Starting this material with youth hitters- system, progression

[Jjblume]

Would need to have video to help with that situation. Likely head/vision problem when swinging under and popping up. Wrist roll over is a possible cause of dribblers.. Need video.

Hes pulling off. Visions fine...head lays down bcz hes pulling off and rotating shoulders real early

[Teacherman]

Shoulders should never rotate. The fused torso unit must laterally tilt over/around the ball of the rear femur at go. In fact, the hitter should do his best to not let the shoulders rotate. The bat must be swung around the forearms not around the spine.

[Teacherman]

Watch Mamnys bat swing perpendicular to and around the rear forearm.

[HitzAllDay]

I do see the shoulders rotating. Would a more accurate description be the shoulders don't rotate until after the swing has been launched?

[Teacherman]

If I have a rectangular box that is pivoting about the lower rear corner, would you say it is rotating about a central axis?

[RayR]

I only see shoulder (upper spine) rotation after contact in the Manny clip. The rear leg turns the coiled hip which turns the pelvis which syncs/grabs/links/hitches up with the tilting torso. The shoulders are along for the ride.

[BlueBloodBaseball]

In response to the original question...

I am coaching a 12u team this year. We are having some good success (.667 win % at the moment). As the manager of the team, I try to make sure I am not bogging down my athletes with all long winded descriptions of the swing...

In my opinion, an athlete does not learn new mechanics by focusing so much on the body; rather, it is the focus of what the bat is supposed to do and where you want the ball to go that helps the body learn the SnF mechanics more rapidly. The human mind learns motor behaviors at an unconscious level, not at a cognizant level.

Therefore, in addition to what others have been saying, I try to make my focus task oriented, and I try to make as few corrections as possible in order to limit confusion and regression. The kids are 12 and have very little understanding of the different parts of their body, but they know what the goal is when the step into the batters box.

I teach a lot of barrel turn with the emphasis of not letting the hands get to the ball but the BARREL getting there.

I teach the lasering technique that comes with the barrel turn. I try to get them to envision slicing the ball from the bottom to the top as if there is a light saber coming out of the handle of the bat.... the barrel will follow immediately behind the light saber.

I put the ball on the tee and position the ball fairly deep in the hitter's stance. I tell him to focus on hitting down on the inside seam but sending the ball up the middle of the field. I point out if he hit the inside seam or came around and hit the outside seam. I want him to feel the difference, and I want him to figure out how to use his scap/lower back/hip/hands to make it work on his own.

I encourage kids to take an uppercut swing and try to hit balls into the air and ask them what they feel. With my guided eye, I determine if they are feeling some HI mechanics. If they are, I ask if they can use that same feeling and start hitting line drives with it.

Recently, I started putting my 33" end loaded wood bat in my players hands. I threw them some easy front toss from behind the screen. I expected two of my bigger kids to be able to swing it, but to my surprise, every single kid started making better swings (I think the hollow metal rods we put in kids hands is a giant proponent to amateur mechanics being endorsed).

I draw lines in the dirt of the on deck circle (imagine the inside lines of a peace sign). I tell the athlete to focus on getting his bat to speed up on the line behind him (pointed toward oppo field) and to let the bat follow through on the line that is pointing to the pitcher.

I try to get my players say the words "pitch" as the pitch is released and "hit" as they make contact with the ball in order to shut down their conscious mind and allow the body to take over. It also helps them understand the window of opportunity the HI mechanics create.

But, again, back to my original point... as the manager of the team, I cannot critique every little detail of every swing on the team. It will undoubtedly crush some of their spirits as they struggle and the team morale will suffer as a whole. I do everything I can to be a constant encourager and motivator of my players and put the pressure on myself not having found the right coaching cues instead of them not picking up what I know to work.

Finally, I stress quality at bats above all else. I tell my players I do not care if they never getting any hits for the whole year just so long as they are getting runners over when they make contact and are seeing a lot of pitches throughout the AB. When the whole lineup does this, it has a tremendous effect to how many runs we are putting up as a team and how we are playing in the field.

[HitzAllDay]

I only see shoulder (upper spine) rotation after contact in the Manny clip. The rear leg turns the coiled hip which turns the pelvis which syncs/grabs/links/hitches up with the tilting torso. The shoulders are along for the ride.

Thank you for the CLEAR explanation

[HitzAllDay]

If I have a rectangular box that is pivoting about the lower rear corner, would you say it is rotating about a central axis?

I do not know, But in trying to visualize Id say , What is the lower rear corner? Is the box the forearms?

[HitzAllDay]

1. the barrel path
2. the load
3. put it together

Here's a kid I just started working with. Great kid...not the most athletic, but she takes instruction pretty well and does what I ask her to at home and is getting no outside interference from her head coach or dad.

The 'before' swing they sent me before our first lesson
https://youtu.be/WmnztPRPZvw

Some stuff we worked on during our second lesson.

1Legged stop swing with arm bar (1Legged stance could be better):


1Legged stop swing w/o arm bar (1Legged stance could be better):


No stride, load&half swing tee:


No stride, load&half swing soft toss:


Happy Gilmore:


Work in progress.

how did you make that arm bar. Is that store bought or home made?

[HitzAllDay]

1. the barrel path
2. the load
3. put it together

Here's a kid I just started working with. Great kid...not the most athletic, but she takes instruction pretty well and does what I ask her to at home and is getting no outside interference from her head coach or dad.

The 'before' swing they sent me before our first lesson
https://youtu.be/WmnztPRPZvw

Some stuff we worked on during our second lesson.

1Legged stop swing with arm bar (1Legged stance could be better):


1Legged stop swing w/o arm bar (1Legged stance could be better):


No stride, load&half swing tee:


No stride, load&half swing soft toss:


Happy Gilmore:


Work in progress.

What a great post/ Makes sense. Clear examples!

[jsoriano]

I do not know, But in trying to visualize Id say , What is the lower rear corner? Is the box the forearms?

1. What is the lower rear corner? [The rear hip]
2. Is the box the forearms? [No, the box is the fused torso...pelvis included.]

[jsoriano]

how did you make that arm bar. Is that store bought or home made?

The one in the clip is store bought, but I also use the homemade ones that have been posted here and they work just as good and kids say they are more comfortable than store bought ones.

[jsoriano]

"...not the most athletic, but she takes instruction pretty well and does what I ask her to at home and is getting no outside interference from her head coach or dad."

What do you ask them to do at home?

Varies, but for this kid I've asked to work on the same drills she is doing in the clips. I have another kid that is starting to hit the ball well and her swing flaw was coming around the ball so I had her doing a lot of outside contact point tee work driving the ball over the 2nd baseman's head. So just depends on the kid and what we are working on.

[RayR]

Varies, but for this kid I've asked to work on the same drills she is doing in the clips. I have another kid that is starting to hit the ball well and her swing flaw was coming around the ball so I had her doing a lot of outside contact point tee work driving the ball over the 2nd baseman's head. So just depends on the kid and what we are working on.

I started using the rear legged swings with a tee even with rear foot. Focus on hitting line drives to oppo field. One hitter uisng drill hit 2 yesterday to oppo field. One was caught in RC gap other one hopped fence for 3 run double. This is from a player that never hits oppo.

This is a really good drill.

Basically this drill but full swing to oppo field


And make back foot even with tee