A Secret to Hitting

Recently I was at a scout game at ASU that my son Jordan was playing in. Sitting next to me was Mark Verstegen, elite sports trainer to many local amateur athletes in the valley as well as numerous professional athletes such as Nomar Garciaparra, Roberto Alomar, Lou Merloni, Jason Veritek, and Mary Pierce, just to name a few. Mark had come to see Jordan and a few other players on this scout team that he works out.

Although playing in this scout league has many benefits, one of the drawbacks is the fact that they don’t have umpires. The catcher calls balls and strikes. In this particular game, in Jordan’s first at bat, the catcher called an unbelievably high and away pitch a strike, strike 3 for that matter. Jordan, being the type A personality that he is, was not happy, although to his credit, he did control his emotions. His next at bat the same thing happened. Knowing that he couldn’t get thrown out of the game, Jordan drew a line in the dirt informing the catcher where the proper strike zone is. His next at bat he turned around and hit right handed. This time he had a terrible at bat. His balance was off, his effort level was sky rocketing, he was swinging at 110% of his max and you guessed it, he struck out. Rita sarcastically asked Mark, since he works with so many baseball players, if he could suggest any professional hitting instruction for her son.

After that at bat, Jordan went to the dugout and motioned for me to go down and see him. I asked him, “Jordan, what is your confidence in? You take great bp, you hit rockets left and right (literally and figuratively), you look great in the cage and on the field during practice. What are you doing in these games? You are a totally different hitter. Why do you practice so hard if you aren’t going to take your practice into the games? Be yourself, relax and let all your hard work pay off by believing in yourself and not trying to do too much. You have to have the confidence to know that what you practice day in and day out will be carried over into the game.” His next two at bats were quality at bats hitting hard line drives up the middle, one from the right side, one from the left. He made the adjustment.

When I returned to my seat, Mark then asked me what I thought were common denominators shared by great hitters. I told him that once a player has sound mechanics as a given, ( being able to repeat their swing) along with excellent hand eye coordination, there are certain critical aspects which set great hitters apart from the rest:

• Work ethic
• Ability to make adjustments
• Not being afraid to fail
• Becoming a student of the game

SwingAway vs. Solohitter

Improve Your Hitting with the SwingAway Batting Tool

Improve Your Batting with the Swing Away – Celebrity bloopers here

SwingAway Sports Products announced the Next Generation of Batting Stations by launching their most affordable machine simply named “The SwingAway”. $199.99.

The New SwingAway – The Ultimate Hitting Machine was announced today and will soon be available for the retail price of $199.99… This Patented Machine has all the credentials and the structural integrity that is associated with the SwingAway Brand and Reputation without the cost. This machine is intended for home training for all Baseball and Softball Players regardless of age and skill level.

Atlanta, GA, February 04, 2009 — (PR.com) — SwingAway Sports Products announced their newest Hitting Machine “The SwingAway”. The SwingAway is the newest and most affordable Batting Station to date from this new and exciting company.

The SwingAway Hitting Station was designed and engineered for home training for all Baseball and Softball players regardless of age or skill level. The New SwingAway is built to take the constant use and demands of the Professional Athlete and now it is available to ALL PLAYERS who possess the drive and determination to Get Real Good, Real Fast.

The New SwingAway will be available March 1, 2009, priced at $199.99. Don’t let the price of this machine fool you. This machine has all the benefits of the other models in the SwingAway Product Line and features a Bottom Boom and a new Revolutionary Hitting Mat. This Machine Rocks!

The bottom boom feature will perfectly align the Patented Pulley System to increase the life of the Bungee System. The SA Hitting Mat – replicates the inner portion of the Batter’s Box. The mat is marked for both Right and Left handed Hitters and numbered baseballs showing the “Proper Contact Points” plus Directional Arrows to show where to drive each Pitch Location.

“The New SwingAway acts as a Personal Hitting Instructor that will make any player a Better Hitter, Period, end of story, GUARANTEED”, states John J Flading, SwingAway’s President and CEO. “It is SwingAway Sports Products Goal to make the very best training aids plus offer all the tools to help our customers achieve their dreams and goals. The new SwingAway combined with the SA Hitting Mat, the SA University (SwingAway’s On-Line Hitting Academy), plus the privileged access to Baseball’s and Softball’s Greatest Hitting Coach’s, will make it possible and now affordable to make every SwingAway customer a better Hitter. The Price of this machine makes it a Great Entry Level Batting Station but it still will take the pounding of older and more experienced hitters”.

SwingAway Hitting Systems has always been the Batting Machine of Choice by Professional and Scholastic Programs, now it’s finally affordable for all Players who possess the drive and determination to be the Best.
We as a company are extremely proud to produce the only hitting machine that actually teaches and re-enforces the proper swing fundamentals and mechanics that makes our customers better baseball and softball players and we continue to be successful in doing something Real Good for the Game of Baseball and Softball.

You are Never to Young to develop Perfect Swing Mechanics

www.swingaway.com

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Contact Information
SwingAway Sports Products, Inc
John J Flading
800-999-1968, 404-825-7063
jflading@swingaway.com
www.swingaway.com
www.swingawayblog.com

Q&A for Effort Level

Question:

In working with my son, he seems to struggle with a problem, he has had on and off for 4 years now. He is currently 13. When he is not swing well, he appears to be too aggressive with his hips and shoulder, ie. pulling away from the ball. I shows up to look like he is not having aggressive hands, with the result of hitting a lot of weak balls to the opposite field. He is right handed. We have worked a lot off the tee, short toss, and live pitching on the outer part of the plate. He has a good understanding of the various contact points. We just haven’t had any long term success at fixing this problem. When his front shoulder pulls off, of course his bottom hand pulls away from the ball, ie. causing him to “what I call, slice the ball”. Sometimes during the season he will get in a real groove where the ball just jumps off his bat, but he eventually falls back into the problem of pulling away from the ball. We have also worked the one handed drills extensively over the past few years. I would appreciate your advice on how to approach this problem for long term success.

Answer:

Take a look at three areas:

• Overswinging, this is one of the areas where most young hitters do not understand. Young hitters generally want to see how far they can hit the ball, This causes them to use their body too much and therefore overswing. It’s best to develop a swing that is about 80% of his max. This does not mean that the hands are not aggressive, but he should feel like he has something left in his body. In hitting, swing at 80% will give you better hand speed. This will help him with the next two areas.
• Balance, swinging at 100% will keep him from having great balance and actually slow his hands down, and as in your son’s case, will miss direct the hand path. Swinging at 80% will allow him to work on the correct hand path and will help with the next area.
• Head position, this is on of the most important aspects of the swing. The proper head position not only allows him to see the ball well, but also allows the upper body to stay over the ball. Have him keep his head down past contact.

Perfect each of these three areas and he will be making consistent hard contact. Good luck.

Why a Swingaway?

Here at Swingaway we wanted to create a baseball instructional tool that would allow for hitters to develop solid muscle memory through efficient repetition.  Don’t be fooled by imitations, there is a reason why you will find a Swingaway in Major League ball parks around the country.  Look  the video below for a comparison between the Swingaway and one of our competitors:

As you can see, if you are looking for a true ‘Fetchless Tee’, there is only one choice, Swingaway!

Here is what some industry experts had to say about the Swingaway:

“I think the SwingAway is an excellent machine… It makes you comfortable with the pitches you’re going to see.” – Eddie Murray

“There’s not a better machine on the market today …it’s the best hitting tool I’ve ever used…guys around the league will tell you the same thing.’ – Jay Buhner

“After batting practice I go into the cage and use the SwingAway…to warm up. It feels good and you don’t have to chase balls like when you hit off the tee. The SwingAway is going to be in my backyard every year. I think the SwingAway is needed in schools and backyards around the country.” – Vinny Castilla

“The SwingAway is an outstanding training device… It helps our hitters work on contact points…different pitch locations and gives them the ability to take more quality cuts in a shorter period of time. The SwingAway would be a great investment for anyone serious about improving their swing.” – John Rittman, Stanford Softball Coach

Let us help make you a believer too!  Click here for more information on the leading baseball instructional tool.