The Number One Guardrail....

[Teacherman]

....that must be broken to find the pattern.

The guard rail against the UPPERCUT.

Assuming your son or daughter is new and not already in the pattern.....

I bet.....if you take your son or daughter.....without any special instruction....and ask them to take what they perceive to be an upper cut....that the resulting swing will be more 'in the high level pattern' than their current swing.

[YHF]

Teach you're right on. Been trying to work on some kids on my team and all I hear is 'he's dipping his back shoulder', 'he's uppercutting', blah, blah, blah.

I've been on this site over a year now soaking up info. I've just now started working with my 13u son and I want to go ahead and tape him so we have a before shot. I'll be posting clips periodically and he switch hits so I'm trying to figure if I work on one side first then the other....or try to do them both together?

[wrstdude]

I second this.

Uppercutting produced the best swings Sam has had.

[Teacherman]

IMO.....the following is a one swing lower body fix.

The lower body action of a high level swing is a lower body upper cut move.....an upward movement....even if it doesn't go up....meaning the weight of, and the direciton of the upper body's action, may not allow the lower body to go up even though it is attempting to do so.

Set a tee at a height above the hitter's shoulders and out over the plate and ask a him to hit the ball. What does he do? I bet he doesn't shift then swing. I bet he goes up to get it.....all from a rear leg/hip thrust type action. I bet he shifts AS he swings.

[horns]

This is an honest question...

If feeling the uppercut is so important why do so many big leaguers talk about staying on top and taking a short downward stroke?

I am curious to how the big leaguers are thinking swing down yet still having those high finishes and correct swing paths with lead elbow jut?

[cosmo34]

Because they want their hands to stay short to the ball, instead of drop and come from way underneath it like a fungo hitter hitting flies to the catcher.

[Pronk]

Remember the title of the thread horns is about guardrails

I don't think telling a kid to uppercut is standard run of the mill stuff. but to make a breakthrough you have to blast through when you have something holding you back. Bonds does swing down, and Bonds uppercuts too wouldn't you say?

[horns]

yes i agree pronk.

My question is what separates Bonds who thinks "swing down" and ends up with the correct uppercut and me who thinks "swing down" and has a bad plane and a cut off finish? (probably has to do with the guardrail)

Why do the pros think swing down and end up with the correct swing?

[Pronk]

yes i agree pronk.

My question is what separates Bonds who thinks "swing down" and ends up with the correct uppercut and me who thinks "swing down" and has a bad plane and a cut off finish? (probably has to do with the guardrail)

Why do the pros think swing down and end up with the correct swing?

Horns your personal guardrail is that rising up of the rear leg instead of sitting or maintaining that load in the leg.

You need to stare at that Carlos Pena clip I sent. This is what I feel when I turn my belly button from a loaded back leg. My front shoulder wants to rise. That's where you will start to create the proper plane. When your hands move downward or slightly diagonally, while your front shoulder rises you'll see your swing has that uppercut look.

[cosmo34]

yes i agree pronk.

My question is what separates Bonds who thinks "swing down" and ends up with the correct uppercut and me who thinks "swing down" and has a bad plane and a cut off finish? (probably has to do with the guardrail)

Why do the pros think swing down and end up with the correct swing?

Because Bonds wants his hands to go down to the ball, but still has his shoulder working up like it's supposed to, so it evens out. You have to think about the hands keeping the swing short. But when you do this AND the shoulders are properly working, you will get the short path AND lift in your swing.

If you think down hands/up shoulder (front), the upper will do exactly what it's supposed to. Try it out, with and without a bat.

While we're on the topic of Bonds thinking swing down, and the PCR types love to use the example of some guy showing him otherwise (reportedly) as this being fact that these guys don't know what they're actually doing, I saw a clip the other day of him in his early Giants days. He did, in fact, have a path slightly closer to the "swing down" path, rather than the Williams' path. It wasn't the dreaded "take the barrel to the front knee" BS, but it was much more like dooown-UP, rather than down-flat-up. Leads me to believe that there was a time when he actually did do what he thought he was doing. Maybe he started having a more Williams' like path conciously or unconciously (who knows) later in his career, and that is when he got shown the clip.

[horns]

good description sir

downward hand path + level shoulders = my finish right now.....


i will be working on this

[Pronk]

I actually never tell a kid to swing down.

I do point out to a swing down insistent parent or coach when I demo something that I am going slightly down with my hands. Once they agree, I then have them stand in front and say, but see how it "looks" upper-cutty.

[Teacherman]

Horns,

The uppercut simply breaks the guardrail. You will not end up uppercutting.

The uppercut cue gets a different result out of the upper body....which is in control....and therefore allows a different lower body pattern. The upper body needs to 'turn' immediately to uppercut. It needs to turn up....rear shoulder down and lead shoulder up. This does many things but most importantly it frees the rear hip.

It's pretty damn hard to 'shift then swing' AND uppercut. It's pretty damn hard to upper cut from the front leg.

Once a hitter breaks his guardrail....he can be more easily fixed. And, he will end up with an upper body that swings down and a lower body that swings up. The hand pivot point DOES swing down....but down in an arc that goes up just before contact. And the rear hip pivot point will be free to go 'up and through'.

Another cue that does the same thing as the uppercut cue is self toss. Hit some fungos and pay attention to how you are doing it. Try to hit some fungos with your current mechanics. Allow your rear leg to spend first....then hit the ball. How far can you hit it. Then....hit a fungo the way you probably already hit fungos....or watch a coach....with a weight back rear leg load that unloads AS you swing. The difference should be significant.

[curious]

yes i agree pronk.

My question is what separates Bonds who thinks "swing down" and ends up with the correct uppercut and me who thinks "swing down" and has a bad plane and a cut off finish? (probably has to do with the guardrail)

Why do the pros think swing down and end up with the correct swing?

Because he only means to "start down", not go down forever. Starting down prevents dropping the hands early. The shoulder tilt gets the bat going back up.

[Teacherman]

The 'flatten IS the swing' cue is a swing down cue. You swing from a barrel up and behind the head position.

If the 'flatten ISN'T the swing' then you have two moves....flatten then swing. You swing from the lag position. It is slop filled.

A very effective cue for my son was 'hit the ball at the bottom of the downstroke'. Which implys that there is a downstroke and an upstroke.

If you are hitting on the upstroke.....you will be late on the fastball and lunge on the offspeed stuff.

You will be consistently late if you swing from the lag position. Hitters speed through the lag position. They don't go there then start. They started from the barrel up position.

So....hitters do swing down. But the barrel is going up at contact.

The pinwheel.