Understanding the Baseball Swing

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By Nate Barnett

If I asked you to give a five minute lecture on hitting mechanics start to finish, could you do it? If the answer is yes, then you've undoubtedly done some research on the baseball swing. If the answer is no, then there is some work to be done, and you'll want to read on, especially if you're in a role where you provide any type of baseball instruction.

Coaches must be continual learners if they are going to stay in this game for long and attract some success. The most dangerous attitude anyone of influence can obtain is an attitude of arrival. Therefore, be a constant learner.

The baseball swing can be broken down into various parts and movements. The key for any good coach or athlete is to understand first what these parts are, and secondly, to understand the sequence of these moving parts throughout the swing. Without getting into depth on the specific parts in this article, my purpose in writing this is to introduce how energy is created within the baseball swing.

Much like other athletic activities the energy created to produce a quick swing comes from the back side of the body. The lower half of the back side of the hitter's body is responsible for generating momentum directed toward the pitch. This movement does not happen automatically, unfortunately. Most hitters begin their swing with the front side of the body or their hands which greatly reduces the speed of the baseball swing.

The two most common and incorrect swing starters are the hands and the front hip. Here are the drawbacks for using those parts to begin the energy creation process.

Hands: The baseball swing is a movement where energy is created from the ground up. The back knee turns first, back hip second, and hands third. While this sequence happens very quickly, it's important that it remain consistent. The reason is because this process creates torque. It is a core body movement that creates a whip action and propels the bat into the zone. If the hitter's hands are responsible for generating power, little power can be generated comparatively.

Front Hip: As explained above, the back side of the body creates energy. Therefore, if the front hip of the hitter begins to rotate at the same time of the back side of the body, momentum begins to move away from the play instead of being directed at hitting the baseball.

Consistent drill work should be focused on minimizing the above two movements. While Little Leaguers can get away with some of these mistakes and have relative success, athletes in high school cannot. Therefore, the best time to correct these incorrect movements is between the ages of 10 and 15.

Nate Barnett is owner of BMI Baseball designed to improve the mental game of baseball in athletes. Learn how to help your game by improving the skill of mental baseball

Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Nate_Barnett

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Level Swing Baseball Or Softball - What Does it Really Mean?

Level Swing Baseball Or Softball - What Does it Really Mean?
By Bryan Ciconte

Alright let's talk hitting! So how many of you baseball or softball hitters out there heard the term of having a level swing. I will, in this article, review the word level in other ways in order to submit this properly. I will use words such as flat or correspond to etc. when it comes being on plane or level. Yes, having a flat swing is vital to becoming a complete hitter whether you play the game of baseball or the game of softball. The concept of achieving this is vital to consistency in your game.

As a baseball player you will have to be on plane with your swing in reference to the pitch that is delivered. What does this mean? If your trying to hit a fastball that is coming to you on a down angle your swing must be adjacent to the pitch in order to hit the ball square at impact. This will in return take out the idea of creating backspin etc... Lets get that word out of your mind. Good square contact is important, not backspin. In addition if you heard the concept of rotational hitting or linear hitting this will also play a factor in your swing plane. Keep these swings in mind when it comes to developing your swing plane. Both result in different attack angles. To further understand what these hitting styles are please do your research for further information.

Some relative factors with swing plane:
If a pitch is up in the zone you will obviously have to relate your swing to the path of the ball. So you may hear the term getting on top of a pitch. In reality this term means leveling your swing up to the plane of the pitch, which in return creates a much flatter swing plane.

If your trying to hit a breaking pitch you are obviously going to have some type of an upswing when it comes to attacking the angle of the pitch properly. If you try to attack the pitch on a downswing there is a good chance that you will either cut the ball and pop up or pound it in the ground.

I just wanted to touch on some of this idea. I have a lot more information on this concept in depth on my website. I hope this short article gave you a basic concept of what having a level swing is all about. Thanks and good luck - Bryan.

Your #1 source for online hitting information! Bryan @ Hitting Made Simple: Hitting Made Simple.

Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Bryan_Ciconte

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Baseball Swing Mechanics - The Rotational Swing

Baseball Swing Mechanics - The Rotational Swing
By Todd Thomas

Rotational hitting...What is it?

My simple answer is that it is simply the big league swing. Prior to 2000, no one even knew what rotational hitting was. Now there are experts on every street corner. The facts are that Mike Epstein in his diligent study of the art of hitting isolated the core movements of the game's greatest hitters and defined their baseball swing mechanics in a term he coined Rotational Hitting.

You can call it what you want. Call it the rotational swing. Call it a hybrid swing. Call it weight shift hitting. There are many "names" now that other people have come up with, but I call it the big league swing. After all, that's what it is. Rotational hitting as Mike Epstein defined it encompasses and engulfs ALL of those other names that some are calling it. It IS the big league swing and that's what Mike Epstein Hitting teaches.

The bottom line is that there are really only TWO methods of hitting. A hitter is either Linear or he/she is Rotational with their swing mechanics. Now both techniques have elements of the other in them. Linear has some rotational and Rotational has some linear. The fact that each has elements of the other makes all of the other "techniques" or really names that people are calling baseball swing mechanics simply irrelevant and fictitious.

So let's define the Rotational Swing and the Linear Swing.

A rotational hitter establishes a stationary axis with the dropping of the front heal and with the front leg and they rotate around that stationary axis. This hitters "stays back" with their upper body. The head and chest do NOT come forward. They a very steady and do not lunge forward in the direction of the pitcher. You will occasionally see this happen when a hitter is completely fooled by a pitch and they break through their axis lunging forward in an awkward attempt to make contact. So the rotational hitter rotates around a stationary axis and stays back.

The linear hitter does not establish a stationary axis and they do not stay back. The linear hitter continues moving forward throughout their swing in a straight forward(linear) movement finishing their swing out over the top of their front foot or even slightly forward of it. The linear hitter typically swings in a downhill plane while the rotational hitter is typically taught to swing on the plane of the pitch because those swing planes match each technique. A linear hitter trying to swing on the pitch plane is very awkward and doesn't work well with all of the moving parts of this technique. Likewise, the rotational hitter swinging on a downhill plane is also an awkward unproductive swing. Staying back and swinging down do not match.

So to summarize the two basic baseball swing mechanics...The rotational hitter stays back and the linear hitter comes forward. See it's not as complicated as many desire to make it out to be. And remember, Rotational Swing Mechanics are simply the Big League Swing.

Todd Thomas is a Baseball Coach and Professional Hitting Instructor for Mike Epstein Hitting. Coach Todd's personal hitting website is http://www.HitItHere.net. Coach Todd also enthusiastically endorses http://PlayMyBestBaseball.com as a place where baseball and softball hitters can master the Confidence, Composure, Focus and Consistency of their game so they can reach their full potential.

Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Todd_Thomas

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