Thread by @SteveEnglishbey

Well, without really knowing the author and/or the context of this quote, let me make a few comments.

https://twitter.com/ItDiscovers/status/1474788659249524746

First this: Based on long experience [that includes "book learning shit", working with all kinds of players, empirical research, thousands of hrs. practicing "doing it"] ,the question of "if" is settled ,i.e., this IS a defining of elite hitters!

And as regards this: "then we must find additional ways to train this skill.”

Well, I can only say that I have been addressing this question [as a teacher] for about 15 or so yrs.

And as such I dare say, I have developed some pretty effective ways to address said issue.

Before I make some cursory suggestions about what CAN be effective, let me talk a little about what is NOT going to be effective:

First and foremost as to what is NOT effective: VERBAL CUES. Elite level hitters, as implied by the initial quotes above, in effect, know how to "let the ball get deep."

They have, over time, figured out, how to create movements/muscles actions/postural dynamics, which, in effect, allow them to "wait longer and turn quicker" [my phrase].

Which translates into the ability to allow the ball to travel deeper, thus waiting slightly longer, yet within that reduced working time and space, optimize quickness, batspeed, barrel accuracy.

Relative to almost ALL of those who try to swing a bat, this amounts to an extraordinary accomplishment!!

When this extraordinary accomplishment is juxtaposed against the verbal cue issued to the typical little league hitter of ..."hey Johnny....just wait longer", from my vantage point, the utter ignorance of this cue cannot be overstated!

As I have stated MANY times as regards this cue in this context: "Little Johnny" has NO CLUE as to how to wait longer /but swing better; he is an "arm swinger" and as such the apex of his momentum is developed at least a foot beyond his lead foot.

Simply put, Little Johnny has a motor learning strategy problem that will not and cannot be solved by verbal cues.

So. What CAN possibly work? Simply put [without going into details as regards motor learning theories/applications----subject matter that I have spent YEARS and THOUSANDS OF HRS. researching/applying].

Simply put: "Constraint based" methodology, ie., creating methods wherein the hitter is PHYSICALLY CONSTRAINED in ways that better force the hitter to NOT do ....what they normally do.

Meaning that in this constraint based construct, you start, NOT by trying to do the right thing, so to speak. But, by trying to deter the wrong [normal/typical] thing.

This kind of training/teaching thought process IS complex. And as such not really the subject matter for twitter!.

So, for now, I'll simply reduce the process to this: The goal is that in constraining effectively the bad movement, the good movement is given a much better chance to "emerge" [a dynamical systems frame of reference].

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