Same as always.  To help you plan, the scheduled OBA pitchers for the weekend are:

 

Justin

Owen

Charlie

Tanner

 

So one of their sessions will be covered by games next weekend.

 

Tanner M	2 x 70
Coulter	2 x 55
Charlie	2 x 65
Drew	2 x 60
Seth	2 x 50
Liam	2 x 50
Justin	2 x 70
Kale	2 x 70
Luke	2 x 70
Owen	2 x 60
Will	2 x 60
Cole	2 x 50
Dawson	2 x 55
Kadaen M	2 x 50
Kaden V	2 x 50
Andrew VB	2 x 50

 

 

Working on our hitting mechanics this week at home.

 

First up, launch position.  The goal of this drill is to get the hitter setup in the correct stance during load to get bat on plane as early as possible.  That’s a long way to say you need to start the swing correctly in order to give yourself the best chance to hit the ball well.

 

I’ve been noticing that a few of our hitters get the bat wrapped around their head which actually makes the swing longer and gets things out of sequence.

 

Launch position is the point in the swing where the load has started, the front foot has touched down, the body is balance BUT THE HANDS ARE STILL BACK.  Youth hitters will often lead with the hands (they move first) or move the arms at the same time as the hips.  That is the wrong way—the hips must lead first and the hands need to stay back.

 

For this drill, start your swing in front of a mirror and stop when you get to launch position.  Observe your form, correct where necessary to get the feel, then repeat.  Concentrate on:

- hands at shoulder height

- hands beyond the back shoulder but not beyond the elbow (so about a 6” window in there, whatever feels natural)

- knob of the bat pointing at the catcher (pretend it’s a flashlight)

- bat pointed up, slightly bent toward head

   - bat shouldn’t be flat (won’t point at feet of catcher)

   - bat shouldn’t be wrapped around head (won’t point at catcher at all)

- keep the head still while going through this

 

That’s it to the drill.  Get to launch position and then check to make sure things are lined up.  Do it again and again, until you can do it without thinking (that will take awhile).

 

You can see this in Justin Stone’s swing below in the first video if you need a visual.  Just stop the video at the point where his hands go back and look how everything is aligned (e.g. 3:17 or so among others).

 

Second up, overlap

 

This is the stage of the swing that is the least obvious and most overlooked.  As the load happens and the swing gets to foot-down (balanced, not leaning forward) the hands actually go BACK.  Think of it as stretching an elastic band between your hands and front foot.  This is building up energy.

 

So this drill is to get to the launch position and then practice the overlap.  Rotate hips forward as if starting to swing AND push hands back slightly AT THE SAME TIME.

 

Here is a video that shows it being done and a great video from Justin Stone at Elite Baseball Training (anything from Justin is great).

 

The key movement is about 1:59 of the video.  Work on the two “dry” drills explained at ~4:26.  But anyone wanting to really hit well should watch the whole thing and bookmark it for future reference.

 

Another video that discusses the same part of the swing.  If you have a hard time feeling this the following video adds a medicine ball (or something else a bit heavier than a bat) to help feel the movement.

 

 

 

We’ll work on these on Friday night.  So do the work and be ready to practice.