First try SnF

[mikecon]

Will most definitely try this...

Pronk, I think you may indeed have been onto something regarding the correlation of "front leg internally rotating"/" front heel being shown to the pitcher" and "RLWI". We had a chance to start removing that twist with some tee and soft toss in the yard Friday night (starting with exaggerated open front foot/leg) and he made it a point to keep it out of his BP at Saturday practice.

Now, first of all, I'm an idiot because I forgot to bring the camera to practice.

BUT, he was seriously mashing in BP. Not certain of all that contributed to this but I think less RLWI may have been a part of it.

More work and video confirmation to follow this week.

Thanks all!

[Pronk]

Well among other things I hope when I tell my kid not to do that....that he starts to feel deeper coil around in the back hip.

[mikecon]

The direction/swing thought given to him was we're trying this to: put the focus of coiling all on the rear hip (i.e., no competing actions on anything to do with the front hip/leg).
The justification given him was: to make it easier to coil in the rh and keep that front side completely out of way for the back side to come through.

I really did not ask him to do anything else different other than leaving the front hip/leg 'open' (foot/knee about 45° or so) and striding from this position to a landing on the ball of his foot in the same position.

From his perspective, often when I ask about subtle changes in feel I get a lot of, "I'm not sure", "I don't know", "Maybe", "Sort of", etc. Sometimes it takes extraordinary cross-examination skills. But in this case, I really didn't grill him.

While I don't yet have video to support whether "deeper coil" is evident, I think it was 'automatically' improved and the results were compelling.

[mikecon]

Wow, the season is flying by. Hope everyone is enjoying it!

Lots of games making it difficult to really work at substantial changes but trying to continue to tweak. Results have been a little inconsistent but overall pretty good.

Here are game swings from today (2-for-4). As always, observations, comments, thoughts, guidance, etc appreciated!...

Pop to shallow center off the handle

Double to left-center

Single to right-center

Chasing a low pitch hit hard into a 6-4-3 DP

[mikecon]

Teach, et al, does this look like progress/improvement re sequence/separation/staying behind corner?

[Al Oha]

Teach, et al, does this look like progress/improvement re sequence/separation/staying behind corner?

He gets "pulled off the barstool", more so on the right. The internally rotated front leg creates a body shape that wants to rotate the hips. He creates hemispheric rotation. That's what we do not want because he will not create a "corner".

If the hip joint is at the equator, he turns the bottom half south pole, followed by the top half north pole. The radius in rotation gets beyond the diameter of the rear hip socket to somewhere between the two hips. The shift of momentum forward exhibited in the right clip, in fact shifts his SCIP axis from the rear, into the front hip socket, for an even greater deviation from SnF.

With respect to the rear hip socket, he is doing what is shown on the right, below. We want him doing what is demonstrated on the left.




Teach's illustration is a legacy item. In making this more tangible:
In Matt's swings above, he coils into the click back across home plate, then uncoils towards the pitcher. He "coils" then "uncoils" at the hip as a "ball and socket joint" through and through.


He needs to coil into the click-back as a ball and socket joint, then reverse that click back as a hinge. Think about that.

[tom.guerry]

Great stuff Al !

I like the way you have fleshed out the theory and also:

"coil into the click-back as a ball and socket joint, then reverse that click back as a hinge"

Then you can "snap the ruler" to reverse the click back

[mikecon]

He gets "pulled off the barstool", more so on the right. The internally rotated front leg creates a body shape that wants to rotate the hips. He creates hemispheric rotation. That's what we do not want because he will not create a "corner".

If the hip joint is at the equator, he turns the bottom half south pole, followed by the top half north pole. The radius in rotation gets beyond the diameter of the rear hip socket to somewhere between the two hips. The shift of momentum forward exhibited in the right clip, in fact shifts his SCIP axis from the rear, into the front hip socket, for an even greater deviation from SnF.

With respect to the rear hip socket, he is doing what is shown on the right, below. We want him doing what is demonstrated on the left.




Teach's illustration is a legacy item. In making this more tangible:
In Matt's swings above, he coils into the click back across home plate, then uncoils towards the pitcher. He "coils" then "uncoils" at the hip as a "ball and socket joint" through and through.


He needs to coil into the click-back as a ball and socket joint, then reverse that click back as a hinge. Think about that.

Al,

Really appreciate your comments! Just struggling to get to a practical implementation of "coil into the click-back as a ball and socket joint, then reverse that click back as a hinge". Is this fairly restated as he is 'coiling into' his rear hip as opposed to 'coiling around'? And drilling that in is a matter of more/better one-leggedness? (e.g., Drew uppercut drill?) More/better hip resistance? (e.g.,SnF drill?) Or other suggestions regarding practical exercises/drills/checkpoints to deliver the optimal "coil into the click-back as a ball and socket joint, then reverse that click back as a hinge" mechanics?

Again, thank you very much for your interest and feedback!

mc


P.S. Pronk had suggested prior that getting rid of that internally rotated front leg/'showing heel to pitcher' thing inhibits good SnF. We got it out for a couple games but without constant reinforcement it's crept back in!

[Al Oha]

Fosbury Flop



The high level hitter will not reverse his click back as a hip socket joint. Otherwise, the hip stalls. In the same way a child is pushed up on a swing, the change a direction is heralded by a stall coming down. In SnF, the hitter will not allow such a pause. He will continue to increase the torsion in the hip socket by arching the back, to oppose inward forces turning leg and knee towards the incoming ball.

Look at the first frame in this jumper. The hip socket and knee in the plant leg are in flexion. A similar position is attained by the hitter in the click back. In the decision to swing, the hitter arches the back along the rear hip SCIP axis, as if to arch over the high bar behind him, in opposing the forces that open the front hip and turn the belly button to the pitcher. The hip socket is restricted to not revolute and reverse itself. The hip socket is instead, forced to become hinge with the top torso turning into a flap that explodes rearwards in converting the hip flexion (click back) into hip hyperextension (reversal of the click back).

[Al Oha]

Brandon gets into the click back as a ball and socket joint. In the side view, he produces a pronounced arch to his back in reversing the click back. In correlating this with the front view, his rear leg and knee can continue to veer to his right in the direction of the ball. He does so, restricting any shoulder rotation. His rear hip becomes a hinge through actions of the lower back. He launches rearward with an arch, keeping his shoulders squared at you looking into the camera. The bat comes straight at you when the hand swivels. Because he is one legged, he can easily continue to turn his belly button to the right into the direction of the ball even as the shoulder are kept squared. Torque in the hip socket gets augmented, and not dissipate if it were to continue as a ball-in-socket reversing its direction. The bat launches at you in this case, but he can veer "oppo" upon his choosing, into the direction of the ball as the rear leg turns and allowed to "win".

The hip changes from ball-in-socket into a hinge: Hip flexion in the click-back gets converted into hyperextension the reversal of that click-back. The rear hip becomes the engine that instantly pulls through in this conversion. it does not stall. The upper torso becomes a flap launched rearward. The scapula and rear elbow locked in adduction to the back as a fused assembly experiences a sudden rearward thrust. The rear elbow gets placed behind the corner so the top forearm can supinate, for the top hand to create a swivel.

[Pronk]

Off the top of my head, I remember so old BJ Upton clips where he showed the heel to the pitcher, but largely I can't think of anyone who does that.

And while you are doing your own thing MikeCon, I know there were guys taking money for lessons in SD who absolutely must have taught it because all of their hitters did it. I'll say this it feels very natural to kids and took some time to get rid of.

[Teacherman]

I like your post, Al Oha, except for one thing. The hinge.

The ball and socket joint coils into fusion. The hip and leg become one. And the leg drives the fused unit into/through contact. At some time after launch, I suppose, the hip does unhinge from the leg. But from a "What do I do" standpoint.....from a 'teaching what to do' standpoint....I don't like the terminology of the hip unhinging. To me, that leads the reader to believe that is what he is supposed to do. When in fact, what he does is.....he keeps the hip/leg fused.

He does his best to keep the resistance strong. He does that by resisting with the hip....and keeping it fused as long as he can....forcing the leg to drive. The momentum created by the process will eventually unhinge the hip/leg. But he doesn't do that.

[mikecon]

Off the top of my head, I remember so old BJ Upton clips where he showed the heel to the pitcher, but largely I can't think of anyone who does that.

And while you are doing your own thing MikeCon, I know there were guys taking money for lessons in SD who absolutely must have taught it because all of their hitters did it. I'll say this it feels very natural to kids and took some time to get rid of.

Matt was never taught that explicitly; just the typical toe-touch->heel-drop mechanic. He morphed into the current thing on his own.

When you brought it up previously, we went into the cage for a while and worked it out. It stayed out for the following game but then came back. Not nearly enough reps for proprioception.

P.S. A young Bryce Harper had that front foot/leg/hip action:

[mikecon]

Chipping away... I think things are slowly moving in the right direction... Some cage work from this afternoon...

[Teacherman]

These are the best I've seen from him.



Carry on.

Share your cues/instruction that has led him to these swings.