Over the years I have come in contact with several different people involved in professional baseball. Some players. Some scouts. Some agents. Some instructors. The more I mingle with them the more I realize that the instruction that big league organizations offer is absolutely PITIFUL.

Prior to the 2012 season, the St. Louis Cardinals acquired Erik Komatsu in the Rule 5 draft. I'm not an expert in the collective bargaining agreement between baseball and the players union so forgive me if my exact language isn't correct. But, because of the rules, I believe the Cardinals had to keep him on their big league roster or lose him. They liked him enough to acquire him, he had a decent spring training and he made the club.

Here is a clip of Mark McGwire working with Erik Komatsu....

Mark McGwire Coaching Erik Komatsu

McGwire is sitting on a bucket, placing balls on the tee, and Komatsu is hitting them. He's hitting them while using mechanics that absolutely have to fail....and McGwire says NOTHING about them. A very high hand lift, that creates lead arm extension, followed by a hard forward pull down with the lead arm, creating a down to and down through the ball path. How can you sit there, ball after ball, and not say anything to him when YOU, YOURSELF, MR. MCGWIRE....did this....



Here, I broke out the swing of Komatsu from the above link....



The differences are STUNNING. Allowing Komatsu to continue with what he was doing....and doing it right in front of your face....should be criminal. I mean, Erik Komatsu is depending on....hoping that....the advice given him by a former very good hitter....will improve his game. He is yielding to the former great hitter. He is doing what the former great hitter wants him to do. Yet, what does the video tell us?

It says....

1) McGwire's weight stayed back until after launch
2) McGwire's center of gravity lowers as he moves out as a result of him keeping his weight back
3) McGwire swung down to but....his barrel goes UP THROUGH THE BALL.

1) Komatsu has a ridiculous forward weight shift LONG before he launches the barrel, thereby bleeding the rear leg engine.
2) Komatsu's center of gravity BARELY lowers....and it only lowers because of forward momentum. It has nothing to do with an attempt to keep his weight back.
3) Komatsu's swing path is down to and down through the ball

Yesterday I spoke about great hitters doing things that they didn't know they did. Remember? Clearly Mark McGwire falls into this category. And the big culprit.....the thing that McGwire to this day does not understand.....is how he used his rear hip socket. He did it. It came naturally to him. But until he realizes what he was doing he has NO CHANCE to help hitters who don't do what he did.

Also yesterday, I was contacted by a friend who works for a sports agency. They represent a player that hit .388 in rookie ball in 2011. Then last year he had a miserable season, hitting .200. He conveyed to me that in spring training last year, he personally witnessed this hitter getting bad instruction from his organization's hitting instructor. He went up to the kid after the session and told him he had to ignore the coach. That he needed to do it in a professional way. Nod your head but don't do what he is telling you. Be nice about it. Just don't let him get to you. He knew what the coach had just told/shown him was wrong. That if he did that he would suffer the consequences. You see, this friend played also. He has a wealth of experience. Both in the batters box....and in knowing just how bad the instruction is that comes from big league organizations. He knows that the instructors desire is to put 'his stamp' on the player. And, while well-meaning, they are clueless as to what the high level pattern entails. They know something that worked for them....but again....they don't know that they 'did something else that made what worked for them' work for them. And they really don't know that without that something else....the advice they are giving will actually DESTROY the hitters they work with.

Want some video? This will make you cry.

BEFORE:



AFTER:

I apologize, for some reason my software will not accept this video format to make a gif....click here to see the video

The BEFORE swing.....is not just good. It is high level. IT IS VERY GOOD. As he learns to hit with it he will make small adjustments until he dials it in. He may change this or that....but he won't change the engine. The SnF engine that that swing posseses is superb.

The AFTER swing.....looks like a high school player that has no future in baseball but can have success, at that level, by muscling the bat. That will work until you see good pitching. He lost his SnF. He lost his deep whoosh. He lost the ability to get deeper into the swing before having to make a decision. He lost time. The best thing a hitting coach can give a hitter is more time to read. You do that by making the swing more sudden. You do that by learning to start without commitment. What did Jose Bautista say about his improvement? He said he started EARLIER. To those who don't understand the mechanics of rear side resistance.....that makes ZERO sense. Starting earlier to most simply means risking lunging. But....to a hitter that understands how to create rear side resistance....and separate against it....like this hitter used to do.....it means MONEY.

The moral of the story is, after 138 years....professional baseball still doesn't know what elements make up the high level swing. Players that stumble onto it through their trial and error process....make good money.

But only if they can tune out the NONSENSE spewed upon them by their organization.

It's bad enough to be submitted to the neanderthal 'survival of the fittest' professional baseball system. Meaning...there is little to no instruction....and the instruction you get is bad. They draft you. They give you 2000 at bats. The fit survive. They discard the rest. They draft 40 more. Rinse. Repeat.

That's bad enough. But when they take a kid with something very few have....a high level swing.....who hit .388 in rookie ball.....and number one they aren't smart enough to recognize it.....and number two they destroy it....it should be criminal.

That coach and I better not man the same stage in front of an audience. It will be a technical knock out. They'll carry him out on a stretcher.

Not because I would give him a physical beating. But because he would have a breakdown after I exposed how ignorant he was about the subject he was hired to teach. The mental lashing would be bloody. The embarassement would be overwhelming.

Why the anger? Because these are 20 something year old kids....with a dreams....who believe in their organization....and in the instructor hired by the organization. They just want to be the best they can be....and have a chance at the big leagues. But the people they're putting their trust in....the people who claim to be experts....know absolutely NOTHING about which they teach.

If that doesn't anger you......there is something wrong with you.