Balance and timing

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Jun 8, 2016
16,118
113
Yeah. Those domes are fugly. No chance for the catcher to make a play. Have seen the ball ricochet hard off one of the beams. Not ideal.
reminds me of a gym I used to play in. There was an overhang in one of the corners so you couldn’t take a corner 3 😂
 
Jul 16, 2013
4,659
113
Pennsylvania
Thanks FP. Which boxes are checked and unchecked for you?

Yeah. Those domes are fugly. No chance for the catcher to make a play. Have seen the ball ricochet hard off one of the beams. Not ideal.

She does a great job with her move out. Some people would state that she controls the move out with the rear leg. Others will say she controls it with her core. In either case, she is not reaching with her front leg. Her front leg works in unison with the rest of her body so that the move out is balanced.

She does not shift her weight too far forward too soon. From my perspective, I would say she is swinging her front foot down. Some will say she doesn't shift her weight across her pelvis. In either case, the key is she remains balanced into and through launch. The weight does not shift to the front side prior to launch.

She does a good job of getting the barrel behind the ball early. Some will say she has a 'hand path' of down to. Some will say she has a 'barrel path' of behind and through. From my perspective, the sweet spot enters the hitting zone and stays there.

All good things. Based on the swings provided, I don't see anything I don't like. Game swings could tell a different story. But based on the balance she shows in these videos, my guess is that she doesn't have any problem duplicating these swings during a game.


I had a player that once had to leave a game because of those cages. She fouled off a pitch, it bounced off one of the steal beams, and hit her in the back of the head. She dropped to her knees and was showing concussion symptoms. Luckily it wasn't anything serious, but we were all concerned.
 
Oct 13, 2014
5,471
113
South Cali
Are you advocating this as a teach for every swing? Or just something to work on for making adjustments?

For me going through the ranks, if you don’t have an approach the older pitchers eat you alive. Learning how to adjust should be a fundamental as you get older. My dd was an inside pitch hitter until she got to 18u. She didn’t care until she couldn’t wait on the outside pitch and have enough time to adjust to the inside pitch. We tried the inside out swing. But it zapped her power on the inside since she let it travel to deep and could only hit liners up the middle mostly w the inside pitch. So now she hunts middle away but adjusts to things on the inside to pull for power.

Since pitchers mostly work away, you get what you’re looking for and once proven you can hit it. The pitches tend to give you something inner third to try and surprise you.

But the tendencies of hitters when looking inside is to start early and open early. It can happen w when you stride and w any body part. Once that happens you have lost plate coverage on the outer third and off speed will be tough as well. This is where athleticism, bat speed, short swings and time to contact comes into play.

The ability to make the swing shorter when needed is what you see from the best players. Miggy, Trout, Griffey and others will abbreviate the stride create more turn and tilt via the core to cover the inside heat. The inside pitch becomes a reaction more or less.

1653671178915.gif
(more/less stride, slower/faster front foot, more/less torso tilt, more less core pull up)

Imo timing creates what type of hitter you are. If you stride early you are a pull hitter. If you stride late you’re an oppo hitter. As you get older you either gotta sit pitches all the time or learn how to stride/load as late as possible wo being late.

This creates line to line hitters more or less. You’re not trying to let it travel, you’re just trying to shorten the timing window so you can hit it hard in multiple zones at multiple speeds. But the swing has to be short. This is where mechanics matter.

A guy like Mike Piazza was a RCF hitter. But he pulled the crap outta the ball too? What gives? When these guys say they are oppo or trying to go oppo they are not forcing the ball to RF. They are striding/loading as late as possible to let the ball travel so they can still have enough ‘stride’ or ‘time’ to wait on the off speed.

Rather long post sorry, but if you notice the best of the best get on top of their stride/forward move and control that front leg timing. Some do it w a really short stride(Barry,Ted,Piazza), some do it w getting on top of their stride(Alo, Ortiz, Trout). All laterally tilt the pelvis and they all back the ball up so if they see outside they won’t breach the rear leg/hip relationship but also can stop suddenly via the front foot and ‘turn’ on inside or ‘sit’ on off speed. It’s why you never see Trout take a perfect swing. He’s always adjusting. Always. Hands and arms never extend.

What gets lost in translation is the late stretch the front foot getting down against the hands staying up creates.

1653673184017.gif
 
Last edited:
Oct 13, 2014
5,471
113
South Cali
She does a great job with her move out. Some people would state that she controls the move out with the rear leg. Others will say she controls it with her core. In either case, she is not reaching with her front leg. Her front leg works in unison with the rest of her body so that the move out is balanced.

She does not shift her weight too far forward too soon. From my perspective, I would say she is swinging her front foot down. Some will say she doesn't shift her weight across her pelvis. In either case, the key is she remains balanced into and through launch. The weight does not shift to the front side prior to launch.

She does a good job of getting the barrel behind the ball early. Some will say she has a 'hand path' of down to. Some will say she has a 'barrel path' of behind and through. From my perspective, the sweet spot enters the hitting zone and stays there.

All good things. Based on the swings provided, I don't see anything I don't like. Game swings could tell a different story. But based on the balance she shows in these videos, my guess is that she doesn't have any problem duplicating these swings during a game.


I had a player that once had to leave a game because of those cages. She fouled off a pitch, it bounced off one of the steal beams, and hit her in the back of the head. She dropped to her knees and was showing concussion symptoms. Luckily it wasn't anything serious, but we were all concerned.

Thanks. The game swings only have a lesser bat tip in the s plane. Her stance will change based on height of the pitches she gets if a pitcher is consistently down in the zone. But she will tend to crouch down a bit more w 2 strikes. She feels like she can cover more that way.
 
Jul 16, 2013
4,659
113
Pennsylvania
Thanks. The game swings only have a lesser bat tip in the s plane. Her stance will change based on height of the pitches she gets if a pitcher is consistently down in the zone. But she will tend to crouch down a bit more w 2 strikes. She feels like she can cover more that way.
Makes sense to me.

I'm old... I choked up a bit with 2 strikes. I know that isn't popular today, but it was common when I played.
 
Oct 13, 2014
5,471
113
South Cali
Just to make sense of my long post.. I use the approach Hank Aaron has stated. Sitting ‘curveball’ and reacting to the fastball. In other words move out a bit later or as late as possible and put the foot down early for the heater. Hank is striding after release. To me that is as late as possible.

1653674600038.gif

1653674626149.gif
 
Oct 13, 2014
5,471
113
South Cali
Makes sense to me.

I'm old... I choked up a bit with 2 strikes. I know that isn't popular today, but it was common when I played.

I tried that years ago. Dd looked at me sideways. Said ‘I need all the bat I can get!’ Do you see where he’s calling outside pitches? Hahaha. I didn’t argue. The fastpitch zone can get really oddly shaped a lot of the time. 😆
 
Aug 20, 2017
1,474
113
For me going through the ranks, if you don’t have an approach the older pitchers eat you alive. Learning how to adjust should be a fundamental as you get older. My dd was an inside pitch hitter until she got to 18u. She didn’t care until she couldn’t wait on the outside pitch and have enough time to adjust to the inside pitch. We tried the inside out swing. But it zapped her power on the inside since she let it travel to deep and could only hit liners up the middle mostly w the inside pitch. So now she hunts middle away but adjusts to things on the inside to pull for power.

Since pitchers mostly work away, you get what you’re looking for and once proven you can hit it. The pitches tend to give you something inner third to try and surprise you.

But the tendencies of hitters when looking inside is to start early and open early. It can happen w when you stride and w any body part. Once that happens you have lost plate coverage on the outer third and off speed will be tough as well. This is where athleticism, bat speed, short swings and time to contact comes into play.

The ability to make the swing shorter when needed is what you see from the best players. Miggy, Trout, Griffey and others will abbreviate the stride create more turn and tilt via the core to cover the inside heat. The inside pitch becomes a reaction more or less.

View attachment 25726
(more/less stride, slower/faster front foot, more/less torso tilt, more less core pull up)

Imo timing creates what type of hitter you are. If you stride early you are a pull hitter. If you stride late you’re an oppo hitter. As you get older you either gotta sit pitches all the time or learn how to stride/load as late as possible wo being late.

This creates line to line hitters more or less. You’re not trying to let it travel, you’re just trying to shorten the timing window so you can hit it hard in multiple zones at multiple speeds. But the swing has to be short. This is where mechanics matter.

A guy like Mike Piazza was a RCF hitter. But he pulled the crap outta the ball too? What gives? When these guys say they are oppo or trying to go oppo they are not forcing the ball to RF. They are striding/loading as late as possible to let the ball travel so they can still have enough ‘stride’ or ‘time’ to wait on the off speed.

Rather long post sorry, but if you notice the best of the best get on top of their stride/forward move and control that front leg timing. Some do it w a really short stride(Barry,Ted,Piazza), some do it w getting on top of their stride(Alo, Ortiz, Trout). All laterally tilt the pelvis and they all back the ball up so if they see outside they won’t breach the rear leg/hip relationship but also can stop suddenly via the front foot and ‘turn’ on inside or ‘sit’ on off speed. It’s why you never see Trout take a perfect swing. He’s always adjusting. Always. Hands and arms never extend.

What gets lost in translation is the late stretch the front foot getting down against the hands staying up creates.

View attachment 25727
Good stuff! So my DD is early to foot down and hits predominantly pull side. She’s inconsistent with it. She’s at her best when she gets foot up later. Uses the whole field with more consistent barrel contact. So you think waiting as long as possible to get the front foot up would help? Haven’t thought of that. I would hate to get into a situation where she starts feeling rushed
 
Oct 13, 2014
5,471
113
South Cali
Good stuff! So my DD is early to foot down and hits predominantly pull side. She’s inconsistent with it. She’s at her best when she gets foot up later. Uses the whole field with more consistent barrel contact. So you think waiting as long as possible to get the front foot up would help? Haven’t thought of that. I would hate to get into a situation where she starts feeling rushed

Yeah. When I say ‘load as late as possible wo being late’ I’m saying go through your gather, natural rhythm etc. but get forward a bit later. You want to have a comfortable action to an outside fastball. That’s the baseline. From there you recognize inside pitches early in the stride, put the foot down and react. If you’re fouling balls off or are late, your gonna have to adjust her launch to be more from the center of the body. Basically sagittal plane dominant.

1653695653818.gif

What I do is throw BP. I let them get on time w balls away. Then I’ll mix in inside and say get the foot down earlier to adjust quicker and shorten your swing, less arms/hands more core basically.

When hitting outside pitches the back arm will ER a bit, a delay or lag of sorts as opposed to inside where the ER is minimal or at least should be if the core is contracting. Does that help? The bold is how you cure rushed swings. You should basically be earlier than late.
 
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Feb 25, 2020
953
93
A couple of swings. Approach was timing for a middle away fastball and adjusting to whatever comes.

View attachment 25721

View attachment 25722

Since adjustments can’t be made until foot down.. controlling when to put that foot down will help w adjustments on time. You can see the foot down ‘early’ w an inside pitch. See the weight transfer more before foot down w an outside pitch and less on an inside pitch. More weight will shift through launch on an inside pitch through rotation.

Can we see some game swings please.
 

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