The Bat....The Stake.....The Pole Snap

[Teacherman]

I made this side by side clip and posted it in the thread about the college hitters.



After making it and looking at it over and over I have a new take on the cue "snap the pole".

This weekend I posted about how the one-legged hitting involves the proper weight shift (at 'go'....not before) which leads to the 'sit' and the lowering of the center of gravity. And Tom added how the resistance of the upper body assists that process.

In the past we've used the pole to talk about the proper hand action. And we talked about how the lower body 'preps' for the upcoming task.

Here is a clip of the pole drill I'm speaking of.



But we didn't really speak much about using the pole to develop the 'feel' of arresting the forward momentum and turning it into the separation process which leads to the 'sit'. The part Tom has been talking about. The part of the upper body resistance and how it works.

Well.....see if this makes sense to you.

However you hold the bat (tipped, vertical, 45, whatever) imagine that the bat is 'staked' into the ground from below the knob. Or, said another way, imagine the bat is the pole that I've referred to above. Basically, imagine that as you start your forward momentum, the hands will not come with it, because they are essentially 'stationery' due to the imaginery 'stake' in the ground. Resistance is offered.

What would happen? If you actually were holding onto a pole and you attempted to create some forward momentum by pushing off the ground with your rear foot, from a one-legged weighted position, and with this stationery pole thought, your body will feel the resistance, the forward momentum will slow/stop, and the hips will begin to turn open. And you will sit.

So.....how do you create that resistance in real life? Without a pole?

See Bonds above. If the 'body walks away from the hands' AS you push with the rear foot....you should feel some stretch. Some resistance. Let the leg continue to push and your forward momentum is arrested and your hips will naturally open. AND...you sit. AND....at least with me....I get that torsion spring feeling in my body....that overlap feeling....AND the barrel seems to float into a launch position from which it is easily turned with the hands.

AND.....what I feel is a different stretch that in the past. I feel a direct connection of my hands to my lead hip. Like there is a string or a rope connecting them and I don't feel it across my chest or lower torso as much as through my lead arm to the hands......the bypass.

Compare Bonds and Wallace above. That is what got me going down this path. While Wallace is 'close to the pattern'....he is not quite right. He is not the same as Bonds. He doesn't get the overlap that Bonds gets. And the large difference I see is that he doesn't get that tug from the string that connects the hands directly to the lead hip. He doesn't get that 'forward momentum turned into separation because of the upper body resistance' that I see in Bonds.

Notice Wallace's barrel is stationery until 'go'. Bonds' is already in motion long before 'go'....in the rearward arc. Bonds' 'forward momentum turned into separation because of the upper body resistance' is doing that. His hip opening...sitting...barrel float...is all one movement...the running start...the overlap...the torsion spring (spine) working.

Maybe.....just maybe.....maybe Yonder uses resistance better than Wallace. Their advancement through the minors will be interesting.

[tom.guerry]

excellent explanation of the right way to walk away from hands !!!

[Pronk]

I agree with Tom good explanation. Might even be a little more simple to teach this way (near a pole).

[Teacherman]

I could be all wet.

But I think this thread may be the most important one I've ever started.

It's of Holy Grail stature.

Either few agree with me or I haven't explained myself well.

This clip of Griffey and a lefty HG may help illustrate the role of resistance in the swing.



Gem

I believe you are very close. I believe I know the answer to why you can't get the swivel and I believe it is related to the 'pole'.

Yeager said you have the lower body 'magic move'. I say you're close. You are doing with your lower body what it takes....but your upper body is not providing the resistance for it to respond properly.

In the slowmo clip, just after the writing, notice the distance between your hands and your rear hip belt line increase as you go forward up until 'go'. This is forward momentum. However, your hips pretty much remain closed. And there is simply too much to do in too little time when you decide to 'go'. Better use of the 'wait' time (by developing this resistance) will get you into a better position and shorten that swing.

Notice the same distance in Griffey. There is very little, if any, increase in that distance. He has arrested forward momentum by 'grabbing the pole' and the energy has turned into rotation....and that distance remains relatively constant as the hips open. This causes him to sit. No loss of energy....just redirected into rotation. This leads to the torsion spring feeling in the body/spine as everything rotates about the rear hip pivot point. This sit, or this lowering of the center of gravity, this 'weighted rear hip feeling' connects the upper body to the lower body. If there were gears involved, the lowering of the weight would engage the gears. This connection...this sit, and the corresponding action of the upper body, creates the torsion spring effect which lays the barrel into the rearward arc plane so the swivel becomes a natural thing to do from there. In other words, the sit action adjusted the bat/body alignment so the swivel into the rearward arc is much more natural.

"Stake" your knob into the ground....or....'grab the pole'....and develop some resistance to forward movement in your hands. Get the feeling of your hands arresting your forward movement. It's not the feeling of pushing the hands back. It's a feeling of the body trying to walk away but the hands won't let it. Yet the foot keeps pushing.

DO NOT CHANGE WHAT YOUR LOWER BODY IS DOING....just get some resistance upstairs.

And watch your hips open earlier....like Griffey's....and all the greats. Watch yourself 'sit'....lke all the greats.

[Teacherman]

We talk alot about the lower body running start. And the running start of the barrel.

IMO, this is the HOW. This is HOW the lower body running start "runs" yet never gets loose. This is HOW it 'runs' but never commits until the hands let it. As it trys to get loose....the hands restrict it....and energy builds up leading to the stretch and fire feeling.

THIS resistance creates the 'stretch' you're looking for. I no longer see it as separation between the upper and lower body....as in....upper hemisphere versus lower hemisphere. I think of it more as the hips forward momentum being held back by the hands WHILE THE LEG KEEPS PUSHING, and therefore turned into rotation against the resistance of those hands.

It's very similar to having one foot on the brake while the other is on the accelerator......which leads to the suddenness....the cusp.

And I believe there is a direct link between the hips and the hands....which, by feel, not only eliminates the shoulders.....but the torso also.

This is HUGE.

[tom.guerry]

another triple bingo !!!

upper body resisting/synching with lower body with coiling requiring sit to stay loaded into back hip so you can shift when/where necessary for best support at GO.

there is a time limit after which you get stuck on the front foot.

jones describes the feel in golf:

"I have the feeling that during the first part of the downstroke ("GO") I am pulling against something. There really is nothing to pull against except the tension in my own muscles - set up by the effort of the stroke. More or less rapidly this is overcome, and finally wrists, body, arms, and legs all join to deliver their power simultaneously."

[Teacherman]

THE LOWER BODY STALL

The rear foot push must start as soon as you pick up your lead foot to coil. Any later and you'll struggle to 'get there' on time against quality pitching.

All I've described above is illustrated in these clps. And while it looks minor it is a big deal.



Brandon has 'lucked' into doing things right....and hit the crap out of the ball....and then gets frustrated when things aren't right....and not knowing why.

All three of the balls hit in these clips were hit hard. Yet, the lower body is different in each clip.

The clip on the left is in our Church League....which has a lot of rookie/beginning pitchers.

The clip in the center is against the best pitcher in the midwest.

The clip on the right is against good pitching......and he hit three HR's in a doubleheader that night. With other hits in other at bats.

The clip on the right is the only one of the three that shows the 'sit'. IMO, the clip on the right is the only one with proper resistance. Notice little separation from the hands caused by the forward movement of the hips in the left and middle clip. There is some separation but it is not caused by the forward body movement meeting the resistance of the hands.

I maintain that for whatever reason, unknowingly, he was doing what I've described above in the clip on the right. He was doing it but we weren't aware of it's significance at the time.

And in the other clips he was doing something else. He was using the lower body to time the pitcher. He wouldn't open until 'go'....or near it. Against the best pitcher he probably started earlier because he needed to catch up to the speed and movement of the pitcher.

This is what I mean by the lower body stall. IF you start late.....or IF you start, then stall, then 'go'....you are going to struggle. You are getting yourself out much of the time. You don't have the adjustability you need and your batspeed will be late. There isn't enough stretch and fire. Now and then you match the pitcher/pitch and you get a hard hit ball. The rest of the time...you wonder what you're doing wrong.

DO NOT STALL. Get it moving. Control the process with the hands.

[andrewlandolfi]

We talk alot about the lower body running start. And the running start of the barrel.

IMO, this is the HOW. This is HOW the lower body running start "runs" yet never gets loose. This is HOW it 'runs' but never commits until the hands let it. As it trys to get loose....the hands restrict it....and energy builds up leading to the stretch and fire feeling.

THIS resistance creates the 'stretch' you're looking for. I no longer see it as separation between the upper and lower body....as in....upper hemisphere versus lower hemisphere. I think of it more as the hips forward momentum being held back by the hands WHILE THE LEG KEEPS PUSHING, and therefore turned into rotation against the resistance of those hands.

It's very similar to having one foot on the brake while the other is on the accelerator......which leads to the suddenness....the cusp.

And I believe there is a direct link between the hips and the hands....which, by feel, not only eliminates the shoulders.....but the torso also.

This is HUGE.

Teacherman, so it all has to be one solid motion, no stoppage or stalling? Right?

I having been trying to do what Bonds does. I can get it in all one motion but my hands are always late to the ball, then I usually pop up. How/where should the hands be in order for them not to be lagging behind so much? I noticed Bonds doesn't get his hands all the way back as far as they can go. I think that is my problem, but then I lose power when they dont go all the way back.

How exactly should it be done, do the pole drill a bunch of times? Pretend that the bat really is stuck in the ground? But if the pole is creating the strech wouldn't that cause a stall/stoppage?

Sorry, I am pretty confused...

[Pronk]

Teacherman, so it all has to be one solid motion, no stoppage or stalling? Right?

I having been trying to do what Bonds does. I can get it in all one motion but my hands are always late to the ball, then I usually pop up. How/where should the hands be in order for them not to be lagging behind so much? I noticed Bonds doesn't get his hands all the way back as far as they can go. I think that is my problem, but then I lose power when they dont go all the way back.

How exactly should it be done, do the pole drill a bunch of times? Pretend that the bat really is stuck in the ground? But if the pole is creating the strech wouldn't that cause a stall/stoppage?

Sorry, I am pretty confused...

I know you PM'd me but I have been really busy. I am all-star manager for our little 9-10 guys, and busy building my monster mash unit. We do something everyday so between work and that, I have little time.

However your question I think I can answer and Rich can jump in if I am wrong. The lower body is what you don't want to stall. If you envision holding the pole, there is a point from which you must launch. You are only going to move but so far from the pole.

Plus we haven't seen a clip, it's hard to imagine what you might be experiencing. More than likely your issue is upstream, not simply a late launch.

[Teacherman]

A Great Comparison.



HG asked me to make the Griffey comparison with this clip. I'm glad he did.