The Bratt Bat has been around for a long time and if you pay attention you can probably see one in the on-deck circle of most major league baseball teams. Although Bratt Bat’s are traditionally used as a warm-up device, I think they can also serve a purpose for learning specific areas of the swing, such as rotation and swing path. Even though these heavy weighted bats are out of the suggested range for use with standard overload-underload bat speed training, they still can be an effective tool for teaching mechanics that generate power and increased bat speed.
This video clip is of a college player who was looking for a way to improve after a redshirt freshman year at a Division I baseball school. I’d say he figured it out! This is one of the most drastic improvements I’ve seen in such a very short period of time. Bat speed work with overload-underload bats, reaction and timing training, several different drills for rotation and swing path…we did it all:
Back in the summer of 2006 there was a college player I worked with a handfull of times after he played his freshman season at a very competitive Division 1 program (they won their conference this year and competed in the NCAA baseball tournament).
We mainly did some video review and worked on mechanics as I tried to give him the information I thought he needed to put things together and make the most of his talent. I received this text message at the end of this May:
This is P***** P***** from **U. Just played my last game and wanted to thank you for working with me. You turned my career around. This year I hit .365 with 11 HR and 51 RBI. Thanks.
“Line up the ‘door knocking’ knuckles” is the phrase I hear most often to describe the correct way to grip a baseball bat. It seems to be widely accepted, but is it really true? What is the correct or proper way to grip the bat?
What follows below is information I first wrote in January 2006. I’m reposting it because I want to have the info on the ‘new’ version of the site (rather than just the old link) and also because it’s pretty good stuff.
There’s a video clip to show the progression, and the text details a number of things:
This is a hitter with a history of success, very good success, but is underperforming this year.
These images are taken from this year and a previous year, front and side view of different swings that resulted in a HR to Left Center on fastballs in similar locations.
Each image on the left side is from this year, 2009. The shots on the right are from last year.
USA Today just did an interactive piece showing Albert Pujols’ swing while he gives some commentary over video from different angles. Interesting stuff, check it out…
Credit: Photos by H. Darr Beiser, USA TODAY. Graphic by David Evans, Alex Newman and Kristen Novak, USA TODAY.
Ok I don’t know how many more of these MLB analysis pieces are going to come out, but this is an interesting one.
Here is the full article at Baseball Analysts. It takes into account some sports psychology in addition to mechanics and looks at some statistical changes over the past couple of years.
I have only been able to catch bits and pieces of the playoffs, but if does seem like every time I turn on the Cleveland Indians, Jhonny Peralta is getting an extra-base hit. Bloop double a few nights ago, and HR’s in the past two games.
Peralta’s swing caught my attention when I first saw him in 2005 and this is why
After an outstanding May, I thought Peralta was going to make me look like a genius based on a piece I did on him over the off-season. Basically just seemed like his swings were consistent but had a vision problem. He did bounce back this year from 2006, but not quite as studly as 2005. But he is still 25 and plenty of potential to continue developing…gotta love that opposite field power.
On that note, a big thumbs up to Cleveland hitting coach, Derek Shelton. According to the description given:
“As Hitting Coordinator he streamlined the entire Indians minor league organization from the Dominican League to Triple A with all new terminology and approach to hitting”
Mr. Shelton is doing something quite well. I’d love to talk to him about that “terminology” and find out what their philosophy is all about.
Jay at Letsgotribe.com asked me to check in on Hafner’s swing, so I made a quick comparison.
FYI when I do comparison, I do my best to use swings that are similar pitch type, location and result. I repeat this over and over. The result does not HAVE to be the same, but it helps support the contention that the swings are as similar as possible.
Overall I think the swings are very similar and it’d take much more time and feedback from the player (Hafner) to really pinpoint the problem/solution. It could very well be a factor outside of swing mechanics – ie Cleveland SS Jhonny Peralta (who has been great since I added him to my fantasy team).
In other words, there does not seem to be any physical indication that Hafner will not “right the ship” and become his normal HR happy self again.
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