Below is another bat speed training research abstract.  This really was one of the best, if not the best, controlled research study that has been published regarding overload & underload training and its effects on bat swing velocity – and it was done all the way back in 1995! 

The basics are that 3 groups of 20 college players were trained 4 times per week for 12 weeks under the following conditions: batting practice group, dry swing group, control group.  The BP and dry swing group followed this swing training protocol using varied heavy and light weighted bats while the control group just dry swung with a regular weighted bat.

The results say that each group significantly imrpoved bat speed, but that’s a little misleading if you don’t read the whole study.  The batting practice group improved 10%, the dry swing group imroved 6%, and the control group improved 1%. 

Read more…

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This video from Stack gives a look at off-season hitting training with Philadelphia Phillies’ shortstop Jimmy Rollins.  It shows some cage drills and batting practice swings along with some insight from hitting coach, Milt Thompson.  Rollins talks a bit about bat speed and his hitting approach, especially in the cage – a controlled environment where you should be working towards perfection.  Deliberate practice instead of just mindless hacks.

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Pasted below is the abstract from a bat speed training article published by Chester Sergo and Douglas Boatwright in 1993.  The italics and red text are emphasis added by me.  Read the abstract, but I’ll summarize and make a few points:

 - 24 subjects averaged 19-20 years old and were college students practicing in the off-season

- All the training was done with just dry swings, during practice.  100 swings in sets of 20 performed 3x/week for 6 weeks

- Group 1 (regular bat only), Group 2 (62 oz. bat), Group 3 (alternated sets with 62 oz. & fungo bat)

- Each group improved bat speed 8-9%, with no statistically significant difference.  Group 1 (8.8%, highest), Group 2 (8.0% lowest), Group 3 (8.2 %)

- FYI the average bat speeds reported for these players began in the low 90’s and ended around 100 mph, measured by some light timing device made by the school’s engineering department

Read more…

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Here’s another video interview (link to previous post) with New York Yankees’ hitting coach, Kevin Long.  This one is from Yankees Magazine during spring training of 2008 and includes some impressive praise from players (including Hideki Matsui, Jason Giambi, Robinson Cano and Jorge Posada) and especially manager, Joe Girardi.  There’s also footage of guys like Alex Rodriguez, Derek Jeter, and Johnny Damon.

This gives some good insight into the thought process of both players and coaches.  There’s also a little info in there about the Yankees’ pre-game batting practice routine (similar to the David Wright bp video).

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I posted a link to Stack magazine on the links page and I check there periodically to go through the videos they post.  The following is one that not only shows some batting practice swings from New York Mets third baseman, David Wright, but also provides his insights into the purpose and preparation of his pre-game hitting routine:

In other words, it’s not just about getting your hacks in, but having a plan for what you’re doing.  This sounds simple, but it’s something that begins to separate players of similar talent as the competition gets tougher and level of play increases.

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No fancy comments or analysis here, just thought I’d share this video.  Always interesting to see how players prepare for action.

Giles looked good hitting some hard to right.  Andruw really unloaded on a couple at the end.  Chipper really was the most impressive hitting some shots over the left field fence.

You’ll need real player to view the clips:

Andruw  Jones

Chipper Jones

Marcus Giles

Edgar Renteria

Adam LaRoche

Brian McCann

Jeff Francoeur

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If you know me, you know Manny Ramirez is my favorite hitter.  These days, Miguel Cabrera has been catching my attention.  I really like how he starts his swing.  Simple, efficient and powerful.  If he keeps it up, he could be the next Manny (not only in terms of production but also my favorite hitter!)  The following link is some video I took of his batting practice a couple of weeks ago:

Miguel Cabrera Batting Practice Video

It made me look at his swing a little bit closer.  I have several of his HR clips from the front and side views and I’m noticing that he seems to make contact much closer to full extension than most.  And he does it fairly consistently.

You can draw your own conclusion, but this observation reminds me of several HR clips I have where players hit the ball out of the park when they are fooled, reaching, out in front (whatever you want to call it).   And it all gets back to the issue of using the body to create bat speed early and keeping the arms/hands connected so you have a chance to transfer that energy as the swing progresses.

As an aside here, this clip I made of Delgado is a good illustration of what’s going on:

http://swingtraining.net/clips/delgado-oppo-hrs.mpg

Both HR’s except on the left he is “reaching” or hitting it “one-handed” as the announcers would say.  But if you go frame by frame right up until contact, the swings are virtually identical.

I hear a lot of folks say you have to have such strong hands to do what Delgado is doing on the left.  I’d say, when you are reaching that much, your hands and arms are in a much worse position to exert strength.  In other words, the further the arms get from the body, the less they are able to apply force in the swing.  It would make sense to me that Delgado on the left is relying much more on the energy he built up BEFORE he let his bat go out to make contact.  Which would also explain why players are typically able to pull the ball with more power compared to hitting to the opposite field.

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I was in Florida a few weeks ago and was lucky enough to catch a game between LA and FLA.  It was a decent mix of prospects and big league guys.  Whenever I can get to a game early, I like to catch BP.  Most ball parks open early enough to catch the visiting taking BP, so I was able to get some video of most of the Dodgers’ players. 

You may recognize in the video #14 is Bill Mueller.  Ramon Martinez is in there for LA also.  As for the AB’s it goes #54 (forgot his name), Ramon Martinez – 2b to the gap, Bill Mueller – seeing eye 1b into left, Jason Stokes – long fly out, and Hanley Ramirez – 1b to CF

You’ll need real player (real.com) to view this one:

http://www.swingtraining.net/clips/LA_FLA1.rm

Kemp is supposed to be a decent prospect for LA.  He had by far the most impressive BP that I saw.  There were a number of players hitting the ball out of the ballpark, but he was hitting them to straight away CF and the only one I saw hit an opposite field bomb in BP.

http://www.swingtraining.net/clips/Kemp_Matt_bp1.mpg

First observation was I thought he could be a little quicker.  I’ll have to compare to Delgado and give it another look.  Then again, he might just be trying to launch ‘em – which he was as you can tell by my “commentary”

If you get a chance this summer, try to get to a big league game early enough to watch BP.  What really stands out to me watching some of the better hitters is how easy they make it look.  I have taped some other teams during BP (which I may post later on) and Carlos Delgado was the most impressive I’ve seen to this point.  Hitting the ball “effortlessly” to opposite field and up the middle out of the park…which suggests to me that you have to figure out how to use your entire body pretty efficiently if you want to make it to the next level.

Enjoy the video!

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