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).

regular tee swing vs 75 oz bratt bat tee swing

Here’s what happened:

1.  His load stayed more to the inside of his back leg.  This helps create a better angle on the back leg that helps the player move back into his actual hitting position more efficiently.

Better Load

2.  His hitting position is more “balanced” or “centered”.  Since the player hasn’t had so much sway back towards the catcher, he does not have as long of a distance to move back into his hitting position, and he isn’t off balance from having to reach too far forward with his stride foot while his upper body “hangs back”.  Basically, he is able to move to a better hitting position due to what happened during his load.

Better Hitting Position

3. He unloads the bat (the actual swing) more efficiently.  What you see in the load and hitting position create a base that allows the rotation to deliver the hands and bat on a better swing path that is more direct to the ball.  Not to mention more powerful…

Better Contact Position

What is interesting here is that this player actually stays “inside” the ball better (or releases the bat head later) with a bat that is two and a half times the weight of his regular bat.  The bat image is blurred but you can still see the angle of the bat at contact and how it affects the direction of the ball – in this case, the ball on the left is slightly pulled, whereas the ball on the right is hit up the middle.

If you recall another post I made about warming up with weighted bats, I suggested that the swings with the weighted donut, when used correctly, could actually improve your swing, rather than hurt is as implied by the Sports Science video.  Why is that?

I wish I could remember where exactly I heard this, but it was a few years ago and I didn’t write it down, I just never forgot the saying that…

heavier weight exposes inefficieny

This was said in reference to lifting weights, but it also applies to the baseball swing.  If you cast the bat, come “around” the ball, drag the bat…..all of those things are going to be magnified when you add weight to the bat, especially the barrel.  While finding a lighter bat might be the quick fix in some cases, reducing the weight will not require that you use and sequence your larger/stronger muscles more efficiently like a heavier bat will.

What is typical for the first few swings with a weighted bat is that the ball gets pulled on the ground (coming “around” the ball) or missed altogether.  But as players learn to move effectively and transfer energy to the bat more efficiently, they learn how to swing a heavier bat under control (as opposed to having the bat swing them, as some might say).

The feedback of the Bratt Bat drill, as shown in BOTH examples above, is such that if you can hit a solid line drive up the middle or towards the opposite field gap (now staying “inside” the ball), you are creating a better, more efficient sequence of your swing.  Once you get the FEEL from the drill, it will be easier to recreate the movement when you switch back to your regular bat.

The Bratt Bat

I was just impressed with the way Pujols was able to maintain his hitting position and pull his hands in without rolling over (aka keeping it fair).

Pretty much looks like this:

The good stuff starts around the 13:10 mark…

the Happy Gilmore drill

Harrington talks about turn/twist/rotate through to impact, which is a concept or explanation that sometimes gets a bad rap in baseball because of players’ tendency to drag the bat or spin on the back foot when focusing on rotation.  The baseball swing has a quickness component that doesn’t exist in golf, but even in golf it is possible to drag/cast the club.  Golfers, however, typically try to maintain a “hinge” angle or prevent the club from casting too soon in order to save up all the rotational energy and release at the last possible moment upon contact.  This way they can create a lot of power through their rotation AND be in position to transfer it to the club right before contact…..this can’t happen in baseball or golf if you’re dragging the club/bat.

And of course, there is the Happy Gilmore drill (hard to spin on the back foot doing this one!) where Harrington talks about taking a step as in a baseball swing, and how he uses it to create EXTRA power.  This would typically be seen in baseball in a common drill called the walk-up drill.  Remember, the idea is to take the lateral momentum and then use it to ADD to what Harrington described as turning/twisting/rotating into contact.  The big lateral shift is relatively worthless (think sliding or lunging) if it’s not converted into rotation.

Here’s a little more from Sports Science:

Click here to view the video on YouTube.

Robinson Cano Home Run Drill

Check out this article that explains a drill that was developed by New York Yankees’ hitting coach, Kevin Long, to help players like Cano develop short, compact and power hitting mechanics.

This drill has become one of my favorites, but I actually do it slightly differently in the batting cage.  I like to have the player keep the line drives along the net or through the very small alley created between the screen and the net.  This way, the player stays short but really emphasizes staying on the ball rather than pulling off.  As the player adapts, I like them to pull the ball a little bit more, but just because their contact is a bit more out in front, not because they are changing the way they get to the ball.

If you remember this video I has posted of A-Rod a while back, use can see him using the drill against the net.

…that stride grew longer and drifted toward the plate, which caused Jeter to lean over. It altered Jeter’s bat path, and his timing suffered.

Derek Jeter 2006

The idea of reducing the stride is typically an effort to maintain a good hitting position and allow the player’s swing and timing to work more consistently.  I’ve been to a number of high school and college games this week and noticed several times as hitters switch drastically to a no-stride approach when they get two-strikes.  What I mean by drastic is that it is like a completely different swing.  One of the more traditional thoughts regarding two-strikes is to widen the stance and choke-up on the bat in order to reduce movement in the swing, but is this always a good thing?  Well, it depends…

With any good hitter, there is a certain sequence to the swing (as in kinetic link/chain) that not only provides power and efficiency, but also provides for the rhythm and timing necessary to make adjustments to different pitch types and locations.  A player who has a sound fundamental basis of movement can make many different pre-swing actions and maintain virtually the same swing.  For example, Barry Bonds used a toe-tap and Albert Pujols just lifts his heel off the ground in games, but I’ve seen them use a high leg-kick to load their swings and still look the same from their hitting position through their finish.

In other words, no-stride, toe-taps and high-leg kicks are just different ways of loading that should help a hitter get to a good hitting position with consistency.  So either adding motion to the swing via a longer stride or a leg-kick, or cutting motion from the swing as a no-stride approach could be good ideas depending on the hitter.

The idea of cutting down pre-swing motion with two-strikes is fine, as long as it doesn’t interrupt or negatively alter the timing of the hitter – that’s the exact opposite of the intention!  This is where it is important to be able to apply these concepts on an individual basis.  Here are some examples:

• Added motion to stride via leg-kick – David Wright in 2007

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• Reduced stride length via wider stance – Andruw Jones in 2005

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One of the things I’d like to point out is that these videos show examples of what I would consider to be big or significant changes.  The swings of each player, however, still follow a certain pattern of having a load, a shift/move to a good hitting position, rotation, short path to the ball and finishing through a good swing plane.  In other words, it is still the swing of that player, not drastic as I described at the beginning.

Specifically, with no-stride hitting, notice that a good swing sequence still exists.  Re-check the left side of the David Wright clip above (2006 version) and you can see that there is no actual stride (stride foot does not come off the ground), but there is still a loading/shifting/unloading of the hips.  Albert Pujols is probably the most recognizable hitter today that uses a similar approach.  And if you’re thinking that only big strong giants can pull this off, there are smaller guys out there that have minimal pre-swing movement (ie Chone Figgins).  Outside of baseball, golf is a great example of maintaining solid loading and shifting action in the lower half without using a stride, although I have seen clips of professional golfers doing “Happy Gilmore” impressions where they run up and crush the ball off the tee.

What I’ve found to be a big misconception with no-stride hitting or hitting with more movement is just that either way is done to the extreme.  No-stride, for example, is depicted as going from a dead stop, and having a leg-kick or weight shift is shown as being out of control or lunging.  Neither representation is true, it’s just that some players have difficulty with one approach or the other.  Either way, regardless of the style of pre-swing movement, the loading and unloading pattern through the hips remains the same, and is really the key element in all of this.  The coaching aspect comes in here and requires a bit of trial and error to see which approach bests fits each individual player.

click for videos

In the video below, Longoria talks about something very important – his hitting routine in the batting cage.  He specifically mentions how the cage is the place to pinpoint different mechanical aspects of the swing and he he uses the tee to do this.

When I got to see Evan play up close a couple years ago, I was amazed at how confident and relaxed he looked, and in pro baseball, a player’s hitting routine plays a big role in this.  As a player builds his routine to address the specific needs in his game, he not only improves the consistency of his swing, but he builds confidence in knowing that he is prepared to compete each and every night.  This is part of the reason why baseball players in particular are such creatures of habit.  Check out what Daniel Coyle of The Talent Code has to say about this:

Another general truth about top performers is that they love rituals. Whether Rafael Nadal prepping for a serve or Yo-Yo Ma prepping a sonata, a lot of top performers are addicted to idiosyncratic, persnickety rituals that seem, to the neutral observer, insanely detailed and RainMan-esque. They tie their sneakers just so, they place their violin case at a certain precise angle.  These behaviors are usually described as a superstition, but I think that misses the point: their ritual is their unique way of prepping themselves to deliver a performance.

A couple of the Stack videos show Longoria doing core exercises and medicine ball drills, which reminded me of another off-season video of Longoria working out at Athlete’s Performance in Tempe, Arizona:

Lots of good stuff mentioned here – hard work, movement training, hitting power via core strength, rotational movements & torso stability in order to transfer force.

I like some of the rotation exercises shown around the 1:40 mark, and if you pay attention at the end, you can see some of the tee work that was mentioned in the first video above.  Check out where the tee is placed and the direction he hit the ball…not easy to do!!

Enjoy

The Front Toss Drill

As I’ve stated before, I always enjoy listening to other coaches, especially those with such a great amount of experience, because I learn things regardless of how much I agree or disagree.  One of the main points from this video that I like is the emphasis of direction in a straight line back to the pitcher.  It seems like a minor detail, but that’s why it often gets overlooked and leads to problems.  Tee work and front toss (the soft toss show in the video) are simple drills to work on this, and are probably the most common things you’d see if you hang around the batting cage at any pro ballpark.

Weighted Bratt Bat

The drill itself is to simply use a Bratt Bat to hit tennis balls from side toss or front flips.  Keep in mind that the bat is not designed to hit baseballs, so it is better to use tennis or wiffle balls.  And another note for you do-it-yourselfers: I like this bat much more than a homemade version from filling an old metal bat with sand because of the difference in the balance of the bat.  The Bratt Bat’s weight is evenly distributed, whereas the old sand filled metal bat is much more end-heavy.

— Swingtraining.net Drills Page —

I’ve found over the years that higher loads tend to expose inefficiency, and this drill is no exception.  The tough parts about hitting with a bat this heavy is that it is hard to execute a normal load with your upper body (hands/arms/shoulders) and it is extremely difficult to control the bat after contact.  Both of these are a result of the weight.  You can see in the finish below how the bat head just wants to take off after contact because of the momentum that has been built up and transferred to the barrel.

Manny using the Bratt Bat

This challenge of controlling the weight and the barrel is what makes the drill effective.  For example, I don’t start off with much more instruction other than to “hit the ball up the middle”.  What typically happens after that is the player misses or severely rolls over the ball on the first swing.  Why? Because he can’t control the bat-head release, or in simpler terms, he doesn’t really know how to ‘stay inside’ the ball.  This feedback is helpful – swing it right and you can hit the ball where you want and it will feel more effortless.  Screw it up and feel the weight of the bat, miss, or roll that double-play ball.

So here is the main point of the drill – to use the body and its rotation to deliver the hands and bat through the right path to the right spot at the right time.  Here is a AA minor league player – read more about his swing transformation here and here – taking a full rip with an 100 oz. (yes, 100 ounces) bat:

100 oz. Bratt Bat soft-toss

So for the actual drill I like to take out or minimize the load with the upper body (the player will always make some kind of little move to get going).  One less thing to worry about.  Plus by setting the bat on the shoulder, the bat gets closer to the swing plane that it needs to be on.  And from here the player can just focus in the unloading, or concentric action of the swing.

The Bratt Bat drill forces the turn of the body to do most of the real work.  Not only to be the major force provider in the swing, but also to allow the hands to get to the right place.  Both of the minor league players below started with a tendency to spin on their back foot, which would make them come around the ball in this drill.  With the feedback from the heavy bat, they learned to get their back-side through the ball…and let “the bug” live (sorry, couldn’t resist).

Unloading the Swing

I mentioned using the rotation of the body to deliver the bat where it needs to be – trying to use this heavy bat to hit the ball middle/oppo forces this.  How?  If the player gets long with his hands/arms early in the swing (ie. casts the bat), the bat wants to drop like an anchor because of its weight.  Same thing if the player tries to push the bat too much.  When the bat starts to get too far from the body, gravity takes over.  As the player learns to use his hands and arms together with his rotation, the bat actually does not feel to heavy.  This is efficiency in hitting mechanics.

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

You can find a Bratt Bat available through the Products page.

before & after

Yes, that is the same guy.  All of our work was done in a 2-week period when this player was on his Christmas break from school.  We got together maybe 8-10 total times over that stretch and took a ton of swings.  No magic weight room exercises or extra forearm or grip strength work here.  Just an initial video analysis, some weighted implements (heavy & light bats), feedback for swing speed and quickness, and some intent to swing faster. 

Not only did he swing the bat with more velocity, but his overall swing was quicker.  He had a better swing plane and path through the ball, he had better weight shift and distribution, better hip rotation, and an overall improvement in the connection and sequence of the different body segments (hips, shoulders, arms, bat).  The mechanics of his swing improved in just about every way.  Well done!

For more before & after swing videos, check out the Results page.

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.

For more success stories, check the Results page.

I had loosely kept in touch with this player of the past couple of years and I knew he was doing better, but it was nice to receive such a positive message, and nicer to know the he thought so much of the work we did together.  As I mentioned in my post about softball training, these are the types of players who make a coach/instructor look good because they take a few pieces of information and apply them well.  Check out his stats after the summer of 2006 (age 20):

Here is a look at a couple video comparisons we used to illustrate some differences in hitting mechanics…

See the Resources page for more on Sports Motion video software

A quick step one was checking out the swing path:

swing plane comparison

In addition to showing some differences in swing plane, I wanted him to see that he could get “inside the ball” better because his initial move was “around” the ball (like “coming over the top” in golf):

outside vs inside

With this last comparison, we looked at a couple of things.  First, making a better pre-swing move into the ball (ie weight shift) to generate a little momentum and allow for some more time to see the ball.  Second, get the wrists cocked and maintain that angle (ie don’t cast the bat) as rotation begins and the beginning/unloading of the swing is actually launched.

side shot comparison

Big hat tip and congratulations for lots of hard work and a job well done!