It’s hitting mechanics week and I’ve got a good drill for you all today to use with your athlete(s) to help combat the long swing. Before I give you the link, I need to make sure we’re on the page as to what a long swing is, and why it’s a problem as a hitter.
Definition:
A long swing is essentially when the hands stray away from the body during the swing. It creates a circular motion with the bat.
Why is it a problem?
Having a long swing is bad for a couple reasons. First, it makes it difficult to hit inside and outside pitches effectively and consistently. I say this because the bat will move into and across the strike zone, rather than moving through the strike zone (and maximizing contact potential).
The second problem a long swing creates is there will be side spin on the baseball once it comes off the bat (on inside and outside pitches). I would also bet that the pitching being faced is below average in velocity. Good hitters want backspin on the baseball. You know, the type of spin you see when a hitter blasts a ball into the gap for a double. A long swing will never produce backspin unless the pitch is thrown down the heart of the plate.
Unless your athlete has got some real training on this hitting mechanics problem, he has a long swing to some degree. It takes a lot of work to fix this issue.
I created a video a couple days ago while working with an athlete on this problem. The drill you see in this clip is one I use quite a bit to work with guys in extending their hands forward and through the strike zone. I use a tee here, but you may also do this with side toss and front toss as the athlete improves.
There is a lot more to upper body hitting mechanics than I could share in this brief article. You can learn a lot more in our Hitting Mechanics DVD that is $10 off the regular price this week.
