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I'm blaming the late delivery of the newsletter on the whole 28 days in February thing. Given a 31 day month, this newsletter would have been on time. I'm hoping to turn over a new leaf in March and get the newsletter out early...I wouldn't hold your breath though.
February is my annual support QCBaseball issue. I understand as a parent, coach, and husband that there's always someone tugging on your wallet. Most everything on the QCBaseball.com is provided as a free service, but that doesn't mean the site doesn't need financial support. If your financially able, I hope you will consider supporting QCBaseball in some way as the financial support is critical to the continued growth of the site. A great way to support this site (and get a great product in return) is to purchase a team web site. I have 3 products that I'm very proud of and that I use myself. You can view a demo of the team web site by using the following link: Sample team web site. Information about all 3 products can be found at: Product information
If you're not interested in a team web site, you can make a donation of any size through PayPal (you no longer have to be a PayPal member to make payments through PayPal)
As always, whether you can help out financially or not, I always appreciate coaches and parents who forward this newsletter on to other coaches or parents who may be interested. Links from league web sites are also a great way of getting the word out.
Until next month...ummm...I mean...later this month,
Don Edlin
QCBaseball.com
"There's only one way to become a hitter. Go up to the plate and get mad. Get mad at yourself and mad at the pitcher."
-- Ted Williams
You may have a hitter on your team that can make good contact and appears to have a good swing, but for some reason the ball just doesn't jump off his bat. Most of the time the result is a soft ground ball, pop-up, or line drive that ends up being a routine play. This can show up at any level and is most often associated with a hitter that is overly concerned with making contact. Wait, "Isn't making contact the goal of hitting?" No, the goal of hitting is to get on base by either a hit or a walk. An objective of getting a hit is to make contact, but a more productive objective would be to drive the ball somewhere hard! Players need to understand the difference. A player that is overly concerned with making contact is usually a player that is lacking confidence and is afraid of striking out to the point where it affects his swing and approach at the plate. Instead of thinking about getting a hit (positive), he just wants to put the ball in play so he doesn't strike out (negative).
How does this relate to "dragging the bat through the zone" and why is it important. It relates because the approach affects the swing and often shows up in the form of the player "dragging the bat through the zone". It's important because you'll find it difficult to fix if you don't address the mental approach that the player takes when standing up to the plate.
Hitters learn early, if you're not ready when the ball is on the way, it will be by you before you can get the bat around. To combat this a player may decide to start his swing early. This would be fine if the player is ready and stays back while taking the stride and then takes a good swing. The key here is that the stride and swing are distinct movements. What will happen to many hitters (especially young players) is that the stride and the swing will merge into one movement. As the player strides he will start drifting forward with his stride. Instead of keeping his weight back on the stride and following with a forceful swing, the stride and the swing will become one motion that appears slow. As his weight drifts forward with the stride, his hands will also begin to move forward and the swing will begin. The only way to swing and not be way out in front of the pitch is to drag the hands through the zone. This keeps the bat in the hitting zone for the longest possible time and gives the hitter a better chance of "making contact". Since the goal is to put the ball in play and not strike out, making any kind of contact is a good thing. In the end, he may end up being a good contact hitter with a poor batting average. For a player with less hand eye coordination the result may be what he fears most, an increase in strikeouts as he is not able to adjust to the pitch and not able to stop the swing on a pitch out of the strike zone.
Correcting this problem can be difficult since the habit may have developed over a couple of seasons. Here are a few pointers when trying to help this player:
I'm happy to be able to provide a guest article this month from hitting.com.
Recently I was at a scout game at ASU that my son Jordan was playing in. Sitting next to me was Mark Verstegen, elite sports trainer to many local amateur athletes in the valley as well as numerous professional athletes such as Nomar Garciaparra, Roberto Alomar, Lou Merloni, Jason Veritek, and Mary Pierce, just to name a few. Mark had come to see Jordan and a few other players on this scout team that he works out.
Although playing in this scout league has many benefits, one of the drawbacks is the fact that they don't have umpires. The catcher calls balls and strikes. In this particular game, in Jordan's first at bat, the catcher called an unbelievably high and away pitch a strike, strike 3 for that matter. Jordan, being the type A personality that he is, was not happy, although to his credit, he did control his emotions. His next at bat the same thing happened. Knowing that he couldn't get thrown out of the game, Jordan drew a line in the dirt informing the catcher where the proper strike zone is. His next at bat he turned around and hit right handed. This time he had a terrible at bat. His balance was off, his effort level was sky rocketing, he was swinging at 110% of his max and you guessed it, he struck out. Rita sarcastically asked Mark, since he works with so many baseball players, if he could suggest any professional hitting instruction for her son.
After that at bat, Jordan went to the dugout and motioned for me to go down and see him. I asked him, "Jordan, what is your confidence in? You take great bp, you hit rockets left and right (literally and figuratively), you look great in the cage and on the field during practice. What are you doing in these games? You are a totally different hitter. Why do you practice so hard if you aren't going to take your practice into the games? Be yourself, relax and let all your hard work pay off by believing in yourself and not trying to do too much. You have to have the confidence to know that what you practice day in and day out will be carried over into the game." His next two at bats were quality at bats hitting hard line drives up the middle, one from the right side, one from the left. He made the adjustment.
When I returned to my seat, Mark then asked me what I thought were common denominators shared by great hitters. I told him that once a player has sound mechanics as a given, ( being able to repeat their swing) along with excellent hand eye coordination, there are certain critical aspects which set great hitters apart from the rest:
Some hitters may be more weight transfer then rotational. They want to get on top of their front foot and transfer their weight through the ball. You'll see these hitters on top of their front leg more dramatically than others. The hitters who use a greater percentage of weight transfer, generally speaking, hit more singles and doubles. I have racked my brain to try to give you an example of a Major League weight transfer hitter and I can't think of any. Some might argue that George Brett was a pure weight transfer hitter, this is a misconception. If you can get a hold of old footage of George, he is definitely a combination of the two. While editing this section, Jordan thought Frank Thomas was a good example of a hitter who utilizes more weight transfer then rotation. I agree, however, he is not purely weight transfer. If you were to arbitrarily assign percentages to his swing, he would be more of a 60% weight transfer, 40% rotational - he uses both.
A total rotational hitter will have more power than the weight transfer hitter simply because he uses his hips and legs more and of course you know that is the core part of the body from which power comes. However hitters who are rotationally dominate, will generally have a longer swing, pull off the ball more and be more inconsistent - therefore they will have more holes in their swing. They will not be able to use their hands to react to different locations and types of pitches. Dave Kingman, who played in the 1980's, is a good example of a pure rotational hitter. Dave would hit 40 homeruns a year and hit .200 for average. I can't think of any current Major League hitter who hits purely rotationally, although both Barry Bonds and Greg Vaughn utilize more rotation then weight transfer. Now they would be more in the percentages of 60% rotational, 40% weight transfer. They still use both.
I frequently am asked questions about the all time great hitter, Ted Williams and the late Charlie Lau. Williams is thought of as being a pure rotational hitter, while Lau was a pure weight transfer teacher. Both are misconceptions and misrepresenting the swing.
Percentage wise, Ted teaches more rotation but if you look at his old videos and still shots, you clearly see his weight going from back to center which is weight transfer. Lau embraced a pure weight shift philosophy and many of his still shots in his book do show hitters on top of their front leg, however, that isn't what happened to those same hitters in real game action swings.
If any of you have Ted William's book, The Science of Hitting, turn to the very last page and you will see a perfect swing. However, look closely. Ted has gone to the center position, with his back heel in the air, and his toe - NOT the ball of his foot - on the ground. This clearly shows you the weight has transferred to the center position therefore, it is not a pure rotational swing. A pure rotational swing that would involve no weight transfer, would consist of the weight spinning on the ball of the back foot. It is clear cut, he is definitely not spinning.
The swing is definitely a combination of both rotation and weight shift however, there are varying degrees of this combination. Speaking in mathematical terms, look at it as a matter of the percent used of each. Some hitters will use a greater percentage of rotation, while others will use a greater percentage of weight shift. Ideally the swing should be 50/50. Fifty percent rotational, fifty percent weight transfer. Most great Major League hitters are at 50/50 - Palmeiro, A-Rod, and Giambi - just to name a few.
Results of having a pure rotational approach is that the hitter will be guaranteed to have a less effective, more inconsistent circular hand path. When taking a circular hand path through the zone, the barrel of the bat stays on the contact plane for a very short time. This leads not only to an improper hand path but also to inconsistent contact. In addition to that, these hitters will have a greater likelihood of rolling over the ball with their top hand which in turn leads to more weak ground balls being hit.
Contrast that to a hitter using a strict weight transfer or linear path. Despite the fact that he will stay on the ball longer, he will in fact have more of a chopping type swing. That is why a combination of the two is what leads to the most success. The proper hand path will start out linear, or straight to the ball and on the finish or follow through, the swing becomes more circular. In other words, the swing is more linear on the approach to the ball, and more circular on the follow through. Remember to keep it simple because this truly isn't a difficult concept, people make it much harder then what it is.
Once you do have your hitting fundamentally correct, to set yourself above your competition, not merely resting on your laurels and thinking that your current success will be enough, you need to concentrate on the other factors mentioned earlier:
Work ethic
What is your work ethic like? Are you the first to come and the last to leave? If you are not doing more than your coach asks, it's not enough.
Ability to make adjustments
Don't wait 2 weeks to make an adjustment. Adjustments should be made game to game - at bat to at bat - pitch to pitch. I used Jordan's at bats as an example. Learn to make the adjustments necessary to get you past your present difficulties. Believe me, the difficulties will come. The sooner you make the adjustment the shorter the duration and severity of the difficulty.
Not being afraid to fail
Sorry but I have to jump to another sport to illustrate this point. Tiger Woods will possibly go down in history as the greatest golfer ever. What did he do after he had so much success including winning the Masters at his young age, something no one had ever done before? He changed his swing. His critics thought he was crazy. Having had so much success, why would he change? We frequently hear the saying, "If it's not broke, don't fix it." I disagree. Just because it's not broken, doesn't mean you can't make it better. Tiger obviously agrees. He wasn't afraid to change - to make himself better. He wasn't afraid to fail. The results speak for themselves. You will only improve when change takes place. You've heard me say this before, you either will get better or worse, you won't stay the same.
Many young kids think they are a student of the game but they haven't even walked in the clubhouse. I say this as I am just finishing up another Instructional League. Here we have the cream of the crop, the best young talent in the nation. Most of these kids don't have a clue as to what their swing consists of, let alone the mental toughness to make the necessary changes. I don't speak for all, I do however speak for most. One thing I want to instill in you is the fact that there is so much to this game, don't hurt your chances to improve yourself by thinking you know it all. I deal with plenty of know it alls day in and day out. Guess what, most of them don't make it. Why? Since they know it all, they don't need anyone to teach them.
Unfortunately in their mind, there is nothing more for them to learn. Always be ready to learn. I spoke to Rudy Jaramillo, Hitting Coach for the Texas Rangers, and he told me that Rafael Palmeiro just learned two years ago what it took to be a consistent Major League hitter. This was not in the minor leagues, nor was it his rookie year, this was after 10 years in the big leagues!
I recently received an e-mail from a customer. He has been solicited by a recruiting service to help his son get a scholarship. The recruiter told this dad that college coaches don't care much about a kid's swing, they can teach a kid to hit - all they are looking for is a good arm and glove. I was taken back by this advice. That is just another example of mediocrity and misconceptions that circulate in this game. First of all everyone in professional baseball knows that the guys that hit - play - the gloves come in for late innings if necessary. Secondly you better not wait till college to learn how to hit because it will be too late. Don't fall for it. Don't let anyone, or anything take you away from becoming the best you can be. Not everyone will make it to the big leagues. However, having a solid work ethic, having the ability to make adjustments, not being afraid to fail, and becoming a student of the game are all qualities to take you as far as your abilities will take you, but more importantly, they will allow you to make it in the real big leagues - life.
I wish you all the best.
Dave Hudgens
Allows the entire team the opportunity to practice and focus on bunting.
Each base is used as a home plate. Each player will need a glove. Bat, helmet and a couple balls at each station. Cones or baseballs can be used for competitions.
This can be a 3 or 4 station drill, a coach or player throwing the pitch, a player bunting, and 2 players fielding.
Cones or baseballs can be used to create bunting areas down the lines.
Players will take turns rotating within their station. Each player will get a chance to bunt 10 balls. Players should be working on correct bunting fundamentals and trying to bunt the ball down the lines. The field is set up in a way that the foul lines and base lines can be used to determine whether a ball is fair or foul.
After each player has had a chance to go around once or twice, change to a station competition. Each player gets 10 pitches, the player with the most bunts fair and in the bunting area wins.
Finally you can use this as a timed workup game similar to pepper. The goal is to be the person bunting at home plate when the game is over. Start all the stations bunting, the batter stays up as long as he bunts the ball in the safe zone. Once he misses, he will move to the first base position and the third base position will rotate to bat. All rotation will happen within each station until you yell "Rotate"! When you yell rotate the batter from each station (except for home plate) will move up to the next station replacing the first baseman, who will become the bunter at the prior station.
© QCBaseball.com, 2005. All rights reserved.
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