barrel/hand pivot point, a.k.a TTB

[Mudders Brudder]

Wow you have a tough time answering a direct question. However in the end you finally managed.. and yes it would of been simple if you weren't preaching to me. Point to all of this is.. when somebody demos an action in isolation does not mean that's the finished product. So when AROD, Alex, Yelich, Trout etc all demo hands in isolation ("down to") it does not mean that's the finalized "barrel" path that we see in the game. FYB, Posture etc combined with "down to" results in the efficient and clean barrel path we see in the best in the game. Next time do yourself a favor and just answer the question.. speaking of nonsense ..SMH

OK, if you say so.

BTW. I was asking for you opinion, that's why I said "Do you think...." wasn't asking for you to read his mind.. simple enough for you?

You asked me my "opinion" of what I thought someone else was aiming for....

My question is simple... again I ask when buddy on twitter dumps the barrel to isolate hands, do you think this is the barrel path he is aiming for?

...and just like if/when someone asks me wth you're thinking half the time, I won't make assumptions or give my opinion of what you're thinking or "aiming for", and direct them to ask you directly. If you ever post a video, and someone asks me on my opinion on what you're doing, I'll give my opinion on that, but on what someone else is thinking does nothing but open another can of worms.

 

[Mudders Brudder]

What if not everyone thinks like you do? That is the problem. There are players out there that only get the "feel" stuff. If you cram supinate your forearm and adduct your upper arm you might as well be speaking Chinese to some kids. You should learn how and why the "feel" queues work for the pros. Once you truly understand that then you can teach both the technical supination stuff and the "you should feel like you are" stuff. Don't limit yourself.

If like me in your quest to understand why, I mean truly understand, no agenda driven but an earnest seeking, you may be won over to what the pros are talking about. I was.

Read it again, I didn't say I teach or use kinds of words or teaching methods. But I have tried the "feel" this teaching thing, and can't tell you how many times a player said that they felt it, yet weren't accomplishing the thing I was trying to teach or get across to them. Did some get it at times? Sure, but more times than not I found it more of a waste of time, and why I found other, better, quicker methods that worked.

Not trying to talk anyone out of teaching that way if they like..."different strokes" kinda thing. But for me, I found something that worked much better.....for me (and my hitters).

 

[TDS]

TDS, can we agree that the middle of the ball is the "Knuckle" line? If that's the case, what hitter have you ever heard wanting "topspin" on the ball, and not "backspin" on it?

If the barrel is looping and coming up on the ball I see it similar to a top spin forehand in tennis... Nothing wrong with hitting middle either.. Top half is point of reference when swinging down to... My experience was when I just missed top half and didn't hit on a line those were the balls that were elevated..

So what would be your response to a hitter whose focus was on "get behind the ball" but continue to swing and miss or have inconsistent contact ?

 

[julray]

OK, if you say so.

You asked me my "opinion" of what I thought someone else was aiming for....

...and just like if/when someone asks me wth you're thinking half the time, I won't make assumptions or give my opinion of what you're thinking or "aiming for", and direct them to ask you directly. If you ever post a video, and someone asks me on my opinion on what you're doing, I'll give my opinion on that, but on what someone else is thinking does nothing but open another can of worms.

Got it, I won't expect you comment on things that are open for interpretation going forward. It makes for difficult conversation, but I understand your limitations. Let's take TM out of the picture since you don't want to talk about what his intentions are when performing certain drills/demos. When teaching your students TTB do you ever over exaggerate the movement as a teaching point? Do you ever break the swing down, get them to do isolation drills etc?

 

[Rolling Hard]

We don’t care about those. We wanna know if ‘bop the catcher on the head’ or ‘fall off the cliff’ or ‘around and along’ or ‘one leg’ works? ?

Nope

 

[Work=wins]

Go back, and read what I wrote about "quick" and "explosive", and then show/quote me where I said or used either in my teaching of my hitters. As far as the "wrong word", you need much better comprehension when you read...I answered your question about already wrt...
...."Early".

Keep up WW, you're proving not to be very "quick"....but rather emotionally "explosive". ?

mud,

The fact is ‘being explosive’ was used by another internet guru that you followed blindly and never reconciled the actual meaning of the phrase. He has since ceased and desisted from that phrase as well as many others. No good pro talks about being ‘explosive’ . If ‘explosive’ was the goal, timing wouldn’t matter so much cuz we could just be explosive and catch up to anything right? That damn common sense again...

The feel of being ‘explosive’ doesn’t really make sense. I could see feeling ‘powerful’ or ‘strong’. But explosive as a feel is not a good description. It causes well explosive problems such as but not exclusive to a flying hip or a pulled shoulder a lunging type action, pushing the pelvis, a rushed sequence, casting, dumping ... the list goes on and on... keep trying. One of these days I’ll let you win one... maybe ?

ps. The feel is strong or loaded, or ready, not explosive. And if your ‘strong’ the feel will be effortless. ?

 

[Mudders Brudder]

If the barrel is looping and coming up on the ball I see it similar to a top spin forehand in tennis... Nothing wrong with hitting middle either.. Top half is point of reference when swinging down to... My experience was when I just missed top half and didn't hit on a line those were the balls that were elevated..

So what would be your response to a hitter whose focus was on get behind the ball but continue to swing and miss or have inconsistent contact ?

Hmm, a topspin forehand is tennis is nothing at all similar to a baseball swing that coming from "behind" the ball. It does however come from the top "down to" the tennis ball at the player tries to turn the racket over the top of the ball to put the topspin on the ball to spin down into the ground on the other side of the net quicker.

Actually, an actual swing "down to" the ball path has shown to cause not only more GBs, but also slicing too much of the back of the ball creating too much back spin and producing more pop ups.

No argument that MLB hitters talk about "hitting the top half of the ball", and if a hitter has the right mechanics, and correct barrel path to the ball that all MLB have, than that's not a problem. But if a developing hitter doesn't have the correct path, and tries to learn how to swing with the "down to", "hit the top half of the ball" mindset....they'll do just that, swing "down to" the hit the top half of the ball, and pound it into the dirt, or at best catches a LD with topspin that short hops an infielder at his feet, and scoots by him.

 

[julray]

I've played a lot of outfield and I can tell you from personal experience top spin hits result from upper cut swings... very similar to a forehand in Tennis... minus the part the angle of the racket plays, same thing in table tennis.. the ball reacts to the bat the same way in baseball. Yes a steep swing can result in beating the ball into the ground.. but rarely is there any top spin on it

 

[Mudders Brudder]

Got it, I won't expect you comment on things that are open for interpretation going forward. It makes for difficult conversation, but I understand your limitations. Let's take TM out of the picture since you don't want to talk about what his intentions are when performing certain drills/demos.

Cool thanks, now I will happily discuss these questions with you!

When teaching your students TTB do you ever over exaggerate the movement as a teaching point? Do you ever break the swing down, get them to do isolation drills etc?

I don't necessarily teach my student TTB directly. What I do instead, is talk/show them the barrel path I'm look for from them. This is oftentimes done with a simple procedure (drill?) of having them get to a "perfect" contact position, and then back-chain their movements back to their already learned starting "PoP" ("FYB", leveraged") position.

Wrt using an "over exaggerated" movement while teaching? Yes, I will use the "SnF" drill, and sometimes a "one-leg" drill (not as often though) to help them learn how "the hips lead the hands" (Williams)...and forcing the barrel to come from behind the ball vs on top of it (or really under it for that matter).

I think the above things can also be considered "isolation drills" at least as how I see them, but if you have something more specific wrt them, need a more in depth explanation, or just my questions...please ask.

 

[Mudders Brudder]

I've played a lot of outfield and I can tell you from personal experience top spin hits result from upper cut swings... very similar to a forehand in Tennis... minus the part the angle of the racket plays, same thing in table tennis.. the ball reacts to the bat the same way in baseball. Yes a steep swing can result in beating the ball into the ground.. but rarely is there any top spin on it

Yes, I agree with the bold.