I want to preface this article series by saying there is no one athlete/hitter all of these drills are going to work for. It is going to depend on where each hitter is currently at in their hitting and athlete development. None of these drills are going to magically fix you or make you a superstar. However, a couple of them, those that are right for you, may provide an opportunity for improvement. There. Disclaimer out of the way.
This first drill series is very simple. You’re going to use “stances” that are closed, open, and even. Here’s a video of me demonstrating each of those:
Closed:
Open:
Even:
That’s it. Hope you enjoyed.
Okay, not quite. Why in the world would we want to mess hitters up by having them start in all of these different positions? Don’t we want them to achieve the “perfect swing”? Not exactly. Take a look at this clip, which includes 3 different swings from Mike Trout:
I paused the clip at the top of each of Trout’s swing finishes on each of the three different swings. We saw in the comparison pic that he essentially ended up in 3 different positions. Look closely at his lower half.
In the left frame, we see his toe up a bit more than in the middle frame. We see more of his back foot in the left two frames than the right (albeit from a slightly different angle). We see a slightly further open front foot in the right frame, etc. The specific differences we see aren’t super important. The point is… they’re different. Trout isn’t taking the same swing each time. There are small variations. And I know these clips are from AFTER the ball has already left the bat, so who cares, right? Not quite. Trout’s finish, and any hitters finish, can give us a clue as to what happened earlier in the swing that lead to the finished result.
For example, we see similar finishes in the left two frames above, but we saw that he got there via different means in the video. In the clip from the picture on the left, Trout got an off speed pitch that he was slightly out in front of. He landed a tad bit early and, as a result, his back foot kicked out a bit more than usual as that’s one of his compensations he uses to wait for an off speed pitch. In the clip from the middle picture, he didn’t get an off speed pitch, yet ended up in a similar position. He got a fastball on the outside corner, which meant his hips didn’t open/rotate quite as far, again leading to the rear foot “kickback” (eyewash term I know but all I got for now). Finally, we see less of his foot and a more open lower half on the right, a result of a fastball (or changeup?) in, which he had to clear his hips for and led to a slightly different pattern and ending position.
Take a look at another clip. I take no credit for this clip as it’s been around for awhile and I have no idea who made it, but it’s pretty cool:
We see an array of timing/loading mechanisms here. In the top right we see a no stride heel lift, and then we see varying degrees of toe tap to leg lift in the other five. It’s also interesting to notice how Miggy’s legs work on different pitch locations but we might have to cover that another time.
The point of showing you all of this is to simply explain the methodology behind this drill: there is no perfect swing. Hitting is an open, reactive activity, which means each and every swing we take will be slightly different based upon the information we have coming in (that info can be from the pitcher, the pitch itself, the environment, etc). So practicing to only do it one way all the time is, in my opinion, an approach that comes up short.
There are two main benefits we’re looking for out of this drill:
- Improved swing robustness: This term has come up a lot lately in some circles. It simply means the ability of an action to vary, while still producing desirable outcomes. In the case of hitting, this means we may swing slightly different each time, but we still hit the ball hard and with good flight. By changing our starting positions, we are challenging our bodies ability to figure out how to execute the “nuts and bolts” of the swing from uncomfortable positions.
- Swing exploration: You may find that while doing this drill you like one of the variations better than your so-called “normal” swing. That’s great. Why not use it? With more and more formalized baseball instruction, many hitters never take the time to experiment with different movements. This drill allows them to do that.
So try it out. Experiment. It doesn’t need to be done off a tee as you saw in the demo videos. Do it with front toss, BP, etc. Figure just how well your body can adjust to being in uncomfortable situations.
Okay, that really is all. Hope you enjoyed.
Questions or comments? Interested in remote training? I can be reached via email at brady@dacbaseball.com.