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.
In my Rochester posts, I mentioned that I did a two-part interview with a local TV show. They came to Jupiter to speak with myself and another RIT grad who also happened to work at Roger Dean Stadium. When I went back to Rochester to work with the team, we did a follow up and they took some footage of me working with the players.
Here’s a link to the RIT Sportszone site, where you can find the entire episode (Season 8, Episode 2).
I put my segment in the sidebar, and also included a it below in a bit larger size, along with more details about what I was talking about…
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.
Below is another bat speedtraining 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%.
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.
I’ve been posting some articles about the hitting approaches of major league hitters, and seeing that Ichiro just set the record of 9 consecutive 200 hit seasons reminded me of this ESPN.com article by Jim Caple that came out last week:
“He understands he’s a leadoff hitter and his job is to get the bat on the ball and get on base for the people behind him because he can use his speed on the basepaths,…..All you just have to watch him in [batting practice] to see how far he can hit the ball. But he doesn’t get outside of himself during the game, which is a compliment to the discipline he has to stay in his approach and do what he wants to do.
Ichiro’s swing mechanics and combination of speed & power are surely a unique set of tools, but the point is that he’s figured out what works for him to be successful and fill his role on the team. It’s worth mentioning that there is a lot of value in just that – identifying your own strengths and weaknesses and then building your plan as a hitter around those things. Part of your plate discipline as a hitter is being able to execute what you are best able to do.
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:
Made the post about Derek Jeter hitting the inside fastball, so here is Ryan Howard on the same topic. He explains his hitting approach and swing thoughts for pitches on the inner part of the strike zone:
One of the best points in there is that you shouldn’t be trying to swing at the ball too far in. There’s just not much you can do with it. Also a good point in your cage and batting practice is to work in the gaps and stay primarily in the middle of the field.
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?
The ball appears to swerve because our peripheral vision system cannot process all of its features independently. Instead, our brains combine the downward motion of the ball and its leftward spin to create the impression of a curve.
This article gives some information about why curveballs may be more difficult to hit:
Shapiro notes that curve balls start off in the centre of a batter’s vision but overlap with the peripheral system as they come nearer. This transition may be why such balls appear to change direction suddenly, he says.
It would be nice to know when this transition happens. If you remember my old post, Professor Robert Adair (Physics of Baseball author), gives some insight into the visual process in batting.
I received an email update this week (11/28/06) from a player who I spent time working with last winter/spring. We met nearly every-other week for a few months.
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.”
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