Mookie Betts has pop. He’s listed at 5’9, 180 pounds yet already has 23 home runs (July 13, 2018), and is outhitting many who are much bigger than him. What’s his secret?
(Are salt gainz your secret, Mookie?)
Sadly, I don’t think salt is Mookie’s secret. Sorry. But… check out this pic:
This is how you’re 5’9, 180 lbs and outhit guys who are 6’3 225. We’ll keep it real simple:
- Hip Hinge: Mookie is effectively sitting back as if he were deadlifting. Most guys are more straight up and down, losing power they could be using from their lower half.
- Heel to Heel: Not only is Mookie sitting back, but he’s also staying connected to the ground (you kinda have to if you’re sitting back as much as he is). Both his heels are still connected to the ground here. Do you have more power in a conventional bilateral deadlift or a single leg deadlift?
- Mobility: Mookie is creating an insane amount of stretch across his midsection here. His lower half has moved out from underneath him, yet his upper half is still holding “back”, waiting to launch (this was likely an off speed pitch he had to wait for. He doesn’t always get this much stretch).
Here are a couple exercises/drills you can use to attack the concepts above to be more like Mookie:
1) Hip Hinge: Superset this drill with your swings. So you can go 5 sec of the drill, 8 swings, for example, and repeat.
2) Heel to Heel: Good drill that can be used in any setting. Tee, front toss, BP, etc. Really try to feel the weight in your feet and use that to create leverage. Start with your heels on the ground and work to keep them there as long as possible.
(I do not have nice friends)
3) Knee Locked T-Spine Rotation: This is an easy mobilization that combines the hip hinge with thoracic mobility.
I suggest supersetting these with the hitting drill below, band resisted holds. The purpose of these is to challenge your ability to keep your hands by the back shoulder, like we saw with Mookie above. By combining the mobility exercise with the drill, then adding a swing, we are addressing all the components that allow Mookie to create the amount of stretch that he does.
Band Resisted Holds:
Now, doing these doesn’t guarantee you’ll hit like Mookie. In fact, you probably shouldn’t hit like Mookie. You both have different bodies so why would you want to hit the same? But, we can still learn from what he does well and look to apply that in our own swings.
Questions or comments? Leave them below or shoot me an email at brady@dacbaseball.com.