Youth-Athlete's Sport Blog

In previous posts, all the steps up to the swing were described: the stance, loading, bat speed generation.  Any faulty mechanics in an earlier step will make it harder for a batter to maximize the power of the swing.  But perfect mechanics in the earlier steps still will not guarantee the hitter success.  Let us walk through the details of the swing. More...

Earlier posts described the stance and the pre-swing loading movement.  The stance is personal choice  but must allow the transition smoothly and quickly into their swing.  Loading shifts the batter's weight and hands backwards to create a greater distance and allow more force to be generated before making contact with the ball.

The next activity in the batter's swinging motion is to generate bat speed through the forward weight transfer and hip rotation.  There are two popular schools of thought to generate bat speed:  linear movement and rotational movement.  The pure linear swing, which is how most parents and grandparents were taught to swing, focuses on generating as much speed from the legs through the weight transfer from the rear side (or back leg) forward by using of a longer stride.  This technique lengthens the time that the bat is in the hitting zone.  Conversely, a pure rotational swing has the batter take a very small stride with the focus on generating more power from the legs and torso with an explosive hip rotation.  This method provides greater power through the strike zone by leveraging the strongest parts of the human body. Proponents of both styles of swinging will claim that they use portions of the other swinging style and that is the crux of the issue.  You need both to generate the maximum bat speed while maximizing the time the bat is in the hitting zone. More...

In the last post, I described the importance of the stance, how it is the base structure from which the swing starts, and is often the root of hitting mistakes.  A player's stance is a matter of personal preference, but it must allow the batter to transition smoothly into the player's swing.

From the athletic stance position, the first movement of the swing "loads" the power into the bat and body so the bat can move forward with greater speed.  This "first movement" is called loading, but I have also heard it described as coiling (because you coil the body) or the pre-swing movement (because it is the movement before the bat swings forward).  More...

With spring approaching, many of the youth baseball and softball leagues are drafting their teams and preparing for their season.  One aspect of the game, more than any other, is used to gauge whether the season was a success or failure by the parents and players.  That aspect is hitting.  If the young athlete hits well this season, then it must have been successful season.  I personally do not subscribe to this opinion, but I have coached enough baseball and softball teams to understand this fact.  Parents do not like their child being singled out and not performing.  Hitting, in the game of baseball, requires one offensive player to be on the field amongst all the defenders, thus one player is being observed in isolation.  This is how the game is played.

Successful hitters have a few things in common:  hand-eye coordination, bat control and speed, hand and wrist strength, good mechanics, pitch recognition, and a willingness to take lots of practice swings.  Hopefully, the coach will provide ample opportunities for practice swings.  Hand-eye coordination, strength for bat control and speed, and hand and wrist strength come with physical maturity.  Good mechanics need to be taught.  More...

For the past two weeks the NCAA men's and women's basketball teams have been competing in their conference playoffs.  If you love basketball like I do then you have probably watched a few games.  This season seems to have a lot of parity between the top ranked teams in the conferences and many games are being decided by a couple points.  With so many close games, I am finding myself talking to my kids and players about the importance of each possession and how a misplay in an early quarter is just as devastating as one in the fourth quarter.  I keep bringing up a poem written by Jeff Smith while he was a Coach at Dayton that highlights the value of each possession.  More...