...what they mean, how to get started

- Donny Buster, SwingBuster Sports

When it is time to start the season and begin to work with hitters I always use the same drill to kick things off. I put players, one at a time, in a batting cage hitting off of a simple tee and I ask them to hit a line drive ball into the back of the netting. This tells me all I need to know about their swings.
 
 I am always amazed how few can hit a line drive to the back of a batting cage net. What I want to know is can they simply hit the center of the baseball with the bat barrel from an inside approach. Our goal is gap-to-gap power and the development of a sense of the location of the bat barrel.
 
 I progress with this drill and thought process by lining the seams up facing backwards and have them hit the inside seam. Most will eventually figure out that the inside out path to the ball actually hits the ball center and attempts to hit the inside seam make the ball a line drive, head high, back through the box.
 
 We then work with them using a series of cues and try to teach the lessons within each group.


Hide your hands.  From the pitchers mound, the coach should get the impression that the hitters hands disappear during the load. This is a function of the hips coiling the weight into the back side, the shoulders rotating back around the spine on the general plane they will return, postural adjustments and the hands being taken spatially around behind the body vs staying  'out over the plate'
 
Hips and hands. We use this cue to teach the player that the negative moves of the 'backswing' are linked together. Most players do the wrong thing with the hands and many coaches try to kill the feel of the hands. We have found it better to teach the players what the hands do first and replace the bad hand action (straight to the ball) with the proper hand action (turning the hands back on plane).
 
We want to unleverage the top hand and cock the hands in a specific pattern. We also feel that we can link the now NEGATIVE hand move in the mind with the negative hip coil. We want to think coil the hips and hands together going back.  When reviewing clips of bad swings, it is common to see the hands come forward leading the hips in the swing. This is called an arm and hand swing or a one piece turn.
 
Keep Your Shoulder In. It is possible with bat barrel positioning during the load to keep your shoulder in longer. When the loading pattern is (bottom hand under top) BUT the rear elbow goes high and the lead elbow comes in close. When this happens, the  bat barrel is forced over the helmet and maintained in this position during the stride. The barrel position locks the shoulders back and the rear elbow / entire shoulder mass is kept back until after foot plant. It is locked back there until the bat barrel turns back on plane by the slotting down of the rear elbow and the elevation of the lead elbow which takes the barrel back behind the helmet into the launch slot
 
Negative moves.  The baseball swing does have a back swing and few players execute it properly. The quality and timing and  synchronization of the back swing will determine the quality and power of the swing



Mechanism... a pattern of body motion that insures a certain action that might be hard to accomplish otherwise. It is not a specific hitting absolute but often employed by many high level players.
 
Coaches must develop a good eye to learn to see certain mechanics to enable themselves to make swing adjustments
 
Elbow behind belly button at toe touch. When every batters front foot comes down his hands should be cocked and his lead elbow should be behind his belly button. This shows that the wrist/ forearm angle is at least 90 degrees and the shoulders are turned back when the swing is initiated.
This is a more reliable point to determine the extent of the shoulder load vs. looking at the rear elbow
 
Heel to sky; laces to pitcher toes dragging. What a great point here to watch on the rear foot. This will answer the two very important questions? Did the weight transfer to the front side and did the hips turn through. Full momentum transfer and full hip turn are essential for power.
 
Hips coil behind the shoulder turn. Imagine your player wrapping his arms around a hula hoop that is placed over his head. Now rotate the shoulders turning this hula hoop away from the pitcher.  Now feel the hips coil behind the turning shoulders back and hold this position. Let the hips reverse and get in front of the shoulders and turn the shoulders forward all the way through until the bally button is facing the pitcher
 

Hips rotate in front of the shoulder turn. Wrist/ bat angle forms and releases in time with lead leg lock out. Actually the hips turn to completion just before the wrist unhinge on the ball. The completed hip turn is seen as the lead leg locks into extension
 
Throw the top hand through the center of the ball. The role of the top hand cannot be carried out unless the first move of the hands is correct. The top hand connection on the handle works in concert with the rear elbow slotting down to lever the bat backwards toward the catcher into the back side of the swing arc. The elbow/ shoulder action that raises the rear elbow and lowers the lead elbow is a set up move for the reverse to happen which as described above reverses this action and hand torques the bat around the hands. If the top hand gets involved in the early launch by pulling forward it will never get into position to be thrown into away pitch location
 
Hand Torque. The hands applying a force to the bat handle in opposite directions as the shoulder rotate begins creating a separate rotation center using the wrist and forearm muscles in an additive manner
 

Negative moves. What leads them? And how to get the hand, elbow, and hips turning back as the body is moving forward? You need to locate the key points on the body to watch during the loading phase to see if the entire body is coiling in synch. The point of the rear hip, the tip of the rear elbow and the cocking of the hands should be leading the weight transfer back in a circular path. Hand action leads the swing back and lower body leads it forward neurologically.
 

The goal of the hitting coach should be to link the body segments to create effortless power and plate coverage. Ball flight feedback and tee work can trump live arm work until the players has a greater sense of their goals for the swing.