The video above is old now but the same message still applies. I came back to this video because I was thinking about a player on my team last year named Billy Derosier who really worked hard on the mechanics of his swing and his numbers showed that work last spring (340ave, 11 2B, 11HR compared to 316 6 2B 0HR in 2014) He is only one of a few players I have ever coached that started to move like a big league hitter. The biggest thing for him last off season was he started working on beginning the load slower and earlier. Although there were a lot of awkward movements early on in his process, he stuck with it and by the time we started playing our schedule I knew he was going to have a good year just by watching him take pitches when we were going live. When you start slow and early you realize how much time you can create for yourself. Your body has a chance to move and store energy that you can use in the swing. Guys that start early are swinging until they aren't. Most amateur hitters load, try to recognize if its a strike and then make the decision to swing. I made a youtube video below of Billy's progression during pre season practice last year. The video starts with the earliest video I had of him and goes until a few days before we played our first game. You can see that he works through the awkwardness of the time he created for himself and by the end of pre-season camp he had the ability to adjust to the tempo of each pitcher and create some serious bat speed to hit with during the load process of swing.
Another guy I saw an adjustment to moving earlier is AJ Pollock, the center fielder for the Diamondbacks. The swing on the left is from last year, the swing on the right is from 2 years ago. He went from hitting 302 with 19 doubles and 7 home runs to 315 with 39 doubles and 20 home runs.
The best hitters in the world experiment and make adjustments to their swing to become better hitters and I see a ton of amateur hitters that are resistant to change. Most amateur hitters are just trying to get better at the first swing that was comfortable to them. I can't emphasize enough the importance of experimenting with how you move in the box to prepare to hit. The first part of this process is working on starting to move earlier then what is comfortable to you now. You can always start later but if you have the ability to begin storing energy earlier it will impact how much bat speed you have as you swing the bat.
A few other big leaguers that changed their swings from one season to another: JD Martinez went from getting released from the Astros to having a great year for the Tigers. Donaldson went from a good big leaguer to the MVP. Are your swing mechanics allowing you to be as great as you want to be?
Thanks for the shout out Mike! Great post! Once I trusted the concept of "slow and early" it created time for my body and swing to evolve and adjust on its own, through experimenting. This is why it is hard for me to explain some of the movements in my swing. The swing just evolved on its own. There were many times when I felt awkward and frustrated, but like you always say "YOU HAVE TO TRUST THE PROCESS".
Thanks for the shout out Mike! Great post! Once I trusted the concept of "slow and early" it created time for my body and swing to evolve and adjust on its own, through experimenting. This is why it is hard for me to explain some of the movements in my swing. The swing just evolved on its own. There were many times when I felt awkward and frustrated, but like you always say "YOU HAVE TO TRUST THE PROCESS".
ReplyDelete