Life in the Fastpitch Lane: Recent Comments

Comment on Sometimes they just miss the point

Roy — 2012-02-02T20:08:34Z

I am one of those that teaches wrist snaps at the start, I am not a pitching coach per say but I need to teach someone in a month before our first game.I teach freshmn who have never played ball before. What would you begin with to these freshmen.

Comment on There's more to rotation than merely turning

JERRY — 2012-01-23T14:34:20Z

Great article

Comment on The real measure of an instructor

Ken Krause — 2012-01-22T17:04:30Z

Good point, Mark. I find it to be especially true with pitching. People teach a lot of crazy stuff, even former players who were successful pitchers. Comparing what you're hearing to what the best players in the world do can tell you whether the instructor is teaching the techniques that provide the highest likelihood of success. If the instructor was a successful player, see if you can find any video of him/her playing to see if what he/she did as a player lines up with what he/she is teaching. You'd be surprised how many don't. Even the big names.

You may never want/need to teach the techniques yourself. But the more you know about what they should look like, the better position you'll be in to make an informed decision. Video makes that possible.

Comment on The real measure of an instructor

Mark H — 2012-01-21T22:00:41Z

I would heartily second all that and add, again, always compare everything anyone tells you about swinging a bat, pitching a ball or over hand throwing, to lots of slow motion video of the best in the world. Let that be part of your culling process on instructors as well. Here's a few. http://imageeventcom/siggy;jsessionid=z4dzc32jf6.camel_s

Comment on Drill to help fastpitch hitters who drop their hands

Ken Krause — 2011-12-31T03:00:39Z

Mark, if the animation you sent me indicates what you think is a good swing plane then I can see why you think this drill promotes a bad one. Unfortunately, I think the animation promotes a bad swing plane.

Since we don't have it here, if you imagine the blade of a circular saw, the blade is tilted at about a 30-45 degree upward angle, with contact being bad at the back hip. I would never teach that swing, nor do I see it in any of the clips you point to.

Unless a hitter gets fooled, contact is usually made around the area of the front foot or earlier (depending on pitch location). With the swing plane you seem to be advocating, you won't get a lot of power. Maybe in baseball, with the pitch coming from above with an overhand throw, but not in fastpitch softball.

I stand by the drill. It is designed to keep the hitter from getting the hands/bat head too low too early. If the bat head hits the noodle when the noodle is placed a foot or two behind the hitter the bat is not on an optimum path to hit the ball.

Whether or not you can teach has everything to do with this discussion, because it tells whether you have to live with what you're saying or it's all theoretical. It's very easy to say "hitters should do this or that" if there are no consequences to what you're saying. It's like all of us saying what an NFL quarterback ought to be doing in a game. It's different when you're actually on the field. You showed me a couple of clips of students so that issue is settled. Incidentally, none of them looked like any of the clips you pointed to or the animationa you sent either. :-) But it sounds like the girl is doing well so good for her.

Comment on Drill to help fastpitch hitters who drop their hands

Mark H — 2011-12-30T19:56:51Z

If you will email me the after clip I'll see if I can't convert it to something we can step through frame by frame.

Hopefully the animated gif I emailed you can help us understand each other. I'll try with words again. If the hitter was swinging at a shoulder high pitch, the swing plane could be level to the ground or tilted slightly back toward the catcher and I'm happy either way.

As to swing plane and your always forward comment I'm not sure what you mean. Let's not mix a discussion of posture with a discussion of momentum.

No, I'm really not looking for a perfect swing at all. I'm saying your drill encourages a bad swing plane.

I understand your point. I'll email you some clips now of a kid and I'll ask the parents for permission to post them publically when we start back up in mid January. Having said that, whether or not I can teach is a separate issue from what a good swing consists of and whether your drill encourages a foward tilted swing plane.

Comment on Drill to help fastpitch hitters who drop their hands

Ken Krause — 2011-12-30T19:06:03Z

Oops. Totally screwed up when thinking about the "disc." I think I got confused by the terminology. If by "tilting back toward the catcher" you mean that viewed from the side the bottom would be on an upward trajectory then I agree.

Comment on Drill to help fastpitch hitters who drop their hands

Ken Krause — 2011-12-30T16:58:32Z

Mark, I'm afraid you're just seeing what you want to see instead of what's there. If you pause the after clip just before contact you'll see a blurred image where the swing plane is clearly moving upward. Sorry I can't do it in a way that you can step through but it's a limitation of the software I use for the blog.

Disagree that the swing plane should be slightly tilted back. I know that's what Steve preaches but I think there are better ways to accomplish the goal than tilting backwards, even slightly. The goal is to drive forward, always forward.

Again, you're looking for a perfect swing out of a kid who has just started the journey. Every time you comment you always want to compare the entire swing to someone who has been working at hitting for years. While I agree there's a lot to be learned from those hitters, you have to take comparisons like that in context. If I'm focusing on one aspect, that's the aspect you ought to be looking at. You can't fix an entire swing in one lesson.

Here's my challenge to you now. Post some video of a kid you've personally been working with. Tell us what the problem was and what you did to correct it. It's easy to sit back and make pronouncements about the work of others. It's another thing to get your hands dirty yourself. Show me a kid you've worked with four or five times who had a bad swing and can now match up the videos you love to point to. Until that time, you're just armchair quarterbacking.

Comment on Drill to help fastpitch hitters who drop their hands

Mark H — 2011-12-30T16:17:33Z

You should have the animated gif simulation for the swing plane now. Maybe twice if both my email accounts worked.

Comment on Drill to help fastpitch hitters who drop their hands

Mark H — 2011-12-30T07:05:14Z

Benyi's swing plane is tilted slighly back relative to pitch path. Your student's swing plane is tilted forward relative to pitch path. So too the rest you mention. Radically different result. This is something you need to be able to see. The only one close to your hitter in that swing group would be Mendoza's swing.

I agree with your definition of dropping the hands though that's only one form of disconnection. That's not the problem your hitter demonstrates in this clip.

You said "I want the hands to remain connected to the back shoulder as rotation begins". Absolutely. A necessary but insufficient part of a good swing. When you say "shorter swing" can I assume you mean in terms of elapsed time from the start of shoulder rotation to contact?

Rivera is an excellent choice as an example. Look at clip five for a feel for what her swing plane is doing. If clip eight was shot from ground level it would be more useful for your comparison.

As to the before and after, she has the same glaring problem in both. I agree with avoiding the trough. The swing plane should be one large disc but the disc should be level or slightly tilted back with respect the pitcher. The disc should be tilted toward the plate adjusted for pitch location.

Bathead in your clips above looks like it's moving down at contact/the swing plane is tilted toward the pitcher. IOW, if the plane her bat moved in were a solid disc the pitcher could read the writing on top of it. I AM glad your goal is the bathead leveling out or moving up, relative to the ground, at contact

Totally agree with your paragraph beginning "One thing to keep in mind...". I assume you are posting a clip representative of what you are trying to accomplish. In any case I really don't care for this approach to the problem because of the result you get in the after clip. Try my high tee suggestion. It's hard to hit the ball on a line hard on that high a pitch if you drop the lead arm hands at all. When you get the slightly rising line drive result and you like the swing, slowly lower the tee encouraging the same swing always ready to move it back up when they go back to the old habit.

Don't focus on that shoulder lower thing lest your hitter end up counter rotating the chest back toward the catcher...especially in tee work or soft toss.

Surely agree with the first sentence of your last paragraph. I'd say there are better approaches to solving the issue such as the high tee work I describe or Steve's cable work. First I'd like you to see the swing plane problem in the after clip. If I have your email I'd like to send you an animation demonstrating this. I guess I really need to post in somewhere I can link to.