Critique / Help Series of Swings - Part 2

[bullethead]

Nice job Knight and daughter. Been the most constructive set of posts for one student that I have seen on this board. Now if I can just get my daughter (and the rest of our team) on this track. Lol.

 

[SBFAMILY]

knightsb, did I see her swing on Hi. Looks nice.

 

[RayR]

Nice job, Olivia on the improved swings and Knight for the soundtrack!!

RE: lower back - I agree with Marcus that it looks very improved....but.....she still has an internal timing issue to work out - giving up a little too quick....still jumping at the ball a bit......which is awesome as it allows for even more improvement.

The bat turning looks really good - the back arm and barrel connection are much tighter and the front arm issue is pretty much gone....

Excellent work - please tell Olivia awesome job and that as much she may dislike the deep tee - she should keep challenging herself with it. How far back is the tee set?

Ray

 

[RayR]

sorry knight - I meant in relation to her back foot?

 

[softballphreak]

Great improvement!! I agree that she should keep working the deep tee. Throw mostly outside pitches when doing front toss, also; with the goal being to hit the right field gap. Look for outside outside pitch, turn on an inside pitch.

 

[MountieSB]

knightsb, Tell O she's doing a fantastic job - her work ethic is something I wish all of my high school players had!

Things I would continue to work on (this is really nitpicky, but she's working too hard not to keep refining things!):

1. As everyone has mentioned, keep hammering away at the deep tee work. She needs to keep working on getting that feel of hitting the ball deeper. She'll get to see it longer and be able to adjust to speed and location in addition to being more powerful by hitting it deeper.

2. Her grip - She holds the bat deep in her palms, especially the top hand. When you hold it there, you're driving off of soft tissue (the gap between the thumb and the index finger), which isn't ideal for creating leverage. To improve leverage, I would have her start to hold the bat in the fingers, that way she'll be driving off of bone. Some people call it the "hammer grip" or "fishing rod grip." (I believe this photo is FiveFrameSwing's. It isn't mine, and I give credit to whomever it belongs to.)



3. It looks like she short-arms the follow-through of her swing. This may sound odd, but even though she's short arming after contact, it can have an effect on her swing before contact. I would use the two-tee drill, where you place balls on two tees, one in front of the other, on the path of the bat and have her drive both balls. This will have her finish longer on a more elliptical path. See the MLB swing in this thread for an idea of what a good follow-through can look like. I also like to tell my hitters "Stay long" even after contact.

Keep up the great work!

 

[knightsb]

sorry knight - I meant in relation to her back foot?

MTS, The x's represent where her feet are positioned before stride.

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Thanks for the before and after pics. That looks a lot better.

 

[knightsb]

Great improvement!! I agree that she should keep working the deep tee. Throw mostly outside pitches when doing front toss, also; with the goal being to hit the right field gap. Look for outside outside pitch, turn on an inside pitch.

Thanks phreak, we will keep on with the deep tee and work the outside.

Things I would continue to work on (this is really nitpicky, but she's working too hard not to keep refining things!):
1. Deep tee work.
2. Her grip
3. It looks like she short-arms the follow-through of her swing.

Keep up the great work!

Thanks MountieSB, We will work on the above. Regarding #3, this may be a byproduct of me harping on her to not arm bar.

 

[knightsb]

I didn't want to hijack the "Stop Squishing The Bug" thread, but bullethead had a good point.

I have no agenda hidden or otherwise. I haven't ripped on anyone that says stuff that doesn't work for me, but I will not hesitate to recommend things that have proven beneficial if it will accelerate some other dad's learning process.

My honest assessment is that there are many posters that simply think "it is my way or the highway" and when new ideas are proffered they simply say that is some stupid s**t and never get off their posterior and try to duplicate

bullethead, well said. Before my DDs hitting thread which was posted on 01/28/2013, I had never even heard of HI. Had never been to the website. Had never heard of SnF. I was never a BB player, just played some rec slow pitch. Honestly, I am not very good at swinging the bat. I have learned the Hansen Principle over the years on this site and use it to help guide my DD through this process.

The Hanson Principle (… the one to use)
“Always compare what anybody tells you about the swing to slow motion clips of the best hitters in the world”.
-- Mark Hanson

Sometimes certain examples or instruction just clicks with one person where is might not with another. I got lucky that MTS and redhotcoach took an interest in my DDs thread and we tried some of their suggestions. I am in no position to tell someone else that this process will work for them, I just hope parents use the Hanson Principle, and keep an open mind to reasonable suggestions.

 

[mann]

Nice job, Olivia on the improved swings and Knight for the soundtrack!!

RE: lower back - I agree with Marcus that it looks very improved....but.....she still has an internal timing issue to work out - giving up a little too quick....still jumping at the ball a bit......which is awesome as it allows for even more improvement.

The bat turning looks really good - the back arm and barrel connection are much tighter and the front arm issue is pretty much gone....

Excellent work - please tell Olivia awesome job and that as much she may dislike the deep tee - she should keep challenging herself with it. How far back is the tee set?

Ray

Knightsb, how did you fix the front arm barring?