Announcement

Collapse

Step One For New Members

If you are reading this, you are in the main forum....where all the good discussion and exchange of ideas occurs.

Instructional threads are 'stickied' to the top of this forum page in an effort to get new members to see the work that gets done here. There are 5 different threads of a dad and his kid, going through the HittingIllustrated process. They are quite instructional. I think you'll be impressed with what you see. The kid's progress is amazing. One of them is now a D1 player who chose college after being drafted. Another is a DII college player. A third is his brother who is now in high school. The fourth is a current high school freshman. And the fifth is my son who is now out of college and playing amateur fastpitch softball. Take a look. The terminology is likely to confuse you at first. But do your best to understand.

Then, there is another forum titled The Second Engine, found just below this one on the main page, which consists of 18 threads that have been chosen as 'good reads' for new members to get 'up to snuff' on what is taught here.

It is my recommendation that you spend your first hour or so in that forum reading those threads. Then, come here to ask questions. We love it when clips of hitters are posted.

And here is a link to an Instructional Starter Pak. It has the basic information. There are many details that go with each step that are too cumbersome to put in the Pak.

Instructional Starter Pak

MAKE THE BEST USE OF YOUR TRIAL PERIOD
POST A CLIP OF YOUR SON OR DAUGHTER
I'LL GIVE YOU AN ANALYSIS AND A RECOMMENDATION.

If I were you, I'd concentrate on figuring out what the Hand Pivot Point and what the Rear Hip Pivot Point are....and how they are synced together to create the high level swing.

Welcome.
See more
See less

Bat Drag

Collapse
X
Collapse
 
  • Page of 1
  • Filter
  • Time
  • Show
Clear All
new posts
Previous template Next
  • #1

    Bat Drag

    Just starting a separate thread for bat drag and arm bar. Common youth swing flaw, and difficult to fix.

    Here is a clip of my older boy. Fly out to left field. Plenty of swing flaws, but making improvement (not lunging, not stepping in bucket, less slack/slop).

    Comments later...

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=006Gzu40ccM
    Tags: None
    • Flag
  • #2
    I have read up quite a bit on bat drag, and am still digging in on it. I find it interesting that it is somewhat hard to see at full speed with the naked eye, and it's not something the hitter can feel. Watching on modern video in slow motion, it is very obvious and almost looks painful.

    I have been very fascinated lately with vision and timing, and spend as much time on that with my boys as I do with the swing itself. I don't want to hammer one flaw too much at once, because I don't want it to be drudgery for Will, so this may take a while.

    So I am picking away at it with my son. If you watch the above youtube video, and pause it at the beginning, you can go frame by frame on a pc by clicking on the period symbol. Will gets no scap load in his game swing, and does not resist the turning rear hip. Also, the swing is initiated by his rear pec and anterior deltoid. I think the first step in fixing this is awareness, and then giving alternative constraints and feels. He is still getting away with it, so I don't want to screw him up too bad while wood bat league is still on.

    Lets see how this goes over the next few months.
    • Flag

    Comment

    • #3
      Idle hands are the devil's playground.

      My sons had a pair of sibling brothers over this weekend. We played vitilla in the garage for a bit. Neither of the other boys were ball players.

      The older boy used a pushy swat to hit the caps. He was hitting them pretty well with his swing. His younger brother gave it a go, and immediately he threw his rear arm elbow forward to drag the bat. In this situation- using a wiffle bat to hit flying water jug caps- there are no forces to overcome. That just seemed to be his interpretation of how to move a bat, just natural for some kids. It's all timing and hand-eye coordination to play that game. I got the younger dude to pivot his top hand, and keep the elbow out of it, and his success was immediately better.

      This made me wonder if the 12 year old was more focused on what he was hitting, and the 11 year old was more focused on what he was hitting with.

      That led me to thinking about oar locks, frisbees, and high pitches...
      Last edited by garvancarver; 09-04-2017, 06:26 AM.
      • Flag

      Comment

      • #4
        If there is not an assigned role for a body segment, then there's a decent chance the unassigned segments will either not function properly, or will inhibit correct or useful functions of other segments. Idle hands are the devil's playground.

        With a racing rear elbow, it seems like the bat movement strategy is a torso turn while pushing that elbow forward, followed by a push of the bat that pivots through the elbows. What I want to create is a rear arm strategy and focus as a centerpiece of a new set of joint articulations.

        We started with the rear hand/wrist/forearm. The danger here I suppose could be that we introduce new wrong patterns to replace the old wrong patterns. I don't think most kids have stable movement patterns anyway. Even deeply engrained movements can be retrained in a motivated learner.

        I will try to grab some video and post some details and ideas.
        • Flag

        Comment

        • #5
          Originally posted by garvancarver View Post
          If there is not an assigned role for a body segment, then there's a decent chance the unassigned segments will either not function properly, or will inhibit correct or useful functions of other segments. Idle hands are the devil's playground.

          With a racing rear elbow, it seems like the bat movement strategy is a torso turn while pushing that elbow forward, followed by a push of the bat that pivots through the elbows. What I want to create is a rear arm strategy and focus as a centerpiece of a new set of joint articulations.

          We started with the rear hand/wrist/forearm. The danger here I suppose could be that we introduce new wrong patterns to replace the old wrong patterns. I don't think most kids have stable movement patterns anyway. Even deeply engrained movements can be retrained in a motivated learner.

          I will try to grab some video and post some details and ideas.
          I don't think you can introduce new wrong patterns if you just focus on turning the barrel immediately.
          • Flag

          Comment

          • #6
            Originally posted by RayR View Post
            I don't think you can introduce new wrong patterns if you just focus on turning the barrel immediately.
            Yup...simplify it to just that goal...and elbows/shoulders will do what they're supposed to do.
            • Flag

            Comment

            • #7
              I took some video today of my older boy going through a make-shift progression, but I have been thinking a bit since then, and have some modifications. I will shoot some video of my ideas and post them.

              Along the lines of what JSoriano said, I am assigning tasks for the rear wrist/forearm, and then for the lead elbow and forearm.

              Not meaning to draw this out or be too vague and enigmatic. My goal with my son is to make sure the rear arm is moving toward a better pattern, then add the lead arm. When those work together, shoulder angle and rear hip can be added.
              • Flag

              Comment

              Previous template Next
              Working...
              X