First try SnF

[mikecon]

Nice Mikecon!!

Hope the weather in Chitown has been better than here.

[LITHTHUNDER]

Hope the weather in Chitown has been better than here.

Ugh. no... been crappy here.. We started out the first week ok.. but we've been cancelled ever since.. played in some really crappy cold/flakes coming down on a couple days..

Looks like better weather to come for this week though!!

[mikecon]

Ugh. no... been crappy here.. We started out the first week ok.. but we've been cancelled ever since.. played in some really crappy cold/flakes coming down on a couple days..

Looks like better weather to come for this week though!!

Yuk.

I'm with ya... cold and windy -- Chicago-like! -- for the last three weeks.

Good luck!

[mikecon]

Bomb... Rising liner that didn't come down...

Teach, how do you feel about the stretch above? I think 'the belt loops' are working better. He had to pull his hands in a bit on this one to get at the up-and-in location, which always makes me feel a little compromise in stretch -- but the hand-pivot is able to close the deal.

I know you'd still like his 'tip' to be better sequenced with priming his GO. I tried but not enough reps for the change to show up. The reality is his 'tip' really isn't so much a tip as it is just something he does to keep his hands on notice. Will continue to chip away at that.

Here's a mixed bag of swings/locations/speeds... What other opportunities do you see?

[Teacherman]

While he tips it early.....it's not really a big part of his load/unload. His load....the equivalent of Josh Donaldson's tip....is his scap pull back that is quite clear a few frames after his tip. I'm not knocking his tipping action. It's perfectly fine if it is helpful in getting him going and into his routine. It's just a different pattern than people who launch from the tip.

To each his own.

I would like to see a better seamless transaction between load and unload. I want to see the load continue while becoming the unload. Not two separate moves. One continuous move that transforms from load to unload.

This is a key area. The difference between what he's doing and what is best is very fine....small...minute. But reaps huge benefits in timing when in the box. He's doing a lot right.....and reaping the rewards of all his work and willingness to listen. There is a very subtle difference that comes about when the hip is allowed to slip. I could easily call the hip slip 'no man's zone'....because the tendency is to not let it happen. It seems like there is a guard rail inside you that tells you 'that's too far'.....when in reality....that is exactly where you need to get to. It takes a good bit of trust to allow it.

My recommendation would be to start earlier, go slower, and in bp, don't swing but just confirm by voice as the pitch goes by that the hip slipped and it happened on time.....creating a launch window that has some adjustability. Learn that feeling. Learn to do it every time. Allow it every time. Then, after feeling it.....take cuts after allowing it to happen.

This swing by jsoriano.....



....gives me a tremendous feeling of LOWER BODY RUNNING START.....that is not compromised in any fashion once it starts. It just goes....keeps going....opens....and as a result, the arresting pull back load turns into a pull back unload. One move. It transforms from load to unload seamlessly. There is a definite 'release' feeling to the barrel turn. Release because of the power/stretch of the lower body continuous running start.

[mikecon]

While he tips it early.....it's not really a big part of his load/unload. His load....the equivalent of Josh Donaldson's tip....is his scap pull back that is quite clear a few frames after his tip. I'm not knocking his tipping action. It's perfectly fine if it is helpful in getting him going and into his routine. It's just a different pattern than people who launch from the tip.

To each his own.

I would like to see a better seamless transaction between load and unload. I want to see the load continue while becoming the unload. Not two separate moves. One continuous move that transforms from load to unload.

This is a key area. The difference between what he's doing and what is best is very fine....small...minute. But reaps huge benefits in timing when in the box. He's doing a lot right.....and reaping the rewards of all his work and willingness to listen. There is a very subtle difference that comes about when the hip is allowed to slip. I could easily call the hip slip 'no man's zone'....because the tendency is to not let it happen. It seems like there is a guard rail inside you that tells you 'that's too far'.....when in reality....that is exactly where you need to get to. It takes a good bit of trust to allow it.

My recommendation would be to start earlier, go slower, and in bp, don't swing but just confirm by voice as the pitch goes by that the hip slipped and it happened on time.....creating a launch window that has some adjustability. Learn that feeling. Learn to do it every time. Allow it every time. Then, after feeling it.....take cuts after allowing it to happen.

This swing by jsoriano.....



....gives me a tremendous feeling of LOWER BODY RUNNING START.....that is not compromised in any fashion once it starts. It just goes....keeps going....opens....and as a result, the arresting pull back load turns into a pull back unload. One move. It transforms from load to unload seamlessly. There is a definite 'release' feeling to the barrel turn. Release because of the power/stretch of the lower body continuous running start.

Awesome. Thank you. Will do.

So do you think that the practical matter for accomplishing "the hip slipped and it happened on time.....every time" is a matter of loading his hands later?

[Teacherman]

I think in your son's case its a matter of moving out more....more aggressively....earlier....but at a pace his pull backs can handle....which may redefine aggressively. It's very personal thing. You'll have to experiment with it. It may feel like it's alot to him....or it may feel like a little bit. But it will make a difference.

Lith, at the conference, thought he was doing it fine.....but was not early enough and therefore rushed his swing. He would hit some good ones....but on flips from 20 ft or so....he would swing and miss here and there. No reason to swing and miss on flips, right? When we got him to start earlier and slower, he raked immediately. The difference between right and wrong is very minute....but huge.

Trial and err.

[Teacherman]

The stretching 'around' the ball of the femur....that we've all learned to do....is very important in making sure the move out causes the hip/leg to open....and not just slide forward. Against that we create the corner. But the move out itself....the weight of the body moving forward....while one-legged....and attempted to be held back by the pull backs....increases the stretch to rubber band status. It truly leads to a release.

[mikecon]

Understood.

It's not that he's never done it before -- it's just not matured into his game swing.

Hope to get some cage/bp this weekend. Thank you again!

[mikecon]

I don't suspect you remember this... Sep 2013... wet balls in the wheel machine caused an unexpected 'change-up'...



...and an extreme (and accidental) example of what you are talking about when you say "release because of the power/stretch of the lower body continuous running start".

[mikecon]

No real work/progress on mechanics tweaks... but lots of success in the meanwhile... big boy on the hill sitting 88, touched 90... turning on some high cheese...

[Coachbob]

No real work/progress on mechanics tweaks... but lots of success in the meanwhile... big boy on the hill sitting 88, touched 90... turning on some high cheese...

The fact that he could hit that location so hard is testament to the leverage gained by the pattern and his hard work. Isolating the launch/impact one can see that the power is not generated by any arm move. I think this is a very good teaching clip. Bigfoot looks puzzled. lol..

[jsoriano]

No real work/progress on mechanics tweaks... but lots of success in the meanwhile... big boy on the hill sitting 88, touched 90... turning on some high cheese...

Nice rip! He's got some wheels too...made it to 2nd pretty fast!

[redwill]

Sweet! Impressive that he didn't get under a pitch that high!

[mikecon]

The fact that he could hit that location so hard is testament to the leverage gained by the pattern and his hard work. Isolating the launch/impact one can see that the power is not generated by any arm move. I think this is a very good teaching clip. Bigfoot looks puzzled. lol..

Matt later said specifically this was a very low effort swing. 'Not trying to do too much'.

While we know there's more stretch being left on the table as he continues to learn, he is 'just turning the barrel'.

Traditionalist witnesses consistently see "fast hands".

You are so right about leverage. Teach has cited it as "mechanical advantage" on many occasions.

The suddenness and the leverage that the pattern affords are why it's the (said, "T͟Hē") pattern.