Thread by @Teacherman1986

It’s travel time. Train. Plane. Car. Let’s talk about the word down. Barrel starts above your shoulders. It hits the ball below the sternum. It clearly went down. The real question is not down or up. It is HOW it went down. Because it isn’t arguable. The barrel went down.

Why is down important? Why do great hitters insist they swung down? What is meant by ‘stay on top of the ball’? The reasons are quite good. Physically sound. And necessary for the task at hand.

First. The swing, the actual swing, starts when the bat pivots about the hands. In the world of 95-100mph pitching, is suddenness of launch a good thing? Is instantaneous a good thing?

Can you survive the time it takes to push or pull your hands forward, after decision, but before launch?

Can you do that and hit 95+..... and 75?

Nothing is more hurtful to a swing than maintaining the hinge angle. Tell us, just how are you going to start andmaintain something, and swing in .2 seconds or less?

Your ability to turn the barrel, snap the barrel, pivot the barrel, torque the handle, instantly at go, is critical to hitting success. Pushing or pulling the barrel before that happens is why hitters fail. That compromises their launch quickness.

Since the barrel starts above your shoulders, to get it to the ball it must go down. Pushing it down/forward before turning the barrel, or pulling it down/forward before turning the barrel MUST HAPPEN IN ORDER TO SWING UP. That move has to happen before the barrel can be swung up

That is a slop move. That compromises launch quickness.

So, Quickness is greatly affected if you swing up. Swinging up requires a more forward contact point. You’re now saying “Mr Pitcher, it’s ok with me if you want to throw from 57 feet”.

There is no question that a hitter is quicker the less distance he has to go. Hitting the ball closer to your body is quicker than having to go further forward to hit it. So ‘down’ is closer than ‘forward’, so down is quicker than forward.

What the greats have learned to do is the take the closer path....which is down......yet get the ball in the air.

So HOW is the key. DOWN is a given. The how must be learned.

AGon. Great hitter. Swinging down staying down in his practice.

AGon. Great hitter. Swinging down but barrel doesnt stay down, it comes up in a game. What is different in the game? What happens in the game that doesn’t happen, isn’t necessary, in practice?

2 obvious answers. Rear elbow. One leg.

Rear elbow. Watch his rear elbow ‘get through’ in the practice swings. Barrel stays down but that elbow getting though doesn’t happen in ‘those other down swingers’. They chop. Push. AGon is actually whipping down.

The biggest factor, that the greats do, yet unknown to them, imo, is their oneleggedness. A swing that weights the front leg before launch, stays down. A swing that results in the lead leg getting weighted, after launch, rounds up.

Practicing his path, elbow getting through, doesn’t need oneleggedness. He can get his desired path feel without needing a perfect lower body. There is no time crunch. The ball is on a tee.

Add the suddenness needed in a game, he must remain back in his rear leg. He already has the good path creator. Staying back and allowing the rear hip/leg to pivot turns his practice path upward.

If he had shifted weight to the lead leg before launch, the path would stay down.

The game speed requires a different lower body action than the tee. The greats have figured it out, and do it, but aren’t aware of the subtle difference between a launch before weight shift and a launch after weight shift.

All of this to report a story from this weekend’s clinic. Worked with 15 year olds. They did excellent off the tee. Oh My they were good. But when we went to flios they weren’t nearly as good. What does the tee offer that’s missing in flips?

The tee offers a consistent, obvious contact point. Right below them. Even with their front foot. A flip offers the same spot, but it’s not so obvious. The ball is coming from 15’ or so in front. Their eyes have to be 15’ forward to see the ball.....

.....therefore the flip doesn’t offer JUST the best contact point. It offers several other options. And young hitters fail to choose the best one consistently.

So.....the first fix offered......was......stay back. Let the ball travel. Let it get to you.

Not much improvement. Their eyes were forward. As soon as the ball entered a hittable area, they swung. And they were way early consistently. Hitting the ball way out front. Drawing themselves right out of their stance/posture/setup that was do successful off the tee.

So, desparate measure was needed. They were hitting the ball in the air but they werent crushing it. They would bleed their corner, to get forward, and would hit the barrel often but without the snap/force that the corner allows.

So. My new cue......”Hit ground balls”.

There was no way they could hit ground balls consistently with their out front contact point. The attempt to hit ground balls required a deeper contact point. It required letting the ball come to their path instead of taking their path to the ball

Suddenly balls were crushed....just like they were off the tee. And....they were driven....IN THE AIR.

They developed downward barrel speed, down the back of the arc, 12-6, with contact at 5. Before, their barrel speed was 9-3, in order to hit the ball in the air. Very interesting.

I not only asked them to hit a ground ball but I asked them to beat it into the ground right in front of home plate. I wanted them to come from on top of the ball. Zero ground balls were hit. Crushed liners resulted.

So.....feel is real. The greats are not lying. They may not know the whole truth. But they did swing down in their games swings. They accelerated the barrel down the back of the arc, not forward. Downward. They swung down. They accelerated downward. With an upward result.

Careful who you take hitting advice from.

The Launch Angle teaching.....is hitting death. Soccer loves it.

The story doesn’t end there. Launch Angle teaching is not the only death of hitters. Exit Velocity teaching is equally bad. The last hour of the day Sat, the Hittrax was turned on.

I didn’t say anything.Nothing teaches like experience.INSTANTLY, bust a number became the goal.INSTANTLY, swings muscled up.INSTANTLY, intent overruled technique. INSTANTLY, all ‘cracks’ disappeared. INSTANTLY pushed barrels with THUD sounds resulted. INSTANT frustration set in.

We rebuilt their swings this morning. ‘CRACKS returned. Balls barreled more consistently. Frustration relieved.

Now.....as I travel home.....did they learn more is less? Do they want to win the video game? Or succeed on the field?