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

You’ve heard these, right?

Timing is a critical component to good hitting, so this edition of Mailbag gives a pair of reference points to help gauge your timing.

Here is the question I received:

 

I have a quick baseball question if you don’t mind helping me. I just got back to school off of summer baseball and I am way in front of all the pitching, I was thinking if I should move up to a 34 inch bat to try and slow my hands down a bit. I have been trying to wait back and go the other way but that leads me to trying to inside out everything and getting jammed on pitches that I should be hitting into the gaps.

Slow the hands down?  No way!  Most guys wish that their hands are too fast or that they have too much bat speed.  Having the ability to unload the swing with power is a great asset to have.

Inside-outing the ball to go the other way?  Now that’s just another way of changing the way you unload or swing the bat (in a bad way).

If the issue is consistently being out in front on all types of pitching, that suggests a timing issue that is related to the PRE-swing move (or the load) rather than the actual swing (the unload).

Loaded and Ready on time at Release

Here was my response:

Hi ******,
you could switch to a 34″ bat if you feel like you can handle it, especially if you’re a taller/bigger guy. While it’s very difficult to say without seeing what you’re actually doing, it sounds like more of a timing issue that’s related to your pre-swing move. Guys who describe this type of issue to me are usually stiff or lack some type of rhythm early in their swing that allows them to adjust to different pitch types. Your load or pre-swing move is one of the first things that allows you to make adjustments to different speeds.

You can work on this a few different ways. On the tee or soft toss just make sure you have some rhythm in your load. Then have someone sit on a stool behind the L-screen and throw to you from a short distance – do one round slow, one faster, then alternate fast/slow, then have him throw random where you don’t know. I do this with guys and when they get in a good rhythm they hit everything.

Here are two reference points for your timing (based on a 90 mph fastball):
1. you should be ready to make your shift/stride/positive move at the time the pitcher is releasing the ball
2. your stride foot should be landing at about the time the ball is halfway home

this means that you are loading while the pitcher is getting ready to throw the ball

and it also means that you are seeing the ball as you are moving from your load into your hitting position

Stride foot down with ball about halfway

A couple of weeks later, I received a nice follow up:

Hey Jeff, I was actually about to email you back and thank you for those drills. They have helped my swing tremendously and I have been hitting the ball a lot better.

 

Glad to hear it!

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.

Normally, I would not have paid much attention to this, but I had just finished reading a very good book – The Talent Code by Daniel Coyle.  This book is about talent, and more specifically talent development through something called “deep practice”.  Shaun White, for example, says that he was able to get in a couple years of riding in one day of practice!  How is that possible?

Check out Coyle’s post on this topic and learn 3 lessons of High Velocity Learning demonstrated in Shaun White’s training video (shown in the post linked below):

3-rules of High Velocity Learning

And how does this apply to baseball practice?

Here’s how we do it…

1. Teach fundamental concepts of movement in the swing and use video to illustrate these concepts
2. Each one of our drills and exercises either isolates a segment of the swing so that the player can “feel” to correct movement or forces the player to execute the entire movement/swing more efficiently
3. We’re able to transfer the “feel” from our hitting drills and exercises into the skills necessary to improve on-field performance.

In short, we create batting practice and training environments where each hitter can learn and develop skills at a high velocity.

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.

Swingtraining.net has joined with Perfect Competition sports performance facility in order to provide comprehensive strength, speed, and hitting specific workout programs in the Southeast Florida area.  Perfect Competition already has a well established reputation for their MLB Performance Enhancement program, and now Swingtraining.net will add the most specific hitting training available.

Complete training programs will be available for players at various levels:

• Professional Baseball
• College Baseball or Softball
• High School Baseball or Softball

Perfect Competition has served as the off-season training home to Major League Baseball stars such as Manny Ramirez, Miguel Cabrera, Mike Lowell, Magglio Ordonez, Miguel Tejada, Javier Lopez, Raul Ibanez, and Jose Guillen (see list of MLB Alumni).

The Perfect Competition Performance Center offers the following:

•   20,000 sq. ft. state-of-the-art facility
•   5000 sq. ft. multi level weight room
•   5,000 sq. ft. indoor turf area
•   60-yd outdoor track
•   1,500 sq. ft. cardiovascular / metabolic area
•   Video analysis room
•   Professional development center
•   Locker room’s and showers
•   Agent/player conference room
•   1,500 sq. ft. physical therapy / rehabilitative area
•   Outdoor multidirectional training surface
•   Outdoor grass fields and turf field

Performance Center

Workouts will include dynamic warm-up, joint mobility & stability, sequenced muscle activation, Swingtraining.net’s drills series, traditional hitting drills, strength, speed, and agility.  A truly baseball-specific program!

Contact Swingtraining.net to set up a meeting and begin your off-season workouts!

Facility Location

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.

______________________________________________________________

Here is what she wrote:

“Hey Jeff, hope you’re doing well. Just wanted to let you know that I made first team all county this year and lead my team in doubles and almost tied the school record for homeruns, all thanks to you.”

When I responded to her email, I made sure to let her know that she was the one who put in the hard work. She replied:

“I got so accustomed to practicing hitting and making adjustments as I went along that my coaches would give me a hard time because I would go through bucket after bucket after bucket in the cages, and when we hit on the field I wouldn’t stop until I hit a homerun haha. The accomplishment of my life- hitting a homerun over the right field fence (about 275 ft) off a tee…that and I finally learned how to hit an inside riseball.”

These are the types of players who make a coach/instructor look good. For those of you working hard and looking for ways to improve, here is some more of her story:

______________________________________________________________

Last winter I began working with a softball player in the Atlanta area. I did not know much about her background, but I assummed from her swing that she had received very “traditional” coaching.

In my opinion, her swing had been constructed primarily to beat the ball straight into the ground.

After an initial video analysis, where I compared her to a high level Division 1 NCAA softball player (whom I consider to have a good swing for her level), our first plan of attack was:

1. Get into a more athletic position to hit
2. Learn how to move/rotate explosively out of that position

Here is some before/after video:

On the far left is the first time we met. No instruction or anything other than the recording of some swings.

Next meeting we looked over our video comparisons and some other images, and proceeded mainly with over/under and reaction training with the SETPRO SP-5 unit.

The middle portion of the above clip shows this player doing the no-stride, pure reaction training. Basically, the player begins in a strong, athletic position and learns to rotate explosively into the ball. Feedback is provided in terms of both swing quickness and bat speed, which promotes swing OPTIMIZATION – that is, blend of quickness and speed (power).

Then on the right is a shot of a regular tee swing after a couple weeks of training. Some noticeable points of improvement include:

1. Stronger initial base
2. Better load of the hands and upper body
3. Reduced overall swing time (*note ‘before’ swing starts about 5 frames prior to ‘after’ swing)

And very interestingly, her new swing matched up quite similarly to her “training” swing.