Much has been made of what the back foot does in a swing ever since video became a “thing” in baseball. For a long time the teach had always been that hitters need to rotate on that back foot and “squish the imaginary bug” that is beneath your foot. Lately, there has been a severe backlash from coaches who are now teaching the exact opposite: that the rear foot MUST come flying off the ground otherwise your “weight transfer” sucks. Well, let’s take a look at two clips from guys that are/were pretty established as being great MLB caliber hitters:
Yes. Bonds broke his bat here and still hit a home run. And before you scream steroids at me, take a chill. Bonds was a great hitter before he got huge, whether steroid induced or not. He is arguably the greatest hitter ever and we can learn a ton from his swing. Ryan Braun and A-Rod, yeah they’re still “decent”. Hitters will hit.
(some of the links were not able to be embedded. Just click to view)
The second hitter is obviously Josh Donaldson, who has absolutely exploded over the last few years.
The point of these two clips is to show two successful hitters, one that “squishes the bug”, Bonds, and another that does not. This is all to say that hitting is very individualized and it is unfair, and to your athletes detriment, to try to teach all of them one way. What’s important is more of what’s going on underneath that may be harder to see.
First, let’s think about that Bonds clip. Many people would refer to that swing as a half swing. The finish/follow through has been grossly overemphasized in my opinion. If he was able to hit a bomb on a “half swing”, then where is his batspeed really being created? Take a look at this isolated clip:
First thing, Bonds has a hitch. So many instructors are against this move, but really, I love it. I think it can enhance the athletes ability to feel the correct move. Notice how flat Bonds’ bat gets behind him as his hips are opening. The barrel drops behind him as the hips open, and then all he has to do is “swivel the hands” to release the barrel (stole that phrase from a hitting guy much smarter than me). You can see the barrel accelerating quickly back behind him. By the time he gets to contact, nearly all of the batspeed has been created. Think about it in terms of this clip I created for a hitter who was having a hard time getting that barrel turn/hand swivel, whatever you want to call it:
The difference here should jump out at you. In the first “swing” it has the same feel as that Bonds clip. The second swing does not. The barrel is not accelerating “behind” me. Instead the hands are taking the bat forward in a more “direct” route to the baseball. It may sound completely counter-intuitive to think that a direct path is not the most efficient, but that is what we are seeing. By creating the batspeed deep and behind us, we allow more room for error as the barrel is on plane with the pitch longer, and therefore we do not have to be perfect to hit a well-hit ball.
Let’s look at Donaldson in the same part of his swing:
https://gfycat.com/AccurateVibrantAvocet
We see the same action in Donaldson as well. As the hips are opening up, the barrel is dropping down behind him. Everyone always talks about how the hips should lead the hands, but never actually describe what that means. Well, here you go. As the hips are opening the hands should getting “deeper” to launch on plane with the pitch.
Anyway, this post was supposed to be about the back foot, yet I went off and started talking about the hands and barrel. Oh well. One last guy I wanted to look at is/was the poster boy for the back foot flying off the ground: Bryce Harper. First, a clip from a previous year, not sure which one, where his back foot is clearly experiencing some serious force and flies forward as a result:
Now, we have a clip from this year:
We can see that the amount Harper’s back foot comes off the ground has diminished greatly. It still does a little bit, but nothing like it was in previous years. An interesting note is that Harper is having a career year. He is absolutely crushing, unlike anything he has ever done at the major league level. Is that all because of his back foot? No, probably not. However, look closely at the two clips. In the newer one he definitely looks tighter, with less slop. Instead of the “jump” look he has in the first clip, it seems he better directed his energy into the baseball. I like to call it keeping a little bit of tension in your back hip. It will allow you to keep your leverage a little bit better which will result in more power and adjustability to different pitches. Try to feel the difference in your own swing. Keep tension throughout the whole backside of your body and then release it “deep”, back behind you. Do not take the barrel to the baseball. Take the barrel behind the baseball.
As if there isn’t enough clips already in this post, I want to finish with some isolated clips of the barrel turn. Enjoy:
Griffey:
Ortiz:
(words added not mine)
And one more, Tulo:
(Notice how all these guys launch dynamically, through movement, from behind that back shoulder?)
If this is your first time really looking into this stuff, it may take some time to really be able to see it. Invest the time and see the gains.
And, not to be forgotten, squish the bug or don’t squish the bug, it really doesn’t matter.