a strict weight transfer or linear path. Despite the fact that he will stay on the ball longer, he will in fact have more of a chopping type swing. That is why a com-bination of the two is what leads to the most success. The proper hand path will start out linear, or straight to the ball and on the finish or follow through, the swing becomes more circular. In other words, the swing is more linear on the approach to the ball, and more circular on the fol-low through. Remember to keep it simple because this truly isn’t a difficult concept, people make it much harder then what it is.

Where to Put Your Hands and Arms

Let’s examine the correct placement for the hands and arms.  This varies from player to player, yet despite these variances, there is success with each.  If you look at Craig Counsell, he holds his bat up over his head with the barrel of the bat pointing to the pitcher. His stance looks very uncomfortable.

Contrast this with Eric Davis who holds his bat down close to his belt buckle.  There is an important fact to know here.  No matter where these guys stand, or how their arms are in the stance, after they take their stride, all good hitters come to the same point with their hands.  That point is right around the shoulders which is about the top of the strike zone, on top of or behind the back foot.  It is not where you start, but where you finish that matters.

Back Leg Position

Question:

When I transfer my weight back at the beginning of my swing, my back leg seems to bend a lot (almost want to collapse). Is this because too much weight is going back, or my leg is not strong enough, or what?

Answer:

I am assuming the way you found out that your back leg was collapsing was by watching video of your swings. If not, then make sure to have someone record you swinging in batting practice, doing side toss, and in games. The reason you should look at these different stages is because you may be swinging too hard. Perhaps you are too far back on your leg, but usually a hitter’s back leg collapses when they are trying to hit the ball too far and hard. So make sure to see those three different shots, because if you are swinging too hard in the games, you probably are easier in your side toss drills when you are relaxed. This would just tell you whether you have an effort level problem, or a mechanical problem. If it is effort level, then you might just need to relax, and not try to do too much with the ball. And if it is mechanical, then you probably should take a little weight off the back leg when you start your swing. Hope everything goes well.

Next Page »