Routine Hitting Movements
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Chapter 10: Routine Hitting Movements Let’s be completely clear and transparent before jumping into this section. There are MANY, MANY philosophies when it comes to batting/hitting. There are several ways to coach hitting and numerous drills that can be applied to achieve hitting techniques. We may be Charley Lau fans and subscribe to the “Art of Hitting .300”, which describes hitting with a good weight transition from a firm rigid backside to a firm rigid frontside. Possibly, we may favor hitting from stronger back side, focusing on strong leg drive and hip rotation. However, there are many similarities, commonalities or generalities that are applied within this diverse array of hitting philosophies and techniques. No matter the teaching methodology, excluding the stance and pre- swing sequence, the fundamentals are essentially the same from the load to launch positions, and through the finish. Within this chapter we will focus on the basics that support a consistent and balanced swing movement for young hitters. We will attempt to keep it as simple as possible referring to “movements or feel” vs. mechanics which can often cause “paralysis through analysis”. We will also discuss “internal” and “external” tools or factors that will help young hitters learn the basic fundamentals of hitting, while leveraging each player’s own athleticism or movements. Finally, hitting a round baseball with a round bat is not easy, so keep it SIMPLE when coaching the fundamental baseball swing. Before we get into the nitty-gritty details, let’s keep in mind a few things: • First and foremost, let your ball players be athletes first, and remember to not inundate them with too many instructions or techniques all at once as the last thing we want to do is attempt to create swinging robots. • Secondly, not all ball players are created equal, remember to coach to the strength of each player, leveraging each individual’s body type, cognitive awareness and athleticism to optimize each child’s swing ability. Sorry Bobby Knight, times have changed. • Make it fun! You don’t know how many times I have been in the cage and heard an overzealous father or coach instruct, critique, or reprimand a player on every single pitch. This is an exhausting experience for me, and I am not even in the same cage, thus I can’t imagine being a child on the receiving end of this critique. During live batting practice, whether on the field, or in the cage, try to instruct as little as possible and just let them hit the ball. Save the instruction for controlled drills such as soft-toss or tee work. • Try not to “over coach”. During practice time, coaching is fantastic, however, throughout games, mechanical instruction needs to be kept to a minimum. • Finally, KEEP IT SIMPLE. Hitting is not rocket science and if all else fails just have your kids “see ball, hit ball”. There are essentially five (give or take) components to a fundamentally sound baseball swing movement. These basic movements consist of the following: 1) Set-up, consisting of the grip and stance, 2) Load, 3) Launch or Stride, 4) Swing and Contact and 5) Finish. It is critical to maintain balance through the entire hitting sequence. SIMI YOUTH BASEBALL – COACH’S HANDBOOK 1 The Set-up: Most youth coaches fail hitters in two ways with the set-up; 1) by having the player shift to the front or back of the batter’s box on not just an at bat but with each pitch; and 2) by suggesting “Johhny keep your elbow high”. With both of these instructions the player has already been set up for failure. The most important aspect of the pre-pitch routine is to perform the same routine consistently EACH AND EVERYTIME you are at bat. Players will be able to get to a good launch position from multiple set ups. Pre-pitch routines and stances are unique to each player, thus as a coach just attempt to get the player into a comfortable balanced position that can be repeated consistently with every at-bat. If you compare the pre-game routines and stances of Joey Gallo, Albert Pujols, Carlos Stanton, and my favorite, Tony Batista you will notice they are all very different. For younger players we would recommend a pre-pitch routine, and stance similar to Albert Pujols, as the stance and pre-pitch routine is the simplest, with minimal movement. As players progress and become stronger they will develop their own rituals and stances. The game is hard enough without changing these set-up variables with each at bat. Figure 1. MLB Players Variation in Hitting Stances Image Credit: www.mlb.com Let’s start with the grip, which is rather straightforward. Players should hold the bat with the dominant arm/hand on top (for right handed hitters this is the right arm/hand), loosely and comfortably within the base (where the fingers and palm come together) of their fingers. This allows for the strongest grip with the optimal range of motion. An easy way to achieve the proper grip is to lay the bat across the middle of the fingers on both hands, palms facing outward and then wrap the fingers around the handle of the bat. The stance should be comfortable with the feet somewhere around shoulder width apart, parallel and in line with the pitcher, knees slightly bent, weight on the balls of the feet, toes slightly pointed inward or “toed in”. The arms should be relaxed with the elbows pointing toward the ground somewhere around a 45° angle with the hands in line or slightly behind the arm pit. The arms will form a rectangle or “box”, with the chest and bottom arm ulna/radius (forearm) forming the longer sides of the rectangle. The head should be square on the shoulders, turned towards the pitcher, eyes parallel and with a soft focus on the pitcher’s release point. An effective way to achieve a fundamental stance is to have the player sit on a bucket, bat on the shoulder and feet comfortably apart. Then have the player stand and hit a ball off a tee or via soft SIMI YOUTH BASEBALL – COACH’S HANDBOOK 2 toss. The body will naturally assume a comfortable and optimally powerful position. If the legs are too close together or are too far apart, it will be awkward to stand, and if the legs are not bent it will be difficult to swing. Additionally, standing from a bucket creates a natural load which we will discuss next. Note: Be careful of having young guys too wide in the stance as they do not have the necessary strength to use their lower half of their body, if too wide. They might be balanced in a wider stance, but it will be tough for them to drive their hips through the swing. At a young age, I would be willing to give up a little in the way of balance, in order to allow them to use their bodies properly. The Load: A natural load is key and provides the hitter with a cadence or rhythm, optimizing the force that will be applied to the baseball. Once in a solid and comfortable stance, the pitcher will begin his wind up and at this point it is time to gather as much energy or momentum as possible to our backside in preparation to apply an explosive swing to the baseball. Think of it as a snake coiling to strike, or creating tension in the string of a bow and arrow. Most often coaches talk about “loading the hands” or pushing them back behind the arm-pit a few inches towards the catcher, which is correct, but only a small part of the load. The load is really a full body action where the feet ground themselves firmly distributing weight from the balls of the feet to the entire foot, weight is transitioned from a balanced position back into the legs and core, a slight inward rotation of the hip. This is not a coiling of the hip and shoulder, as turning your back on the ball will make the swing too rotational causing the hitter’s bat to move in and out of the strike-zone too quickly, limiting the opportunity to contact the baseball. Simply put, the load is like stretching a rubber band, where the front leg acts as the stationary point of the band while the rest of the body moves slightly back stretching against the front side leg in an effort to build up energy that can be transitioned onto the baseball. The more the rubber band is stretched, the more energy it stores, the more powerful it will snap forward. Launch or Stride: Every pitch gets a stride, not just the ones we are going to swing at. We make this point to make it clear that the stride occurs prior to the actual swing and should be timed for an inside fastball. The stride is a very small step forward while keeping the weight on the backside. The ability to stride and hold this position in conjunction with a solid load without having weight travel forward is key to being able to adjust to different pitches, and pitches in different locations. The stride can vary depending on the type of player and the player’s stance. The lead foot will take a small step towards the pitcher with the weight in the ball of the big toe, placing the toe as close to perpendicular to the batter’s box (slightly open is fine) and the front heal slightly off the ground.