90% of all baseball batting issues will arise in the load portion of the swing. Between a players confidence level, the physical steps, and pitch recognition, it takes a truly disciplined player to consistently get this portion of the swing correct. If players do not fully integrate the visual, physical, and mental nature of the load, players will surely struggle to find answers to their baseball batting problems.
The load consist of three main action steps: taking the hands back and weight back towards the catcher, striding forward with the front foot, and reading the pitch. Although the physical steps of the load seem fairly simple to master, these steps can be easily complicated if player's are not relaxed at the plate. As the pitcher is delivering the ball to plate, player's want to "load back" with their hands, taking them 2-4 inches towards the catcher. As the hands, and a portion of the players weight "load back", the front foot wants to stride towards the pitcher 4-6 inches.
Players who consistently struggle with this step benefit from the idea that their hands and front leg are detached from the core of their body. As players "load back" with their hands, I like to have players pretend like their hands are on a clothes line. This keeps players working north/south into the baseball instead of east/west. Some coaches will teach a slight shoulder curl during this step to increase power. In my opinion, this will happen naturally during the load and doesn't need to be taught. Teaching this step will only take players eyes and head away from the baseball instead of creating stability with the eyes which is critical during any baseball swing.
As a player practices his load, he will most commonly make two mistakes. The first is to load his hands to far from his body. This will cause a player to drift away from his position of strength and create a long loop in his swing and/or drag his baseball bat through the zone. Loading 2 to 4 inches back will keep their hands tighter to their body. The second most common mistake that players will make is loading that hands back too quickly. A quick load causes stress and tension. Players must relax and load smoothly in order to maximize their power. Players should practice loading on a two count to slow his movements down and allow him to load comfortably.
When loading the hands back, players will naturally load a portion of their weight back as well. Players will have a tendency to overload their weight on their backside. As a general reference, players would have no more than 60% of their weight on their backside. As check point, if your players back knee crosses the plane of his back foot, he has loaded to much of his weight back. Players who load too much of their weight on their backside will have a tendency to either leak to much weight forward to soon, or never fully transfer their weight into the ball causing a lack of power and consistency through the zone.
The best way to control balance during this part of the swing is to limit the players moment. As the hands are drawn back, the front foot should stride towards the pitcher. The stride wants to be no more than 4-6 inches, and the front foot wants to be "closed off". Limiting the length of the stride ensures that players will not over extend the length of their body, and will allow them to maximize their power. In the same effect "closing off" the front side, which means the front foot is parallel with the front of the plate, gives players a firm resistance to transition against helping to propel the hips and generate power. If the front foot begins to point towards the pitcher during the baseball load, the player will naturally open up too soon taking his power away from ball and have a tendency to pull off pitches.
The final component of the load is the most vital, and the most under trained. Two things that players and coaches seemly take for granted is idea of pitch recognition and timing. Although it seems natural, I can assure you it is not as natural as you might think. Most players assume that when their foot hits the ground during the load, that they are ready to engage the hips and swing. This is wrong, and any player who has this mentality will struggle for the rest of his career with his timing. After a player's foot hits the ground, and before a player engages his hips, there should be a conscious moment of pitch recognition.
During the pitch recognition phase, players should engage in a scanning process of the type of pitch, and it's location. A player should allow himself to be able to hit the pitchers fastest pitch, but not commit to hitting that pitch. If he is constantly in the mode that his best swing will be on the fastball, it makes it very difficult to fully adjust to the curve ball because he will be anxious to take his best swing. Instead, players should take their best swing to a point of contact over the plate which never changes.
This process and recognition process revolves around a concept I call the "Hitting Prism". As humans, we have a tough time when things are hard to define. So when we say a pitch is outside, it doesn't fully resonate with our mind. How far outside, where? The Hitting Prism helps the mind to define these locations where players and coaches a like can communicate effectively. The next time a player takes batting practice, separate the plate into three equal sections, L for Left, C for Center, and R for Right. As the pitch crosses the plate, have your player call out where that pitch was located. As your player gets better at defining pitches, use 1 for high, 2 for middle, and 3 for low. Now you and your player will have 9 zones to judge pitches and communicate the mechanics of how to hit pitches in each zone.
When you perform this drill, you will find that players will misidentify pitches more frequently than you might have thought. This happens for several reasons, but it all stems from the players brain. Players naturally want to hit the ball where they feel they have the most power, as a result players tend to "lie" to themselves about pitch location so they can hit the ball to their "power" fields. As a result, players will tend to misunderstand proper contact points and commit their timing and body to the wrong zones This causes their average to drop, and a constant search for better timing.
Refining player ability to read pitches correctly allows players to better understand how approach contact points in the zone. Understanding contact points is the beginning of what player's and coaches talk about when they discuss "rhythm or timing". Rhythm or timing is the ability to consistently recognize pitches and allow for the same or similar timing between recognition and backside engagement. The consistent combination of the hands and weight back, the front foot forward and down, and active pitch recognition will give you player not only better timing, but more power and consistency to all fields. Use these training methods in your next practice and watch you player grow as a hitter at the plate.
The load consist of three main action steps: taking the hands back and weight back towards the catcher, striding forward with the front foot, and reading the pitch. Although the physical steps of the load seem fairly simple to master, these steps can be easily complicated if player's are not relaxed at the plate. As the pitcher is delivering the ball to plate, player's want to "load back" with their hands, taking them 2-4 inches towards the catcher. As the hands, and a portion of the players weight "load back", the front foot wants to stride towards the pitcher 4-6 inches.
Players who consistently struggle with this step benefit from the idea that their hands and front leg are detached from the core of their body. As players "load back" with their hands, I like to have players pretend like their hands are on a clothes line. This keeps players working north/south into the baseball instead of east/west. Some coaches will teach a slight shoulder curl during this step to increase power. In my opinion, this will happen naturally during the load and doesn't need to be taught. Teaching this step will only take players eyes and head away from the baseball instead of creating stability with the eyes which is critical during any baseball swing.
As a player practices his load, he will most commonly make two mistakes. The first is to load his hands to far from his body. This will cause a player to drift away from his position of strength and create a long loop in his swing and/or drag his baseball bat through the zone. Loading 2 to 4 inches back will keep their hands tighter to their body. The second most common mistake that players will make is loading that hands back too quickly. A quick load causes stress and tension. Players must relax and load smoothly in order to maximize their power. Players should practice loading on a two count to slow his movements down and allow him to load comfortably.
When loading the hands back, players will naturally load a portion of their weight back as well. Players will have a tendency to overload their weight on their backside. As a general reference, players would have no more than 60% of their weight on their backside. As check point, if your players back knee crosses the plane of his back foot, he has loaded to much of his weight back. Players who load too much of their weight on their backside will have a tendency to either leak to much weight forward to soon, or never fully transfer their weight into the ball causing a lack of power and consistency through the zone.
The best way to control balance during this part of the swing is to limit the players moment. As the hands are drawn back, the front foot should stride towards the pitcher. The stride wants to be no more than 4-6 inches, and the front foot wants to be "closed off". Limiting the length of the stride ensures that players will not over extend the length of their body, and will allow them to maximize their power. In the same effect "closing off" the front side, which means the front foot is parallel with the front of the plate, gives players a firm resistance to transition against helping to propel the hips and generate power. If the front foot begins to point towards the pitcher during the baseball load, the player will naturally open up too soon taking his power away from ball and have a tendency to pull off pitches.
The final component of the load is the most vital, and the most under trained. Two things that players and coaches seemly take for granted is idea of pitch recognition and timing. Although it seems natural, I can assure you it is not as natural as you might think. Most players assume that when their foot hits the ground during the load, that they are ready to engage the hips and swing. This is wrong, and any player who has this mentality will struggle for the rest of his career with his timing. After a player's foot hits the ground, and before a player engages his hips, there should be a conscious moment of pitch recognition.
During the pitch recognition phase, players should engage in a scanning process of the type of pitch, and it's location. A player should allow himself to be able to hit the pitchers fastest pitch, but not commit to hitting that pitch. If he is constantly in the mode that his best swing will be on the fastball, it makes it very difficult to fully adjust to the curve ball because he will be anxious to take his best swing. Instead, players should take their best swing to a point of contact over the plate which never changes.
This process and recognition process revolves around a concept I call the "Hitting Prism". As humans, we have a tough time when things are hard to define. So when we say a pitch is outside, it doesn't fully resonate with our mind. How far outside, where? The Hitting Prism helps the mind to define these locations where players and coaches a like can communicate effectively. The next time a player takes batting practice, separate the plate into three equal sections, L for Left, C for Center, and R for Right. As the pitch crosses the plate, have your player call out where that pitch was located. As your player gets better at defining pitches, use 1 for high, 2 for middle, and 3 for low. Now you and your player will have 9 zones to judge pitches and communicate the mechanics of how to hit pitches in each zone.
When you perform this drill, you will find that players will misidentify pitches more frequently than you might have thought. This happens for several reasons, but it all stems from the players brain. Players naturally want to hit the ball where they feel they have the most power, as a result players tend to "lie" to themselves about pitch location so they can hit the ball to their "power" fields. As a result, players will tend to misunderstand proper contact points and commit their timing and body to the wrong zones This causes their average to drop, and a constant search for better timing.
Refining player ability to read pitches correctly allows players to better understand how approach contact points in the zone. Understanding contact points is the beginning of what player's and coaches talk about when they discuss "rhythm or timing". Rhythm or timing is the ability to consistently recognize pitches and allow for the same or similar timing between recognition and backside engagement. The consistent combination of the hands and weight back, the front foot forward and down, and active pitch recognition will give you player not only better timing, but more power and consistency to all fields. Use these training methods in your next practice and watch you player grow as a hitter at the plate.
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