Eric Cressey posted an article over the weekend that I wrote for his blog covering the topic of hip extension and rotation in the baseball swing.  I wanted to hit on this issue because hip extension is a very powerful movement of the posterior chain, but it isn’t often thought of or taught as part of rotation, especially in the baseball swing.

Here’s a couple videos from the post that give a close up look at hip rotation from the side and front views:

 

The article itself describes what’s going on in the videos based on EMG research from both golf and baseball, and has some thoughts on how you can work on your hip action in the weight room as well as the batting cage.

One line from the article warrants repeating here:

Here’s the key point: good hip rotation has an element of hip extension!

Give the article a read and spend some time at Eric’s website or follow him on twitter.  He’s doing a lot of good things in the world of baseball training.

 

Plate discipline, pitch recognition, strike zone awareness are each different building blocks of a successful hitting approach.  Mechanics and strength training might get more attention, but baseball skills that center around controlling the strike zone are becoming more and more valuable.  How important is plate discipline?  I’ll reference Chicago Cubs president, Theo Epstein, here:

 

I believe 90 percent of the game revolves around controlling the strike zone

 

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If you don’t want to take Mr. Epstein’s word for it, here are a pair of interviews from minor league prospects who are getting recognized for their approaches at the plate:

• Mike O’Neill, St. Louis Cardinals, OF

 

David Laurila just did an interview with O’Neill over at FanGraphs (full interview) :

DL: Does a hitter need to take a lot of strikes to have a high on-base percentage?

MO: Not necessarily. I’m not up there looking to walk. I’m looking for a specific pitch and if the pitcher doesn’t give it to me, I’m taking until I get it. I’m not going to swing if it’s out of the zone I’m looking for. That’s kind of what generates walks for me. I’m patient, and once I get my pitch, I’m swinging. I’m attacking the baseball. I’ve just been fortunate to get a lot of walks, especially this year.

 

• John Andreoli, Chicago Cubs, OF

And Jay Kolster recently gave a in-depth look at Andreoli’s hitting approach and off-season training (full interview):

Hitters need to take their walks. When they don’t hitters end up miss hitting a lot of pitches and get themselves out. The key here is to know what pitch you want to hit, to put a good swing on it when you get it, and not be afraid to take a pitch.

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With all the training out there addressing baseball’s 5 traditional tools, it’s important that we don’t overlook one of hitting’s most fundamental skills – knowing the strike zone.  Learn to identify your strengths and weaknesses within the strike zone, pay attention to what the pitcher can and can’t do in the strike zone…now you’re on your way to having a plan at the plate!

Special thank you to sports vision specialist Dr. Larry Lampert who recently stopped by the Swingtraining.net Warehouse to do vision testing on several of our hitters. With all the work these players have done training for bat speed, swing quickness, reaction time, mechanics, and plate discipline, it was only natural that we address the often overlooked aspect of vision training.

Very interesting that despite 20/15 vision in a couple of the hitters, Dr. Lampert was quickly able to find areas for potential improvement – vergence, convergence, peripheral vision, focusing, tracking, and teaming of the eyes are all examples of how the eyes work to provide information to the brain.

Fortunately, these areas can be improved and the muscles controlling the eyes can be strengthened like other muscles in the body.  After Dr. Lampert’s evaluation, he set the players up with his internet based vision training program with directions specific to their areas of need.

Dr. Lampert is local to the Palm Beach area with an office in Boca Raton.  He’s worked with top level athletes of several sports, not just baseball.  Here are some links where you can find more information:

• Dr. Lampert’s articles on the STACK blog
• Dr. Lampert’s home website
• Dr. Lampert’s Eye Performance Computer Software
• Sports Vision Training Facebook Fan Page

In this specific case, it’s Wimbledon (tennis) champions, but take a few minutes to watch this video about Russia’s most well known tennis academy – Spartak:

I first heard of Spartak when I read Daniel Coyle’s book, The Talent Code, and this video gives a glimpse inside the facility and training approach.

What’s the difference between the Spartak approach?  Here is a key piece:

In Russia, it’s about the coaches – not the schools, Volkov believes.

“A coach in this country is a graduate, with a specific degree. All our coaches are Spartak alumni. And it’s a known fact that European and especially American methods refer to the physical rather than the technical side of things – which is different here in this country,” he said.

At Spartak, it starts with the goals of the kids (which you can hear in the video) and grows with the focus on the quality of deliberate practice and expert instruction.

These are the same principles that create the foundation for the Swingtraining.net hitting & training facility – The Warehouse:

 

2 years ago, I made a post describing how I used a weighted Bratt Bat to help some professional players improve their swing mechanics during their off-season workouts.  I am still using the Bratt Bat as part of my training program to help players improve their hitting, and here is another example of how it works.

From the previous post (linked above), here were the “rules”:

What to do:

• Use a weight appropriate for the strength-age-level of your player (65-75 oz. for high school, up to 100 oz. for stronger college players and pros)
• Avoid a high volume of swings.  5-10 is enough to get the right feel, then switch back to a regular weight bat
• Avoid trying to swing too hard.  Save that for your overload-underload swings.  Just get the feeling of the drill.
• Focus on hitting line drives up the middle and towards the oppo gap
• Remember this is just a drill and stick to the main principles of swing training for larger numbers of swings

 

Looking back, I still stick pretty closely to these rules.  But in the upcoming example, we’re actually hitting a baseball off of a tee with a full swing (note: the Bratt Bat is not designed to hit baseballs.  It’s better to use tennis or wiffle balls for higher volume or intensity of swings, as shown in our previous drill).

Now here is a comparison of a high school junior hitting off the tee with his regular bat (left side) and using a 75 ounce Bratt Bat (right side).  After he took several tee swings with his regular bat, all I did was give him the Bratt Bat and tell him to try and hit it up the middle (tee is placed right down the middle, a bit forward of where the stride foot lands).

 

Here’s what happened:

Read more…

Swing training is a highly specific hitting workout that is designed to improve swing mechanics, bat speed, quickness and power all at the same time.  How do we do that?

• dynamic warm-up activates predominant “swing muscles”
• movement skills isolate patterns and sequences of the swing
• overload-underload creates strength & speed (POWER) through full range of motion
• specific measurement gives direct feedback to speed up the learning process
• hitting drills that transfer improved physical capabilities to actual hitting skill
• conditioning to improve rate of force development, stamina and reinforce movement patterns

Check out a sample workout that we used to help a player improve his bat speed by 8 MPH in just 6 sessions:

 

 

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