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What is swing training?

Jeff — Tue, 25 Oct 2011 14:24:27 +0000

Swing training is a highly specific hitting workout that is designed to improve swing mechanics, bat speed, quickness and power all at the same time. How do we do that?

dynamic warm-up activates predominant “swing muscles”
movement skills isolate patterns and sequences of the swing
overload-underload creates strength & speed (POWER) through full range of motion
specific measurement gives direct feedback to speed up the learning process
hitting drills that transfer improved physical capabilities to actual hitting skill
conditioning to improve rate of force development, stamina and reinforce movement patterns

Check out a sample workout that we used to help a player improve his bat speed by 8 MPH in just 6 sessions:

Click here to view the video on YouTube.

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Albert Pujols Home Run

Jeff — Tue, 11 Oct 2011 12:19:42 +0000

Had to make a quick post with the Albert Pujols home run from the NLCS game 2 against Milwaukee…

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:

Justin Upton hits a bomb

Jeff — Wed, 05 Oct 2011 19:25:12 +0000

Here’s a nice video clip of Justin Upton’s swing from the 2011 postseason. He crushes a 3-1 fastball to deep left field and the clip shows a couple replays from the center field and side views for a good look at his hitting mechanics (and bat flipping style!):

One of the things I like about Upton’s swing is that he generates tons of power but doesn’t have a lot of “noise”. Specifically, he doesn’t get far away from a good swing plane. Here is an illustration of what I mean, just before Upton unloads his swing:

Justin Upton swing plane

Lots of bat speed + consistent swing path = power AND consistency!

Creating Power in the Swing

Jeff — Tue, 04 Oct 2011 14:52:55 +0000

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

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.

Hanley Ramirez swing videos

Jeff — Tue, 20 Sep 2011 19:58:08 +0000

Hanley Ramirez is a guy that I’ve always enjoyed watching. To have his combination of size, speed and power is rare and impressive.

Here’s a look at El Nino’s swing in several different slow motion views…

click for videos

This first one starts in regular speed and slows to 120 frames per second (fps). The pitch is a fastball that he hits off the right field wall for a triple:

Click here to view the video on YouTube.

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Clip #2 is a higher speed of 240 fps and shows Hanley making an adjustment to an off-speed pitch and still hitting a line drive double to left field. Ramirez is able to delay the unloading of his upper body – can you see the hesitation after his foot lands?

Click here to view the video on YouTube.

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Lastly, this super slo-mo shot shows what an incredible pre-swing move Hanley has. This type of body control during the load is really special:

Click here to view the video on YouTube.

I’m planning on adding more video content in the future so don’t forget to visit and subscribe to our YouTube Channel.

Jose Bautista’s Swing

Jeff — Fri, 22 Jul 2011 14:45:42 +0000

Here are a couple of links that explain how Jose Bautista changed seemingly overnight from a baseball journeyman (5 teams in one year!) to today’s best hitter.

In this video, Bautista talks about how he changed his hitting mechanics, and his explanation is fairly simple. He started his swing earlier so he wasn’t late so often.

Click here to view the video on YouTube.

For a more complete picture, check out this article about Jose Baustista’s transformation. One of the things I found most interesting was the insight into Baustista’s mindset:

In his free time, Bautista reads books on exceptionality. “I’m trying to understand why mediocre people become good at what they do,” he says, “and why good people become the best.” So he mixes other players’ post-career musings on success with real mental protein.

Robinson Cano Home Run Swing

Jeff — Sat, 16 Jul 2011 17:12:46 +0000

I previously posted the “Home Run Drill” that Yankees hitting coach, Kevin Long, came up with and used with Robinson Cano, and now here is a look at Cano’s hitting mechanics that were recently on display in the 2011 Home Run Derby. At the :56 mark, there is a good side view in super slo- mo:

A few things that I really like:

1. The way he moves against his back leg

2. The position of his upper body

3. How his bat gets on and stays in a really great swing path

It’s not easy to have a short swing and create bat speed at the same time, but this is a pretty good example of what it looks like.

Slow Motion video of David Ortiz swing

Jeff — Sat, 16 Jul 2011 02:47:41 +0000

Check out this high speed video clip of David Ortiz’s hitting mechanics from the 2011 Home Run Derby

Manny Ramirez Workout Video

Jeff — Wed, 16 Feb 2011 22:23:44 +0000

ESPN.com posted a nice short video today that details Manny Ramirez’s approach to his workout and training this off-season. You’ll see some movement drills, sprinting mechanics and instruction, as well as a number of rotational drills and exercises.

Aside from all of the drills and exercises, here is one quote I found particularly interesting:

Everything in every sport really boils down to rotational power.

Enjoy:

No-Stride Hitting with Derek Jeter, David Wright & Andruw Jones

Jeff — Thu, 10 Feb 2011 18:07:09 +0000

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

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.