Looking for input on my swing

[lukeamdman]

Here are some of the things I notice when watching video of my swing:

1. Poor arm extension
2. Arms/snap lagging behind the rotation of my upper body
3. Back foot pivots before each swing

Since taking this video in April I've corrected #3, but I think #1 and #2 might be directly tied to each other.

It seems like my upper body is rotating but my arms seem to lag. This is causing my right arm to be fully extended but my left arm doesn't push the snap all of the way through. This causes a few problems:

1. Lack of power because I've only begun the snap of my wrists at contact (when I radar my swing my exit velocities peak in the high 80s). I'm 33, 6', and 205lb's...I should be crushing this thing.
2. I end up getting ahead of the ball and hitting the end cap a lot
3. Any delay or hesitation with timing during a game and it's a very awkward and pathetic swing
4. Lack of consistency. Some weeks i'll hit a few HRs in a single game and feel unstoppable while the next week I couldn't hit a ball hard to save my life

Any drills that can help correct this? Don't hold back on feedback!

 

[Markous]

Shows as video unavailable - just a heads up

 

[chile]

1. Lack of consistency. Some weeks i'll hit a few HRs in a single game and feel unstoppable while the next week I couldn't hit a ball hard to save my life

Any drills that can help correct this? Don't hold back on feedback!

no drills...discipline. I speak from experience. raw, painful experience :/

 

[lukeamdman]

Shows as video unavailable - just a heads up

Argggggg...

Just updated the video settings so check again in a few minutes.

 

[Donger73]

Close your stance and lose that leg kick, it looks awful (I used to have the same one lol). Off the plate more and step to the ball rather than flop the leg in an open stance, that should bring the hands through with the body. You are hitting it fairly square so your upper body mechanics don't seem to be an issue (unless you pop out alot too). Chile nailed it, stay disciplined to the changes

 

[BigWhiffa]

you are jamming yourself. so you are adjusting to a point where your extension is so poor you hit the ball on the sweetspot but its almost like you are fighting off the pitch. take some hacks with your back foot on the box line. its drastic but you'll feel the extension and will see the power.

as far at hitches, technique, i'm not the guy. but i've seen a lot of guys hit sit right on the plate and struggle and until i suggest backing them up do i seem to see a difference.

you are also pigeon holing yourself as a dead pull hitter. backing up with let you step towards where you want to hit the ball. teaching you to hit to all fields.

 

[TWmccoy]

Close your stance and lose that leg kick, it looks awful (I used to have the same one lol). Off the plate more and step to the ball rather than flop the leg in an open stance, that should bring the hands through with the body. You are hitting it fairly square so your upper body mechanics don't seem to be an issue (unless you pop out alot too). Chile nailed it, stay disciplined to the changes

I agree, that stance is a huge problem. You're flying open too soon. Square off your stance. Step toward the pitcher when you hit. Your hips have already fired open by the time your arms start coming forward. That will result in poor results. You need your upper and lower halves to be in sync.

On top of that, you're short arming everything badly. You're letting the ball come in too far and it looks like you're fighting it off.
Zero wrist snap/action. Your entire swing looks extremely rigid. No snap anywhere to be seen.

You're understriding and nothing about the swing looks fluid or natural. Very tight and tense throughout.

 

[yank]

You should be getting your exstension thru a better hard snap.You can actually drill a better snap.Exstension actually comes after hitting the ball.Not casting before.

 

[lukeamdman]

Close your stance and lose that leg kick, it looks awful (I used to have the same one lol). Off the plate more and step to the ball rather than flop the leg in an open stance, that should bring the hands through with the body. You are hitting it fairly square so your upper body mechanics don't seem to be an issue (unless you pop out alot too). Chile nailed it, stay disciplined to the changes

you are jamming yourself. so you are adjusting to a point where your extension is so poor you hit the ball on the sweetspot but its almost like you are fighting off the pitch. take some hacks with your back foot on the box line. its drastic but you'll feel the extension and will see the power.

as far at hitches, technique, i'm not the guy. but i've seen a lot of guys hit sit right on the plate and struggle and until i suggest backing them up do i seem to see a difference.

you are also pigeon holing yourself as a dead pull hitter. backing up with let you step towards where you want to hit the ball. teaching you to hit to all fields.

I agree, that stance is a huge problem. You're flying open too soon. Square off your stance. Step toward the pitcher when you hit. Your hips have already fired open by the time your arms start coming forward. That will result in poor results. You need your upper and lower halves to be in sync.

On top of that, you're short arming everything badly. You're letting the ball come in too far and it looks like you're fighting it off.
Zero wrist snap/action. Your entire swing looks extremely rigid. No snap anywhere to be seen.

You're understriding and nothing about the swing looks fluid or natural. Very tight and tense throughout.

Great stuff!

I didn't know how to describe it before but "jammed" definitely rings true. With how close I am to the plate I have to time things perfectly to hit the sweet spot so I'll definitely back off that plate. During games where the speed of the pitch fluctuates I'm really setting myself up for failure, and anything slightly inside becomes even harder to time.

I can see how my stance is a problem now too. My leg is looping from outside to inside and back to outside...how did it come to this?!?

I still need to "kick" with leg to engage my hips but it shouldn't loop like that. I'll close my stance and start with both feet closer together.

 

[Markous]

I would agree that the hips look like they are opening way too soon. As you mentioned closing the stance will probably help with this.

Might be able to fix with some tee work.

Good luck man!

 

[BigWhiffa]

you don't need the big exaggerated kick in my opinion. my kick is a simple step, i can hit the ball hard and i can control it pretty easily. the momentum forward isn't as important as good hip rotation.

 

[saintrules]

Your timing is definitely an issue which is why some balls are grounded, some are liners, and a lot are popups. You need to begin your load at the same time every single pitch, regardless if it's a ball or strike. You generated the most power and consistency when you loaded up at the peak of the pitch, which is similar for most people. When you loaded up early, popups, late, you grounded out. Your muscle memory is going to flourish once you maintain consistency in the timing of your load, stride, and follow through. A lot of MLB players are quoted saying that your swing should be the most effortless thing you do because your body has worked hard on ingraining the timing of your swing.

Your follow through is also a big issue, many people seem to forget following through and pushing the ball is as important as practically everything else in a swing. Plant the front foot, weight transfer, and rip it. Your head is swaying, your legs look weak, and overall you aren't getting power to the ball after the initial contact.

 

[lukeamdman]

Your timing is definitely an issue which is why some balls are grounded, some are liners, and a lot are popups. You need to begin your load at the same time every single pitch, regardless if it's a ball or strike. You generated the most power and consistency when you loaded up at the peak of the pitch, which is similar for most people. When you loaded up early, popups, late, you grounded out. Your muscle memory is going to flourish once you maintain consistency in the timing of your load, stride, and follow through. A lot of MLB players are quoted saying that your swing should be the most effortless thing you do because your body has worked hard on ingraining the timing of your swing.

Your follow through is also a big issue, many people seem to forget following through and pushing the ball is as important as practically everything else in a swing. Plant the front foot, weight transfer, and rip it. Your head is swaying, your legs look weak, and overall you aren't getting power to the ball after the initial contact.

Bingo. This has been an issue of mine for years, and just lately I've begun forcing myself to assume every pitch is a strike and to load. Only after that do I abort if it's a bad pitch. It's a bad hit every time when I analyze the pitch and then have to load + swing last second.

I've also noticed the inconsistent follow through, where my top hand will let go too early.

 

[saintrules]

Bingo. This has been an issue of mine for years, and just lately I've begun forcing myself to assume every pitch is a strike and to load. Only after that do I abort if it's a bad pitch. It's a bad hit every time when I analyze the pitch and then have to load + swing last second.

I've also noticed the inconsistent follow through, where my top hand will let go too early.

Something that helps me with timing is prior to getting my AB in I take at least one hack as the pitcher throws it to the batter while I am on deck. Aside from leading off in the first, you're going to be on deck, so might as well try it. Don't go up there and swing, swing, swing, because your timing is going to be confused. Just walk up, pitcher throws, load up and rip it when you should, and boom, you're ready for your AB. Then when you're at the dish, your body already had one swing with the proper timing.

As far as the letting the hand go, you just have to force your body to stay in the pocket with a pole going from the top of your head through your body, down into the ground. Be one with the ground, I promise it'll give back, haha.

 

[kvander]

you don't need the big exaggerated kick in my opinion. my kick is a simple step, i can hit the ball hard and i can control it pretty easily. the momentum forward isn't as important as good hip rotation.

Try to model your leg kick after the guys at 23 secs into this video

 

[lukeamdman]

Try to model your leg kick after the guys at 23 secs into this video

While not nearly as stylish, I was going for something more along these lines

 

[saintrules]

The whole reason for a leg kick is timing & separation of the hands.

I've already covered timing, so I'll go into separation. In your video, there's minimal, at best, separation of the hands from the body. The entire reason you keep your hands back is for the slingshot effect.

Everyone's swings are different, everyone's leg kicks are different, but no good hitter's hands back is any different from one another. As silly as it might look, literally reach back as far as you can after your leg kick (timed correctly), let your lower half plant and explode, then just naturally let your hands find their way towards the ball.

I guarantee, if done right, you'll add more distance, pop, and speed, than you've ever had before. If you need any help, just look up any of Josh Donaldson's hitting tips on YouTube, he describes everything extremely well, going into a great deal of detail, while keeping it in English for the non professional players.

 

[dunkky]

so, how would one go about doing the effective weight transfer or striding without a leg kick? Not questioning you, just wanna understand.

 

[saintrules]

so, how would one go about doing the effective weight transfer or striding without a leg kick? Not questioning you, just wanna understand.

Pujols & Trout have a minimal kick, really they just lift their front leg up at most and if you watch their swing in slow motion (videos on YouTube), you can see that weight transfer. It's all about rotational hitting with them. For the guys that have absolutely no leg kick, it's just the process of shifting your weight with both feet on the ground.

I personally don't like the no leg kick strategy, especially not for softball. I feel a small leg kick gets the body going and the weight shifting forward a lot better, which is more important in softball than baseball.

 

[Joker]

they also play baseball not softball

 

[lukeamdman]

Had my first BP session to try and incorporate some of these changes. I ended up placing the camera too close but I stepped a full foot back in the batters box and squared my stance up with the pitcher.

Some initial thoughts:

• I thought being that far back in the box I'd be hitting up the center more but didn't seem to be the case
• I definitely didn't feel "jammed"
• The pitches were coming in low today so I was golfing a lot of these
• I'm still stepping early and not timing my upper body with my lower body
• Arm extension does look better but I need much more snap with my wrists
• It was almost 90 today with no clouds or wind and us MN boys start melting once it gets over 75 Only felt like I could swing about 80%

All things considered I didn't go as bad as I thought it would. Hitting 52s with utrip bats is a mushy experience but the bats will last forever and I did manage to hit one out around the 2:20 mark (fences are 300' all around). That definitely makes me feel like this is a step in the right direction.

Fire away!

 

[dunkky]

i see nothing but good hard liners other than a couple of bloopers. if the balls came in little higher, i don't doubt you hit a few more over the fence. a lotta lower balls forced u to swing with slight uppercut. then again, what do i know.

 

[BigWhiffa]

obviously being in a cage and outdoors its hard to really tell, but i feel like you were hitting hte ball harder.

 

[yank]

Looks a lot better to me.Maybe try a a concentrated effort on keeping or pulling the hands back during your stride forward.

 

[lukeamdman]

UPDATE

The changes have definitely had a positive effect on my swing. My timing and consistency have improved, and moving farther back from the plate has forced better arm extension.

In the last week I had another major breakthrough thanks to Ken07. He pointed out that the bat head is dropping resulting in a looping upper cut. I needed to level off my lag and snap, drive the knob parallel to the ground, and snap sooner.

After practicing this in a mirror it was instant success during my first attempt in BP yesterday. Accuracy was far better and I was consistently hitting to RF instead of CF. Another large improvement was power. My exit speeds were far better.

I'll be sure and post some video during my next BP.

 

[(Q'.')-o]

Mate, I had the same exact issue. You're not getting extension because your hands have too much movement. When you swing, your hands fall down, trying to meet the ball, then back up when you actually swing. Thus, you're hitting weak grounds or end capping. By having hand movement and not having a proper swing path, your hands stay inside the ball, causing lack of extension.

Solution:
Place your hands by your belly button. And force them as far back as you can. Going to feel super weird in the beginning but it's well, well worth it. Now here's where it gets even more weird. SWING FOR THE SKY (seriously). Put your hands at your belly button, force back as far as you can and swing for the sky. In your mind you will think you're swinging upwards, but in reality you're swinging level.

Why:
If our hands are high, and we swing downwards, on a pitch coming downwards, it is incredibly difficult to hit the ball up. By doing so, we drive it straight into the ground. If we lower our hands, and swing upwards, we're now on a proper path and hitting the ball up, causing line drives and hard hit balls.

Also, the reason we stride forward, besdies timing, is to extend our hands backward, then, with the hip rotation, allowing maximum force in the swing. With your hands now lowered at the start of your swing, it will be much easier for our timing since we've eliminated all of the unnecessairy movement. Take a look at your hands during your swing; look at all that movement. Let's fix that. Watch the first guy in this video:

Good luck.

 

[TWmccoy]

All the above post is good advice. Whenever my swing is off it can generally be traced to understriding. I'll end up taking a weak stride and my hips will swing open prematurely. I often do this without thinking when I'm tired or stiff. What happens due to this is my body is at the wrong angle to drive the ball. I'm essentially lurching forward to meet the pitch, yet trying to take an uppercut swing. You can NOT hit the ball consistently far with backspin doing this. To launch the ball with authority you need a good stride and your head has to stay back. Also, your hips can't open prematurely. A proper (long) stride will naturally get your upper body, hips, and legs in sync as you swing. A poor stride will limit effective hip rotation and your swing will feel like its all arms.

I've had success with cutting the ball (downward swing) and uppercutting. I won't say either method is wrong. However, you definitely have to go to the plate knowing what type of swing you intend to put on the ball in any given at bat.

 

[lukeamdman]

Even though I incorporated a lot of these changes only a week before fall season started, I had one of my best hitting seasons ever. I only play 1 night a week and it's only 14 games total.

After the first 7 games my OBP was only 0.655 but I could tell the changes were positive and I just had to stick with it to get more comfortable. Half way through I hit my stride and finished the season at 0.776 (5 of the last 7 games I batted 1.000) with 5 HR. It had been 5-6 years since I hit more than 1 fluke HR in an entire season.

The entire season I only hit a single pop up and had multiple line drives to the fence that were so low the outfielders were initially running up to catch them only to get completely burned. Leveling the swing was absolutely huge for consistency and virtually no pop ups!