Mini Update

[swingbuster]

It is amazing how few kids and amateur hitters do not get to lead leg extension before contact. Dead front foot hitting is lack of weight shift that makes the full hip turn before contact impossible. When you consider the power of the torque generated by the hips turn and you consider you are hitting the ball with less than a full hip turn , it should mean something

Jack is still a great read

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I do not think of the front leg as being “locked” at contact. I think it would be more accurate to think of the leg as being fully rotated and extended. A fully extended lead leg indicates a full rotation of the hips and shoulders were required for the swing

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[Stealth]

Here are a few clips from today.............

Better - we will continue to work at it.

[Stealth]

I like this one better.............

[dmac]

I see about a 20% improvement since yesterday....good job. He is getting some weight shift going. Not all the way there yet, but I love seeing instant improvement in the young hitters and we saw some today.
I would work on lowering his lead shoulder in his setup and upper half load too.

[Teacherman]

I recommend the vault.

Then "tip" the vault.

Then cock the knee as you tip the vault.

Then untip as you uncock as you shift and swing.

[Sandman]

Stealth,

Those GIFs are HUGE (6 and 7.5mb) and take a long time to open. I took the liberty of cropping them and reposting. They're now 1.8 and 2.2mb.

If you'd like to use these new smaller ones, please copy them to your webspace, then let me know so I can remove from mine.

Thanks,
Mike

[mike28nc]

to me, I am not sure. but looks like the swing plane is not matching the ball plane. The swing looks flat. Is it just me?

Mike

[Sandman]

The arms take over the swing. Watch the hips move. When they first get to facing the pitcher, hit the Stop button on your browser. Look how far out in front of the body the hands/arms have gotten.

I don't have time now, but maybe I (or someone else today) will grab the frame I'm talking about and post it.

[Lclifton]

Progress?--- You bet!
I see it as one step closer in the right hand (bottom?) clip.
It has a better knee "in".
Gets off the back side better in the other one...blending the two puts him that much closer.

[Stealth]

Mike,Sandman and others; I see what you see........

I think once I get him to fix his load with more forward momentum he will not have to use his arms so much. I think now he "feels" like he has to muscle the ball with his arms due to the lack of forard momentum and his hands/arms going backwards. If you notice the clip of Olerud his hands never move forward or backwords - he just unloads. This is what I need to keep working on with ministealth. The last clip is an improvement from before. As Dmac says - maybe a 20% difference.

It's baby steps - and dealing with an 11 year old makes it that more challenging. They only want to hear so much.

[Sandman]

It's baby steps - and dealing with an 11 year old makes it that more challenging. They only want to hear so much.

Oh, you got that right, for sure!

[Stealth]

Here is a clip from today. We still have many of the same issues to deal with. During this session he was working on pitch recognition with live pitching.

I think he has made progress that he can build on. His body seems to be working together better than it has in the past.

Getting off the backside is still an area he needs work on. At contact it looks ok, but goes backwards a little bit afterwords. We have worked on it - not sure if it's a strength problem..........

[Sandman]

Stealth,

I cropped your latest GIF (and removed the blank last frame), reducing the size from 4.8mb to 1.3mb.

Very athletic, repeatable swing. He s/b able to make a lot of good contact w/ it.

Have you considered asking him to try to get his hands up a bit more during his stride, so that when he lands on his toe, they're at the top of the strike zone?


I've seen a lot of lefties tho that are very successful punching the ball the other way and usually on lower pitches. But just a thought that might help w/ gettign around on the higher stuff.

[swingbuster]

When his hips are opening his barrel is going back now. THat is good. BHUT or tipping usually assures the over lap and he has it now. Heel drop and barrel reversing

Let me offer you a thought about the lower body.

If you DO move you COM and center or pressure of the lead foot; when your hips turn fully the back foot nearly has to drag. You cannot keep the same spread of your feet as your hips turn as a rule.

tell him to stride AND MAINTAIN AND GET THE HINGE ANGLE TO RELEASE OUT FRONT and he will shift IMO. You should see his back foot slide some

[Stealth]

Sandman - thanks for resizing the clip. I reposted it from my webspace.

I am not a fan of starting with higher hands. However mini has a tendency to drop them when he loads a bit too much. I really am trying to stress to him that they should stay pretty much where he starts them at. I know Bonds and others move them around a bunch but they are the best of the best. He does have problem on the high pitch if he loads incorrectly, or he is late getting the foot down etc. or he tries to muscle up. Point taken - I am aware of it.