The past few months I’ve been doing quite a bit more reading, watching, and studying on one aspect of hitting mechanics that seems to frequently get taught incorrectly. The part of the swing that has continually been mistaught is how the hands/bat enter and finish through the hitting zone. In the paragraphs to follow, I’ll be using pictures and video clips to prove the approach used by an overwhelming majority of high level hitters. If you are a coach, parent, or athlete, use this page as a resource in your quest to understand proper hitting mechanics. But, by all means do your own research as well.
Before I get into the meat of this article, I need to explain why this topic should be of major importance to you. I am currently serving as a hitting instructor with a few different teams this season and have encountered some speed bumps in communication with athletes along the way because of prior instruction that has been quite poor. Because how the hands move into and through the zone can make a major impact on your success and consistency as a hitter, it’s time to study and learn what the big time hitters are doing. Failure to understand your own hitting mechanics means that you may fall prey to unfounded and incorrect hitting mechanics instruction. I am so frustrated in seeing poor instruction being bought into by parents and athletes. Because of that, it is my hope that this article will serve as a reference point for your training as it is backed up by plenty of research from professional hitters in MLB. And, if you’d like to continue your quest to truly understanding hitting, join me here as I communicate frequently in all things hitting related.
Let’s break it all down:
A few months ago I was listening to a bunch of instructors at a local training facility use the language, “you need to swing down on the ball like this”. He demonstrated a sharp downward path from the load position with his hands near his back shoulder to a point just past his front hip. The reason for this type of path to the baseball he said was to “come down in order to hit the bottom half of the ball. This creates backspin on the ball.”
I couldn’t believe it. He was teaching hitters to swing on a DOWNWARD PLANE in order to create backspin! Now obviously there is going to be some sort of downward movement if the barrel of the bat is beginning above your head and ends up at knee to thigh level upon contact. But, he was saying that on contact there needs to be a downward angle/movement with the bat. I listened on and observed more instructors teaching the same thing! I returned home frustrated and confused as to why this way of getting the hands into the zone was being taught seemingly so often.
Later that day I wanted to see if the internet had more information on this downward plane type of swing. Here are some selected pieces of information I pulled from sites on the first page of Google using various keyword phrases one would use to learn baseball hitting mechanics.
http://youthbaseball_e_zine.homestead.com/Hitting.html
“The swing begins from the waist down. After completion of stride, the heel of the front foot touches the ground, officially starting the swing. The hips begin their release with the hitter rolling up onto the ball of the back foot and rotating the back foot toward the pitcher (“squishing the bug”). The back hip rotates toward the ball so that eventually the rear knee, the waist and the belly button are ALL facing the pitcher. The hips should rotate, not move up and out. You are now ready to swing the bat in a downward plane through the strike zone leading with the bottom hand. Lead with the knob of the bat, pointing toward the ball, with the barrel up higher than the hands (bat angle), keeping the hands inside of the ball.”
http://www.thebaseballmechanic.com/Hitting_and_Bunting_Mechanics.html
“The actual swing path is a downward motion from the cocking position to the ball at the strike zone. As we have all heard at one time or another, baseball is a game of inches. Therefore, actions must be done as efficiently and effectively as possible. In terms of the swing the hitter must take the most direct route to the ball (shortest distance between two points is a straight line), which is the downward chopping motion described above.”
http://www.angelfire.com/nb2/hitting/h-skills.htm#swing
“You want to avoid an upper cut swing by swinging down on the ball. As you start your swing you’ll want to keep your hands above the ball and the fat part of the bat above your hands.”
As you can see from the excepts above, there is no shortage of information on this downward plane concept. But the even greater problem is that if you don’t know how to differentiate between right and wrong information, a lot of time, money, and training could be lost in learning incorrect hitting mechanics.
Let’s take a look at some still images of some hitters who are moving their hands in the hitting zone. IF the above information from the various websites is accurate, then we should see the following in the below photos:
1. Front elbow pointing down and nearly extended as the bat is entering the hitting zone.
2. Barrel of the bat significantly above the hands as the bat moves closer to the contact position.
3. Knob of the bat pointing down as it enters the contact zone.
Notice the shoulder tilt and elbow up in the top pic of Ryan Howard. How would a power hitter like Howard create any lift with any sort of power if his elbow was pointing down on contact?
In the middle pic, do you see Tony Gwynn’s elbow? It’s moving in an upward direction. Gywnn wasn’t well known for his power, yet he still extends upward through the zone.
The bottom pic is of course Vladimir Guerrero. You can also see that his elbow is moving in an upward manner away from his body. This is the only way backspin on the baseball is created with any kind of force.
But maybe this elbow moving up and away on contact is a recent phenomenon. Did “old school” hitters use this approach to create power backspin?
As you can clearly see here in a pic of the great Mickey Mantle, his lead elbow is moving up and away on contact, not down.
The next of the three points to examine is where the barrel of the bat is on contact. Remember, those who teach the swing down on the ball theory will say that the barrel of the bat will be significantly above the hands on contact. Let’s have a look to see if this is what actually occurs.
I don’t think it’s overly difficult to see how these three great hitters Braun, Hamilton, and Mauer enter the zone with the barrel of their bat. The lower the pitch is, the lower the barrel of the bat will be in relationship to the hands. The higher the pitch is, the more level the hands and barrel appear. However, even the Braun pic on top demonstrates a pitch up in the zone where he keeps his hands above the barrel of the bat.
Lastly, let’s take a look at where the knob of the bat is upon entering the strike zone. Swing down proponents will teach a knob down approach. Is this what really happens? Look for yourself.
It’s obvious from these picture of Jeter and Ichiro that the knob of the bat is far from moving in a downward angle to the baseball. You can also have a look at the above pics as well and you will see the same.
I think that the lesson here is quite clear. While there are a wide range of hitting styles in MLB, there are some core hitting mechanics that remain consistent between all great hitters. None of those hitting mechanics have anything in common with those who teach swing down to the ball mechanics.
If you were to stumble onto the above websites, they look credible enough. And most of the information on those sites is, in fact, good information. However, the portions concerning how the hands enter and extend through the strike zone is misguided. Have a look for yourself in the video clips below. At the point of contact, is the
1. Front elbow pointing down and nearly extended as the bat is entering the hitting zone.
2. Barrel of the bat significantly above the hands as the bat moves closer to the contact position.
3. Knob of the bat pointing down as it enters the contact zone.
Now that you’ve made the choice to swallow the red pill and know the truth behind proper swing mechanics, what’s next?
- I email every Monday and Wednesday on hitting mechanics or the mental game of hitting. I’d be glad to add you to the mix once you provide me the best email to reach you at.
- Continue on with your education and visit my other articles on hitting mechanics and the mental game of hitting.
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