2 years ago, I made a post describing how I used a weighted Bratt Bat to help some professional players improve their swing mechanics during their off-season workouts.  I am still using the Bratt Bat as part of my training program to help players improve their hitting, and here is another example of how it works.

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:

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This is a nice little video from Golf Channel’s Playing Lessons with the Pros where 3-time major golf champion, Padraig Harrington, talks about creating power in his swing.  Obviously, the baseball and golf swings are different, but basic principles of movement apply to both – things like stability (on the back leg), rotation, connection (although I typically think or talk about it in the forward swing for baseball rather than the back swing) and the kinetic link.

The good stuff starts around the 13:10 mark…

the Happy Gilmore drill

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After a career low .270 batting average last season, New York Yankees Hitting Coach, Derek Long, has been working with Derek Jeter to reduce his stride.  One of the key issues:

…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

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Stack TV has a series of hitting, workout & training video clips featuring Evan Longoria from the Tampa Bay Rays.  These cover aspects of his baseball specific workouts in the weight room that target power development through the lower body and core muscles, as well as training the upper body for stability.  Just as important to the training, especially considering the daily repetition and long duration of the baseball season, is his mindset of taking quality reps in each area in order to maximize the training effect of his effort.

click for videos

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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:

before & after

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Kinetic Link