Training
Always quit a BP (or drill) on a good note, after a few square hits in good form. Never practice tired; compensations for it creep in along with frustration, and it all follows you to bed to be reviewed in your sleep. Why practice that? Stop on a good note, savor the feel of it, contemplate success in your sleep all night. This ties-in with how muscle memory works.
You have a systematically self-adjusting swing.
Your stance has you ready for fat high strikes. The knob-to/soft knee habit adjusts you to inside, outside, or lower strikes; maybe even with some overlap at edges of the Strike Zone. All this at work as a pitch reaches halfway-in. You know how it works. Don't take chances with it.
If you adopt the stance and footwork advised, all you need is to get the knob, elbow, and knee, tuned into a pitch. When you do, other body parts follow and arrange themselves. The elbows conform nicely, the knees stay soft, the eye and the knob line up the ball. You're in control.
What you can't control is outside pressure to
1. swing harder. There is always objection to an effortless-looking swing, by kibitzers with nothing at stake. Agree with them all, continue as usual, and thank them for all the help.
2. the hit/run play; place-hitting. Do what you can if you must, [I couldn't]. One safe possibility is to slide the top hand upward at release, and slap the ball (without wristcrank). The resulting split-hands grip could result in the bat control needed to place hit. Avoid getting lost and sacrificing your best form to do it.
To Raise Trajectory If hitting constantly too low, settings of fists and/or knee might correct it. Try adjusting.Test: a hair more kink of the back knee "just enough for you to feel but not for me to see".
Or in the stance; fists a tad lower. Also; fists lower for a steep drop-ball pitcher.
You're after a rising liner, not high fly balls or pop ups so don't overdo it. If any pop ups or fly balls; you have over-adjusted.
Equipment
Design drills and practice around what's available. There's the field, yard, garage, or basement. Baseballs, tennis, ragballs, and wiffleballs all sizes. Bats; plastic, wood, metal; wooden hardware store dowels for lighter balls.
Shop the internet; no end to the variety there.
A good live pitcher is the toughest "must" to get, for drills/BP. Instruct him on rhythm, etc and pass the ball bucket.
Pitching MachinesThere are pitching machines both good and not. Some simply spit-out balls to be hit on pure reflex; No! You feed-off pitching rhythm now; not pure reflex. Arm machines are good. A wheel machine with rhythmic warning signal; okay.
An arm machine [are they all Master brand now?] is more predictable than wheel-type though not as rhythmic as live pitching. To meet rhythm needs I had an electrician modify one:
- rotary switch on output shaft,
- a series of visual and audio signals to flash and click, representing pitcher's prep.
- more distinct signals: "pitcher's arm-cock, and pitcher's stride", before a throw.
Friends use a golf wiffle pitcher with flashing light; "Personal Pitcher", at short range with good results. Good reports also, about SandlotSlugger.
Take-timingStride and shift with every pitch. Shift/watch until it passes (good, or not). (Never quit on any pitch until it has passed and been measured. Compare your rhythm with the pitcher's speed range, and adjust stride time.
Speed RangeYour breathing and stride routine sets up the window of time just wide enough for the pitcher's whole speed range.
Visual Pickup of Release
Visual pickup of release __ at the pitcher's hand. Watch release point. Follow the first trace of white you see, and on the way in it becomes the ball. Do Not follow the ball through the pre-pitch motions. When you Glide, you see it better
Pick-up at the Pitcher's HandYou do it playing catch so you can at bat. Didn't know it? Play so much catch, you lost respect for the details and ignore how it works? There's a batting secret for you in the details.
With a peg just out of my hand, I can see your mitt start correctly for it. So does mine, at your pegs. The mitts shadow the pegs, starting 1-2 feet from release. The legs comply too; on wilder throws you make some wicked stabs you can't do without legs. You're on autopilot and don't know it.
Watch partners at it: Observe from a position aligned to see the release and mitt/legs of both partners. They always start right. So, why not, at bat? Why the stiffness at bat?
At bat, the drills train the hands and body to react the same; the knob-to acts early, the soft knee, etc. comply. You'll groom a hand/knee reaction and coordinate it with the shift-swing; make visual pickup then be on autopilot for location and action.
Visual pickup can be practiced any time you play catch, especially in pre-practice throwing warm-ups. Take warm-ups seriously, watching release points. Make playing catch a little slice of batting practice, for the sake of both your hitting, and evading a wild pitch.
Bailing-outIf you see The Drill coming, you have decisions to make, about bailing-out. Duck or dodge? Your choice depends on,
- where it is,
- how high,
- how you're moving as you see it coming. Never bet on gravity. Muscular action is faster than gravity if you apply force to the escape.
Here are your choices. You know by the time the pitch is halfway home.
If it's at or above the thorax (breadbasket), duck!
If below the thorax, dodge or skip aside.
If in doubt, duck.
[In this swing] you'll be halfway weight-shifted; still moving forward. You have two options.
[best] Never stop, keep moving and veer to the outside, double-over, dive forward-outside-down. You'll be safely clear long before it arrives. This is your first and best choice [in this swing] once you trust it.
[next best] keep moving but twist inward-back-down at catcher.
What's This "Dive Forward / Once You Trust It"?'Forward' is scary now, but it works in this weight shift swing; because it is a weight shift swing. It works best because it feeds-off existing motion; pitch halfway home, batter still moving.
You'll know after bailing the other way a few times, and reviewing it. New as this swing is to you, it must be familiar enough to trust. Then make a choice. Your call. Sometimes it's as easy as; turn and walk away.
Hitting Advice, This or the OtherBatting methods and swings differ, and often their parts and tips don't agree. All coaches don't know this, insist on their swing and tips, and quibble over anything and everything.
In this method the hands lead the hips by a mile.Take your hands with you as you stride. Don't "stride away from your hands"; that's another breed of swing.
Omit "away" or backward cocking motion of hands, shoulder, knee or hip; in this swing setup.
That 'other' stuff is foreign to this swing.
Moves and Sequence
I like descriptions. Descriptions from many angles of the same thing. Following, are two different descriptions of this swing, One in terms of motions, labeled "the moves". The other, "sequence" lists intentions and their timing. It's impossible to separate them perfectly but, it's the best I can do.
The Moves As the stride lands, weight shift and knob sneak forward, a smoothly blended Foot-Hands-Body move.The front knee flexes to make way for the knob to move as needed.
Hands/knob flow to breastbone.
Barrel trails the knob as it begins opening past breastbone.
As front forearm extends, knob and pitch converge.
Now reach for it and crank the wrists.
Extension triggers clamp-wring of bat, briskly opens bat through pitch and into follow through.
Ball is met at torso's frontside coinciding with smooth forward extension.
Contact, full weightshift and arm extension cause what little hip action you need, fired by a naturally caused pump of the back foot.
Rear hip kicks, then hips trail.
Top hand and arm follow bottom ones throughout.
Bat opens across pitch then moves to rollover then into a high follow through.
Sequence Watch pitcher's release point.
Step lightly as he strides, stride the width of your foot.
Watch ball center.
Shift forward easy at the pitch as you watch.
Hands & knob move forward, sneaking to pitch.
Soft front knee gives per knob direction.
Front shoulder follows knob.
Knob reaches breastbone (launch-point) at Decision.
Reach forward quickly at a strike; reach forward/ out and tag it.
As hands and pitch converge, clamp hands shut and twist hard!
Full weightshift and arm extension ignite hip action, fired by a naturally caused pump of the back foot.
The only violence is wristcrank
No motion whatsoever anywhere, but forward motion. No excess motion.
Speed Range
Your breathing and stride routine, and Take-timing set-up the "window of opportunity" to include the pitcher's speed range. Stride adjustment tunes it in finer. Hands deal with the microscopic details.
Your rhythm sets-up the moment: hands find the instant.
Know the big-picture and use it! "You can't think and hit at the same time" but the mind is always there and asserting itself, so harness it. Work smart, be efficient, observe everything, waste nothing. Be tension-free (now, always, forever). It's a dance you can win!
This batting style is front-leg weight shift method. This swing works only on fast (flat-trajectory) pitching. Won't work in slow-pitch games, slow BP, or slow tests like those other "rotational" swings do. This is that specialized. It works well for 'lost causes' and 'hopeless cases' who have "tried everything" and got nowhere.
be realistic
There is no magic. There will be no accidental lucky break that stays for keeps. Swinging harder never cuts it. Endless practice can't help; polishing old mistakes perfects the mistakes. There have always been heroes, fads, trends, sales pitches; new brands of snake-oil. There has never been a new swing. The basics have been here at least as long as movie cameras, maybe even the human body. So, work smart, be efficient, watch everything, waste none of it. Be tension-free (now, always, forever). It's a dance you can win, not a quick-draw gunfight.
There's no time or place for blind faith. There are things you can prove for yourself right now. Start with what you can easily prove. You've seen the Tension demo and Tips, the Mirror Test, tested the Wristcrank. The Tension tips will help your swing as it is now, without change. No risk. Start there. Accept only proof against pitching pressure, casual BP doesn't count much, now. The one true measure is the crack of the bat, against serious pitching. Get it with: simple smooth stride-shift, visual pickup at release, smooth steep acceleration, reach forward quickly/smoothly to tag it. How many times did it say 'smooth'? Keep it in mind. Glide!
In hitting, we all had to start somewhere. To find something useful to build on. Start from scratch, proceed cautiously, find what works, and build. It should work against the best pitching you face and grow from there. Then, get to know yourself, what type of damage you're best at, and specialize in that until you outgrow it. Test everything against pitching pressure. BP homers are only BP. What counts most is what you can do when it's needed, even if it's a single. Aim to hit the best on his good day. A homer in a laugher when everybody hits, means little. What can you do when it's needed? But, take the easy pitchers seriously too, to help your buddies get a few more at-bats. Never waste an out, a swing, an AB, not even a take. Get something from every pitch. Everything you see. Waste nothing! Glide.
results
11yr old, WA Am very fast but batting last. Next year batted leadoff at .400.
10yr OH Couldn't hit in teeball last year. Made LL All Stars the next three years.
12yr OH All strikeouts the first 12 games. Batted .780 the last 12, all liners, 4 homers, no Ks.
16yr AR'Never had a hit in league play in my life.' In Legion ball 13 days later began a .350 summer. Next Spring in HS, DH at .450 then .375- Legion.'know what? two strikes don't mean anything to me any more.'
34yr. NC semipro'slap hitter batting .330 but striking out too much. Need to cut the Ks.' First season cut the strikeouts and led league in HR, Doubles, RBI. Same BA. Played to age 40, 'improving to the end.'
40yr. AL semipro Former class A player/rotational hitting instructor. 'slowing down, need to recharge. Now it's 'singles, doubles, coupl-a homers' at .500. Most pleased and fascinated with high square contact frequency in games; now he counts swings / liners. [About 8 for 10.]
That Ohio 12 yr-old and his mates showed that footwork [length] determines what the upper parts may do. Probably why 'great' tips don't always work. A connection exists between footwork and upper body motions. Good combination lets the swing flow smoothly: a wrong combo ties things up. So, weight-shift (front leg) and rotational [back leg] swings work like different languages; words and grammar won't mix. Their parts just won't swap. This is what generates the heated batting arguments you may have seen on internet hitting websites.
The one in Washington showed that a bright kid can handle DIY hitting text.
constant challenge, endless project
I was 6. First, learned to stop rollers and catch a bounce. Then, a fly ball, a grounder. Then field them on-the-run. Etcetera, same old story. The meaning of the story, is that every challenge met opens new ones and there's no end to it. Like the old carrot-and-stick deal where a mule chases bait on a pole. Baseball is our carrot. It's perpetual challenge and that's why it's captivating. Challenge, is the reason we play this game. But somehow, fielding and batting aren't quite the same challenge. They don't work the same way.
Seems like the harder you try, the better you field. But, not hitting. 'All-out' doesn't work at bat. Hitting is quieter and more mentally charged, but physically lighter work. 'Controlled intensity', it's been called. To hit well, unite the action of mind, senses, and body in every possible quiet way. You read about some of it here. Harness the mind, body, and senses.
Batting instruction
My stuff is different, and here's how. It's more hitting advice, than swing coaching the usual way. SwingCoaches presume that a pretty swing is what does it. I say that it's 99 details from pitcher's windup and batter's stance and launch that add up to a good swing. Much of it nearly invisible. The 'pretty' is icing on the cake if all went right earlier. It's only pretty after it works. You can watch video all day long: mostly, you seeing results, not the causes.
ILearn to 'swing like a pro' they preach, but now you've got it you have to make the pretty swing work. It has holes in it; maybe you weren't taught visual pickup, or about tension,so the cop-out to wait for 'your pitch'. It'll be weak around the holes so, memorize a pitch-count chart and more 'your-pitch' advice, too.
Are cop-outs the mental side of SwingCoaching? Cause big-leaguers do? Pros live up against that 'glass ceiling' but, what has it to do with where you play? And why does it all seem so much like playing roulette?
The SwingCoaches teach in static drills using tees, soft toss, and training devices. Then, BP to see if it works. [Sometimes it does.] Our way, is to learn in motion. Dynamically. Learn contact and the motions simultaneously, growing the swing under increasing pitching pressure. Then mental-side game hitting technique to hit any pitcher, anytime. Cover the strike zone top-down, inside-out. No cop-out strategies because you cover the strike zone with good timing and without spot weaknesses. Amateurs can do it at that level; always have cause there's no glass ceiling here.
Just don't trade parts with other swings, or push yours on them. It doesn't work, and it can hurt someone. And never forget that width of footwork affects possibilities in the upper body.
opinions
Everybody has opinions on hitting, and you may hear them all because baseball is a regular opinion hatchery. It happens something like this. The internet is full of sales pitches. Beginners are sold on what appears as scientific, high-level, elite then follow that guru no matter where, and try to shoo the rest of us along.Here's how that often works: like a newly hatched duckling, is how it works! Ducklings will 'adopt' the first moving object seen as the mother, then follow it wherever. This can happen to a ballplayer or coach when exposed to a first dose ever of hitting 'inside dope' that seems convincing. Then, follow that guru blindly no matter where and try to take the rest of us along. Maybe later, he trades gurus and touts the new one. Happens all the time. Blind faith is a dead-end. You go to bat alone, so get ready!