The place that you grow up will in all likely hood decide the type of baseball swing that you have. All parts of the country carry different styles and bring contradictory information to the table. If you are a football person, it's like the difference between the east coast and west coast offense. At the end of the day you are trying to accomplish the same goal, but at the tune of a different drummer. For that reason, I have never heard the same to approaches to driving the knob or the hands to baseball. Fortunately, I have experienced almost every theory the game has to offer, and I am going to help you with insider knowledge that would otherwise take you years to figure out.
For starters, driving the hands begins during the load portion of the swing. If you recall, this is when we recognize the pitch in one of our three zones, L for Left, C for Center, or R for right. Once we locate the zone where the pitch will be contacted, the hips drive to that particular zone, and then the hands follow. Without this recognition, it becomes much more difficult to stay through the zone and maximize force into the baseball.
Driving the hands to ball all begins with an imaginary 45 degree line that runs from the knob or wrists, to the infield in front of the plate. For beginners I use three separate lines, one to L, C, and R. As you might have guessed, players want to drive their hands roughly at this angle in effort to contact the baseball. In reality, the angle isn't quite that steep, however, it helps players to focus on going down through the hitting zone at all times. If players are focused on driving down and forward, they are less likely have a loop or long drag in their swing.
When players begin to develop an understanding of how to swing the bat and their muscles begin to develop, I add a few advanced batting techniques to help them generate more power. In actuality, players should drive the outside of their bottom hand wrist towards the inside of the baseball. When done correctly, this will cause their wrists to be "cocked back" and allows players to drive their hands along the inside part of the baseball longer. This little technique will increase "wrist snap" and/or generate more "bat whip". As a result, players will increase their power. This technique also players a major part in the what I call the "Power V".
The "Power V" begins with the cap of the bat, runs down to the hands, and along the top forearm of the player. The "Power V" will become more visible as players begins to drive his hips to the ball. The point of the V will be pointing towards the field of play and the opening of the V will be facing the umpire. As players approach contact, the power V begins to release until it turns into a more of a "Power L" after contact. When the bat begins to release from the V to L players begin to generate "bat whip" which results in increased power. Keep in mind that when a player reaches contact, his hands should still be slightly ahead of the baseball.
One common mistake during this portion of the swing is to extend the hands to far from the body and contact the ball out in front of the plate. Because players are told to "see the ball hit the bat" or "square up" a pitch, they tend to attack the baseball out in front of their body which causes them to loose the majority of their power. In real time, players only extent their hands about 2-4 inches before contact depending on the location of the pitch. The further we extend our hands pre contact, the slower our bat speed, the less extension we are able to gain after contact, and thus our average and power will suffer.
Back to "seeing the baseball hit the bat". I urge you to never tell you player this phrase. Why? Because it is impossible to do if you are swinging the bat correctly. If you have a chance to watch a hitter in slow motion, his eyes are actually fixed 10 to 15 feet our in front of his contact zone. By that time, you have already committed to a location and zone to swing the baseball bat. If you try to see the baseball hit the bat, you will either have to move your head which is never a good thing in hitting, or attack the ball in front. Either way, your setting yourself up for a lot of failure.
Another cause of extending the hands to far to the baseball before contact has to do with hitting demonstrations players are exposed to. Typically when players are younger, coaches always show contact with their hands extended and the hands even with the barrel of the baseball bad. As a result, players engrain that visual in their mind and strive towards it when they practice or hit in a game. Be conscious the next time you perform a demonstration, and make sure to show actual movements batters should make!
There are two very useful sayings that can greatly benefit your player when describing this portion of the swing. One deals with using the catcher as prop. "Let the ball get so deep that you feel like you are picking the baseball out of the catcher's mitt." The other saying is more visual. "I want you to try and scrape your knuckles on the inside part of the baseball." It can be difficult for a player to understand that he is driving his hands to far forewords before contact, but using these sayings will help him understand contact points better helping him to keep his hands tight to his body.
Among many of the great drills out there to help players perform this step of the baseball swing, I like to use a drill I call "Chopping Wood". "Chopping Wood" is a drill that latterly forces players to drive their hands towards the field of play while keeping the bat back. The biggest obstacle to making adjustments with players is taking them outside of their comfort zone. Most players will complain that something doesn't feel comfortable or an adjustment doesn't feel right. This is actually a good sign because that means you are making progress. If a player is comfortable with an adjustment that he has made for the first time then he really hasn't made an adjustment.
As a player positions himself to participate in the drill, his front foot should about even with the front batting tee. I say about even because some adjustments may need to be made depending on the skill level of the player. As the player takes his swing, he will be forced to drive his hand inside the back tee before taking the bat to contact to the ball on the front tee.
When done correctly this over trains players keep their hands tight along their body and move them forward instead of pulling off or sweeping around pitches. A long batting swing will inevitably cause a player to contact the back tee and not allow him to continue to the baseball on the front tee. Note, if players swing over the top of the back batting tee they are performing the batting drill wrong and are extending too far out with their hands.
If you incorporate this batting drill in your next batting training session you will see amazing improvement in your players ability to drive the baseball. He may struggle with it at first, but after 10 to 12 swings he will begin making adjustments and improve his mechanics. Always drive your hands down toward the zone and to the field you want to hit the baseball At the end of the day, this will help increase you average, power, and make you a more consistent hitter.
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