Man I love when you say, "It would be ignorant for anyone to think that he's just a freak athlete and can get away with things." He clearly worked for these mechanics and anyone can get mechanics like this if they work at it. The difference just might be in the maturation of their body, but you look at Pedroia or Altuve and basically any mild athlete can work to make themselves great.
FABULOUS! You are exactly right... tilt, tilt, tilt. I'm driving my Intermediate's (12-13's) crazy bcuz all they hear is 'tilt those shoulders; get on plane!!'. They all get the link to this video, Sean. Two things I would like to add, if I my be so bold. 1. Good tilt can save a badly timed swing or if you've been fooled by a good pitcher... your head will still be in the zone (rather than being pulled out by a flat shoulder rotation) and you may still get a squib or foul the ball. 2. Good tilt takes away the appeal of trying to hit the high strike... which is usually a ball... and suckers in so many youth batters. Your head will be in a better place to see that the high sucker pitch is un-hittable (you can't hit it; it looks so good bcuz you can see it so well at eye level... but you can't hit it!). Once the opposing pitcher see's that you'll sucker for the high ball he'll throw it until his arm falls off. How many 3rd strikes are a shoulder or head high pitch?? Suckered in bcuz the batter doesn't know his strike zone bcuz he doesn't tilt and get on plane. Keep up the great job, Coach!!! ps... much better closing music
So the more vertical you get with the bat, the more you tip the bat the more you can get in plane with the pitch, the better you're able to hit that low and inside pitch?
is votto more using hip extension than hip turn? It looks like he doesn't open the front side much and even locks out the front hip pretty quickly. different than bautista who sits more into his turn. maybe that is why jose is a pull hitter and votto pretty good the other way. I feel balancing hip rotation and extension is pretty important. too little extension and there is less power especially non pull but too early in the turn and you can lose spine angle and inhibit the turn. if feel if you sit more into the turn you can farther and better but the swing plane and pop will be worse. ideally probably you try to have the hip extension in the final third of the turn so that you extend earlier on outside pitches and later on inside pitches.
dominikk85 Yes, Votto uses more hip extension than turn. His hips turn only as far as the location of the pitch. There can be value in turning more and pulling the ball if you're a smaller guy like Bautista/Donaldson.
More good stuff from Hitterish! Have you changed your mind regarding the use of, "staying inside"? You mention it twice in this video but in previous videos you say it is one of the poor coaching cues that a viewer won't hear from you. Perhaps your definition of the term would help. Also, if I may (we're all trying to learn here), the extension of the arms is an OUTCOME of angular (spinning) velocity. That is to say the arms extend to DECELERATE the rotation of the body and bat much like the arms of a figure skater extending out to slow down from a spin. That's not to say the arms can't be straight at contact and still hit a bomb, but it is not OPTIMAL as far as bat speed and timing is concerned. Just my 2¢. What are your thoughts? Keep bringin' the great videos!
+RAWDOG1021 I try not to use "stay inside" because of the confusion around what it means. I'm doing my best to describe what it means to me. I did a video on it. I agree with what you said about the arms extending as an outcome. Guys like Trout/Cabrera/Votto tilt that angular path to be more vertical. That steeper swing plane is what I believe allows hitters to effectively stay "inside the ball."
I have a question. What's your opinion on keeping your hands in front of your vertical toe line. Where should my hands be at the end of my load? I have found that if I keep my hands in front of my toe Line I hit the ball more solidly. I guess it helps me just take a direct route to the balling team of going around my body. What's your opinion???
mango_666 I find that pulling the back elbow back towards the dugout behind you gives you more of a load and more ability to hit for power to the opposite field. Braun and Griffey are two examples I'd point to.
Hitterish.com I see what your saying. I used to do that, wasn't hitting consistently it was making me pull off and yank my shoulders open. I recently made an adjustment where i still loaded with my shoulders but my hands didn't go behind my body. I'll have to experiment more on my own though and see what works better. Maybe I should do something in between both of them.
mango_666 Ortiz does hold his hands more out front. In his game swing, he reaches a point where his hips turn forward while his elbow pulls back. So he gets the same feel of the leg pulling the hands.
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Great stuff right here!
Antonelli Baseball I appreciate it
Man I love when you say, "It would be ignorant for anyone to think that he's just a freak athlete and can get away with things." He clearly worked for these mechanics and anyone can get mechanics like this if they work at it. The difference just might be in the maturation of their body, but you look at Pedroia or Altuve and basically any mild athlete can work to make themselves great.
FABULOUS! You are exactly right... tilt, tilt, tilt. I'm driving my Intermediate's (12-13's) crazy bcuz all they hear is 'tilt those shoulders; get on plane!!'. They all get the link to this video, Sean.
Two things I would like to add, if I my be so bold.
1. Good tilt can save a badly timed swing or if you've been fooled by a good pitcher... your head will still be in the zone (rather than being pulled out by a flat shoulder rotation) and you may still get a squib or foul the ball.
2. Good tilt takes away the appeal of trying to hit the high strike... which is usually a ball... and suckers in so many youth batters. Your head will be in a better place to see that the high sucker pitch is un-hittable (you can't hit it; it looks so good bcuz you can see it so well at eye level... but you can't hit it!). Once the opposing pitcher see's that you'll sucker for the high ball he'll throw it until his arm falls off. How many 3rd strikes are a shoulder or head high pitch?? Suckered in bcuz the batter doesn't know his strike zone bcuz he doesn't tilt and get on plane.
Keep up the great job, Coach!!!
ps... much better closing music
telekev1 I'm with you! Glad you enjoyed the video, much more to come.
Thank you for watching Mike Trout | Swing like the greats
So the more vertical you get with the bat, the more you tip the bat the more you can get in plane with the pitch, the better you're able to hit that low and inside pitch?
Every swing ends up being a two plane swing. Tipping the bat will create more leverage
is votto more using hip extension than hip turn? It looks like he doesn't open the front side much and even locks out the front hip pretty quickly. different than bautista who sits more into his turn. maybe that is why jose is a pull hitter and votto pretty good the other way. I feel balancing hip rotation and extension is pretty important. too little extension and there is less power especially non pull but too early in the turn and you can lose spine angle and inhibit the turn.
if feel if you sit more into the turn you can farther and better but the swing plane and pop will be worse. ideally probably you try to have the hip extension in the final third of the turn so that you extend earlier on outside pitches and later on inside pitches.
dominikk85 Yes, Votto uses more hip extension than turn. His hips turn only as far as the location of the pitch. There can be value in turning more and pulling the ball if you're a smaller guy like Bautista/Donaldson.
More good stuff from Hitterish! Have you changed your mind regarding the use of, "staying inside"? You mention it twice in this video but in previous videos you say it is one of the poor coaching cues that a viewer won't hear from you. Perhaps your definition of the term would help. Also, if I may (we're all trying to learn here), the extension of the arms is an OUTCOME of angular (spinning) velocity. That is to say the arms extend to DECELERATE the rotation of the body and bat much like the arms of a figure skater extending out to slow down from a spin. That's not to say the arms can't be straight at contact and still hit a bomb, but it is not OPTIMAL as far as bat speed and timing is concerned. Just my 2¢. What are your thoughts? Keep bringin' the great videos!
+RAWDOG1021 I try not to use "stay inside" because of the confusion around what it means. I'm doing my best to describe what it means to me. I did a video on it. I agree with what you said about the arms extending as an outcome. Guys like Trout/Cabrera/Votto tilt that angular path to be more vertical. That steeper swing plane is what I believe allows hitters to effectively stay "inside the ball."
I have a question. What's your opinion on keeping your hands in front of your vertical toe line. Where should my hands be at the end of my load? I have found that if I keep my hands in front of my toe Line I hit the ball more solidly. I guess it helps me just take a direct route to the balling team of going around my body. What's your opinion???
mango_666 I find that pulling the back elbow back towards the dugout behind you gives you more of a load and more ability to hit for power to the opposite field. Braun and Griffey are two examples I'd point to.
Hitterish.com I see what your saying. I used to do that, wasn't hitting consistently it was making me pull off and yank my shoulders open. I recently made an adjustment where i still loaded with my shoulders but my hands didn't go behind my body. I'll have to experiment more on my own though and see what works better. Maybe I should do something in between both of them.
Hitterish.com also there is a video on RUclips of David Ortiz hitting in the cage where you can see he keeps his hands in front of his body a lot.
mango_666 Ortiz does hold his hands more out front. In his game swing, he reaches a point where his hips turn forward while his elbow pulls back. So he gets the same feel of the leg pulling the hands.
Hitterish.com ok thanks for the clarification. For me I'm just trying to swing as consistently as possible with good power also.