As I have talked about in depth on my website, at lower levels mechanics effects timing more than the reverse. I just saw a perfect example of this in a you tube video wherein the instructor stated that "hitting is all about timing." The instructor was throwing to a player.
Without going into details, the instructor had created a drill the intent of which was to work on timing. The basic problem with this intent became blatantly obvious once I slowed the video down to look at the hitter's MOVEMENTS.What did I see?
Well, I saw numerous flaws --flaws that are VERY typical as regards non-elite level hitters. I'll list a few here: 1] Insufficient tilt angle of the spine;2] "leading"with the arms/upper body [arms initiate the movement and are used to try to align the barrel];
3]due to flaw no.2 [arms "leading"], the hip rotation was weak;4] the lead leg opened far too much and was "independent" or disconnected from actual pelvic girdle rotation;5]related to "leading" with the arms was a complete lack of back scapula loading.
This lack of loading facilitates INSTABILITY of the back arm,i.e., it contributes to creating instability and loss of control of the barrel--which then contributes to a LARGE variability as regards the contact point alignment of the barrel relative to the ball.
Many "mishits" can and will occur as a result of this kind of back arm flaw. [And they certainly did occur with this hitter]. In fact, ALL of the above movement and postural flaws that I saw DIRECTLY lead to poor contact alignment.
This hitter--and again this is again typical of most non-elite hitters---does not really suffer from a "timing"problem. She suffers from a MOVEMENT problem. She [and most others] needs to learn how to create more efficient movements!
And the reality is that unless and until she develops greater efficiency and stability and control of her movements and postures, she will continue to have "timing problems."
