Questions about my son's swing

[YHF]

This is my 12 yr old son. His main problem a couple years ago was being late on everything so his instructor taught him a 2-step swing where he gets out on his toe early, then drops the heel to start everything. It's not a perfect long-term solution of course but it's worked well to this point. He hits for a good average and with good power.

My main issue at this point is that it looks like he's exaggerated some stuff in the swing. For one, I think he's gotten too wide which I believe is evidenced by the fact that after toe touch, his front foot actually lands further back in his stance. Also, because of that (I suspect) he has this little 'jump' now where he kind of stands up a bit to get the lower body going and get off his back foot.

Watching the 3-4 frames leading up to contact he doesn't look too bad. But I'm concerned about the wide stance and the little stand up move he has to do to get the lower body going. I'm wondering if narrowing his stance a bit might help.

Please provide me some feedback if you would. Thanks.


http://yhf12.hittingillustrated.com/...g%20Review.mov

[go cardinals]

Wow... hard to tell from this angle, but I like it a lot!

[Pronk]

From this angle it seems as if the hips are on hold until the heel is planted. Still it's pretty good though. I think from the other angle I see some separation.

The toe up stuff is fine, as long as he is still getting a push into the front side.

[YHF]

Thanks for the feedback so far.

He hit the ball really well last year and even though he had the 2-step swing, he still got off his backside well enough that I didn't try to change anything. But during this winter he's gotten into this 'standing' movement (watch it frame-by-frame to see what I mean) to get off his backside. His eye level goes up quite a bit and though he looks ok after that point, I'm confused by this movement.

[Teacherman]

Sorry it took me so long to post. I've got two computers and if you could combine them I'd have 90% of one computer.

The one that "runs" all the time....won't play .mov's because my quicktime is outdated. I can't connect and download a new version because for some reason, this computer won't go to any secure site.

So....I need my laptop to see .movs......and it crashes all the time.

Anyway...



This kid is pretty good. Well within the pattern. I'm not a fan of the toe tap but several big league players do it. So...if he likes it, do it. It doesn't appear to hurt the timing of his weight shift.

What I think he could improve on is the stretch. And I would attack that by showing him this clip.



Both your son and Kent have the lower body moving forward early in the process. Both seem to have the "go" synced with the weight shift. But, watch Kent's hands/upper body load back AS his lower body goes forward. He doesn't load the upper body/hands back, hold them there as the hips open, then swing. He moves the upper back AS the lower moves forward. This will give him a better stretch which will give him a more sudden launch, which will help him catch up to quick pitching while being able to adjust to offspeed....AND....it will increase his power.

You do this by coiling both the upper and the lower back first and then allow the lower to open as the upper continues back. A well timed lifting of the front foot (stride) and a well timed push of the back foot help this AS the upper loads back. Practicing this so that it can be done with no pauses is critical. Notice in Kent nothing pauses. Not his hips...not his hands...no his upper body...not his barrel.

Currently, while he's "in pattern", he's not optimizing it and still has a kind of brute strength "go" versus a stretch and fire. He needs the rhythm of the Kent style move to real help stretch and eventual fire.

I believe he can pick this up quickly. It's real simple. And it gives more output than the input.

This better stretch will create a "launch window" that is manageable. Meaning...he will be able to launch early in the window for the fastball.....or late in the window for the offspeed pitches with little to no loss of power or launch quickness.

[YHF]

Is there a way to view these .gif clips in frame-by-frame? I can't see enough at full speed.

[Teacherman]

Yes. On any clip I post with a teachersbilliards address do the following. (these steps are not necessary if they have a hittingillustrated address.....I've had to use teachersbilliards almost predominantly lately due to my computer problems).

Right click on the clip...choose properties.

Triple left click on the link address to highlight it.

Hit ctrlC to copy the address.

Put your cursor in the address bar of your browser.

Hit ctrlV to paste it there.

Hit enter.

The clip should play.

Hit refresh. (IMPORTANT STEP)

The right click again. Choose "save picture as". Choose where you want to save it.

You're all set. Open quicktime and choose that clip from whereever you saved it.

[YHF]

Both your son and Kent have the lower body moving forward early in the process. Both seem to have the "go" synced with the weight shift. But, watch Kent's hands/upper body load back AS his lower body goes forward. He doesn't load the upper body/hands back, hold them there as the hips open, then swing. He moves the upper back AS the lower moves forward. This will give him a better stretch which will give him a more sudden launch, which will help him catch up to quick pitching while being able to adjust to offspeed....AND....it will increase his power.

I was able to follow your instructions on how to get the .gif clip to quicktime for frame-by-frame analysis....thanks.

Regarding the stretch, the toe touch that my son does seems to make following your advice more difficult. When he strides to toe touch, he loads a bit with the hands, then stops, then starts everything again without further loading. If he needs to be loading the hands while the lower body is moving forward into the swing, it seems I need to instruct him to start loading the hands/raise the rear elbow/whatever at heel drop rather than at toe touch.

Does that make sense? Can you think of a better way to communicate this to him?

[HYP]

I was able to follow your instructions on how to get the .gif clip to quicktime for frame-by-frame analysis....thanks.

Regarding the stretch, the toe touch that my son does seems to make following your advice more difficult. When he strides to toe touch, he loads a bit with the hands, then stops, then starts everything again without further loading. If he needs to be loading the hands while the lower body is moving forward into the swing, it seems I need to instruct him to start loading the hands/raise the rear elbow/whatever at heel drop rather than at toe touch.

Does that make sense? Can you think of a better way to communicate this to him?

YHF,

Your son does have a nice swing. if you look at the Kent clip he does start his lower body early, but not as early as your son. This allows him to load as his stride foot goes forward because ther is not much "down" time between toe touch and "go".

What I see in your son is a double stride. Although he is not actually striding twice he does stride and then the "second" stride is the coming up to get the bat moving, a little bit of brute force. IMO if he is going to hit this way then I would have him get to toe touch and load at heel drop. Maybe have him try a no stride swing.

Thinking about what you said in your first post, about him being late. Have you tried a toe tap with him, similar to Bonds. Instead of striding forward first, try having his first "stride" back to toe tap and then stride forward as he loads. This may help. Have him think of his normal stride time but go back first, when he normally would come up to power the bat have him move to a forward stride.

Try to get him to understand that the lead foot does not have to be down in order to initiate the swing with the hands. The front foot will get down as the swing takes place. This will help create the stretch.

I hope that is not to confusing.

Good luck,

HYP

[YHF]

YHF,

Try to get him to understand that the lead foot does not have to be down in order to initiate the swing with the hands. The front foot will get down as the swing takes place. This will help create the stretch.

I get what you're saying. Thanks for the advice. I saw in his clip that his rear elbow began slotting before his front heel was down. I read that as a lack of separation. Not sure if that interpretation is valid or not.

This may seem silly but I probably won't do anything to his swing right now. Last year in 11u he was the only kid on our team that could hit the mid-60's pitchers we saw in tournaments, and he hit them with authority. With the 12u pitching distance being the same as last year (50 ft.), the overall speed of the pitching is going to be quicker (same distance, pitchers are all a year older). Quickness will be very important this year and he's very quick the way he hits now.

I will probably try to make some changes leading up to his 13u season (54ft. rubber) or 14u season (60.5ft rubber). The pitching will "slow up" if you know what I mean. The increase in pitching distance will overcome slight increases in velocity the next 2 years.

My son already plays up on our older 14u team (he played some tournaments and fall ball with this older team last year and was one of the better hitters even though he was only 11). The faster velocities actually helped him hit better. Didn't have to wait on any lollypop stuff.

Sorry for the rambling. Thanks again for your help HYP. It is much appreciated.