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In this video, 10 Time State Championship Coach Steve Cramblitt explains how to teach rotational hitting mechanics.
I personally prefer the rotational approach because it allows young hitters to recruit power from the strongest muscles in their bodies: the legs.
What do you think about the rotational vs. linear debate? Post a comment and let me know.
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The coach in the video is opening with his hips to soon. The hips (right hip with right handed hitter) and the bat head should hit the power position at the same time. The player hitting in the video is doing this.
Being a biomechanics major, I sometimes think the argument is flawed. More often than not, I see rotational instruction talk about how they don’t have the “whip effect” or “crack the whip” in it’s swing, like a linear hitter. If that is the basis of one’s argument to distinguish the two styles, then the don’t know what they are talking about. Just about everything that we do athletically is based on the summation of sequential segments, better know as “crack the whip”. If you don’t think the above video of a rotational swing is an awesome example of the summation of sequential segments, then you really don’t know what you are talking about. The above video does show proper hitting mechanics, but sometimes depending on the pitch, pitcher, location, linear mechanics has it’s place. A successful hitter can do both, but believe me when I tell, both styles have the “whip effect” or “cracking of the whip” - you just need to truly understand the concept to know why it is a part of any hitting style or throwing style for that matter.
Never said it was wrong just thought he was opening up to soon. I was thinking maybe because it was a dry swing.
I think the “linear” vs. “rotational” debate is often just a matter of semantics. If you watch the side view of the video example, you clearly see some linear movement towards the pitcher. In my opinion, this movement is fine because the front side is firm and the hands stay back. From what I can tell, a good swing is a combination of both linear and rotational mechanics.
The coach in the video is wrong. He is too mechanical and the hips are through and done with. \There is no leverage being used. He is out over his front foot and knee. The hips don’t just turn, they explode. He is just turning, like doing a twist. He will have NO POWER
I won’t pick on the coach’s obvious flaws, assuming his age and flexibility is being exposed during a dry slow motion swing.
I believe there is truth in both rotational and linear mechanics, and it depends on your perspective and the habits or challenges of a specific player you’re coaching. I find it funny when those that say there is no gray try to explain why one is 100% accurate, without any elements of the other.
Watch any high speed slow motion camera videos. While perfect swings at pitches that are relatively easy to hit and didn’t surprise a consistently 300 hitter, I do believe rotational hitting is much closer to the absolute truth for teaching purposes, but there are undenable aspects to some linear concepts (initial hand movement, initial body movement towards pitcher, feeling of staying inside, arc out front, not off back shoulder, etc.)
At a very simple level, I find linear emphasis helps players casting or extending their arms early in the swing, and I find rotational emphasis helps players arm swinging and/or lunging onto their front side (too much forward movement).
I’m just a JV coach, but along with being over his front foot it looks like his hands and arms are too far extended from his core, loosing his power vee and causing him to swing through a pitch that is at the top of the strike zone, if not a ball.
Again I may be all wet but I’m trying to learn.
Any help for me, or comments?
Practice starts today.
I appreciate the video and the time that these individuals are taking out of their schedules to help instruct other aspiring coaches.
I teach many of these same tactics, however the one thing that I stress is to keep 60-65% your weight on the back foot. This allows a player to hit with more power and helps prevent “lunging” at the off speed pitches. When the hitter’s weight shifts as dramatic as it does in this video, they become a sucker for the junk…
Thank you for taking the time and putting this video together. As with all instructional material, it is subjective to your playing experience and knowledge.
Every swing in a combination of Linear and Rotational mechanics. When your front heel drops that is when your rotational mechanics begin. At the start of your swing when your weight is back or in what some people call the load position, you need to come forward (linear movement) to center to give your body an axis to rotate from (rotational movement). One caution, when rotating the hips, make sure the front shoulder stays in and the hands stay back as long as possible. This creates the coiling effect to produce the power. If the shoulder opens with the hips you will never touch a pitch from the center out. I am a firm believer in rotational hitting mechanics.
We have to remember as coaches to teach mechanics but allow the style of the player to come out as well. Each player is built differently and their physique is different than every other player on the bench. That being said, I teach rotational hitting and although i agree with SOME of the mechanics of linear hitting, i have spent many of my coaching years un-doing what a lot of coaches have taught. I have spent many hours looking at what the pros are doing today and your best hitters are rotational. Even the ones that SAY they use strictly linear mechanics are using rotational when you see them on video. I find that teaching kids to ’swing down on the ball’, ‘throwing the knob of the bat at the ball’, etc. etc. have created a lot of under-powered, chop hitters.
I spent my high school career taking crud from batting coaches, college coaches, etc. about how i had a swing that i modeled after Ted Williams because that is when linear hitting was THE way to coach. Nevermind that i had one of the most consistent high averages on the team, they always tried to have me hit with a linear swing. I am glad that i never changed my swing I am glad to see that rotational hitting is coming back and benefiting players of all ages.
For your own experiment, take a linear hitter and a rotational hitter and put a wooden bat in their hand. The rotational hitter will always have more power because of the physics of rotational hitting. Coached correctly, Rotational hitting is much more natural and more powerful.
Anyway, too much to go into here. Just thought i would give my 2 cents.
-Erik
I think the back heel coming up is more from driving the back hip forward, not by picking the heel up. I think you will get more power driving the hip forward. You can pick the heal up and turn your hips and still not have much power.
Jerry, i agree with you there. I focus on the front heel hitting the ground hard and thus triggering the hip motion. with the hips moving aggressively, i put less emphasis on the back heel as that will come up and pivot naturally.
The swing demonstration is ok. However, for me it seems to miss the mark on teaching the hitter how to coil up then un-coil on the ball with power which is the whole point of the rotational swing. The instruction seems to be more of a description of the swing and is missing one of the most important parts which is loading or coiling the body. I did find it interesting that this coach uses picking up the back heal to trigger the swing. That doesn’t make sense to me but it might be useful with some hitters. I have always taught coil-stride to the front toe only for balance, while remaining coiled, tap the front toe again as necessary for off speed pitches to stay back, and trigger the swing (Hips) with the front heel coming down.
I do like the second half of the instruction talking about posture stabilization. Both the coach and the player in the video clip do a great job of keeping their head still which makes it a lot easier to make solid contact. Hitting the ball solid is at least as important as how hard a swing you put on the ball. The player in the clip has a great swing so if he learned it from coach Cramblitt he must be doing a lot of things right.
I think this coach is a little off base..Thogh he does have the righ Idea.He is reaaly flying open.With the hips so far out in front,you will never hit even the weakest curveball.He is also onto his front side way to soon.Your back heel comes off the ground as you rotate into the hitting zone.It is not something you need to think about.I teach stepping softly with the front foot,which will keep your weight back,then rotate your bellybutton over your front knee.
The best way to get hitting students to understand the rotational swing is to simply refer it as a ground up swing. Front foot down the movement then starts in the feet, then legs, hips up and so on. The kiss of death in a swing is coaching telling students to throw there hands at the ball. The hand movement is a result of proper mechanics starting from the ground. One other thing to mention is that a hitter can not create kinesic energy with his back foot off the ground. A hitter must transfer energy into the ground through his back foot, this energy is then transfered back into the hitters body during rotation. It be like trying to hit a ball hard while hitting on ice. Just spinning your back foot is not enough, you must transfer energy into the ground.
I also think this coach loses his “tilt” as he swings. The dotted line indicating his axis of rotation (his spine) is drawn correctly at the set up of swing, but as he makes contact his spine is no longer lined up with the dotted line because he stands up straighter. The angle of the dotted line is correct, but his swing posture is not, and the line no longer indicates the axis of his swing. In fact, the line now goes from his left hip to his right ear, which is no longer parallel to the axis of his swing. Odd that this should be so clearly wrong in the video. With the way he prematurely opens his his hips, and the way he loses his tilt, he is sacrificing most of the power of his swing. I agree with the other comments that there is no way he will hit an outside or off speed pitch this way. However, all that being said, we are really picking this guy apart on a dry swing. The nuts and bolts, although not put together perfectly in this video, are correct.
I teach rotational to my 10 year old girls softball team. They don’t need to know all the details, so i condense it to 3 keys:
Hop! Hip! Whap!
Hop= front foot or heel steps down. Don’t lean over it. Don’t step forward onto it. Plant it.
Hip= rotate hips hard toward the pitcher. Back foot naturally comes up in classic ball-of-the-foot balance stance as front leg stays generally straight.
Whap= as shoulders follow hips, hands whip the bat into the ball.
So the chant is:
If its high let it by.
If its low let it go.
In the middle swing the bat with a HOP, HIP, WHAP!
Dr Liner great analogies
I have taught this method to to different players 17 years apart and the 16yr old is crushing balls over 400ft. instead of the 325ft before. The 33yr old play in an adult league and in practice he is hitting 350-375ft. now, before was about 300ft.
When I started working with each player both were upper body hitters / arms only. Now both start from the ground up, I explained the rotation in regards to a gate opening from a stationary point. thats all it took both are now in the 4 spot of the lineup.
you have to careful thy over swing
The swing by the coach in this video is nowhere near a proper rotational swing. The player’s swing is a lot better. Before you can begin to talk about rotational vs linear swings, it is important to define what distinguishes one from the other.
Most people think of lunging when they are asked to define a linear swing. However, linear refers to swing mechanics that promote “throwing the hands at the ball” in a linear fashion, sometimes referred to as “knob of the
Before you can begin to talk about rotational vs linear swings, it is important to define what distinguishes one from the other.
Most people think of lunging when they are asked to define a linear swing. However, linear refers to swing mechanics that promote “throwing the hands at the ball” in a linear fashion, sometimes referred to as “knob of the bat to the ball.” A rotational swing, in addition to rotating the upper body around a stationary axis, also promotes a circular hand path, or CHP. If you were to view a rotational swing from above the hitter, you will find the hands moving in a semi-circular arc. The pendulum effect of a CHP accelerates the bat head producing more bat speed and power.
Any references of a rotational swing to a “crack the whip” effect are flawed for two reasons: 1) the hands must move in a linear fashion in order to crack the whip — which is precisely what we are trying to avoid with a rotational swing and 2) the baseball bat is a rigid object than cannot uncoil like a whip.
The swing by the coach in this video, while demonstrating rotation of the upper body around a stationary axis, does not demostrate a CHP. Instead the coach is still throwing the hands at the ball. In doing so, he is losing the “connection” between the lower body and the arms. A proper connection will slot the the top hand elbow (the right elbow for a right handed hitter) close to or against body. When this elbow is in front of and away from the body, connection between the lower body and the arms is lost, and the transfer of power from the lower body to the hands is much less.
“Throw your hands at the ball” is just one of many myths about a proper baseball swing. If you teach your kids to “swing down at the ball,” “keep your back elbow up,” “swing level to the ground,” “don’t dip your back shoulder,” or “watch the ball hit the bat,” then you owe it to yourself to learn a little more about the baseball swing.
From my 14 to 16yrs of coaching youth baseball experience, and many different sites just like this one….I do love to hear all the so-called “experts” state their minds on a topic probably none of us really know crap about….sound like some parents that have blurted out stupid remarks from the bleachers game after game. Like the intentional walk to load the bases with two outs, avoiding the big number 5 hitter to get to the next guy for a possible double play….
Coach Cramblitt’s swing look’s fine, factoring in one or two things….was the fake pitch he is swinging at inside, outside…dead red, high, low, fastball, slider, curve or change ?????
His hips didn’t fly open too early, they start the entire swing motion, and you want to finish upright….not “tilted” as someone mentioned earlier…
Only semi-flaw I spotted is the fact that his hands go WAY to wide around his head at finish point, making it appear to be a wide swing. His hands need to be tighter to the body, “inside the baseball” a lot more.
I echo the other gentleman who pointed out that both linear and rotational hitting methods are offering portions of correct parts in the make-up of the so called perfect swing. Why do coaches try and “clone” all hitters to be the same ? I have one 11yr old player that is 5′10″, 210lbs and wears a size 14.5 shoe…..should I be teaching him the same as my little second baseman that is 4′, 90lbs wet, and wears a youth size 5 shoe?…..Hell no.
The efforts of Coach Cramblitt’s video, along with his mentioned state championships, speak for themselves….why examine a dry swing video with such judgement, can any of these comment makers bring their state championships to the table?
I continue to remind my athletes never to compare themselves with a pro baseball player, they are a poor example of the proper methods of doing anything. That goes for doping, prober form, bad habits, wearing jewelery, complaining to umpires, acting like idiots and most youth players don’t exactly have the same physical make-up of a 25yr old professional athlete either.
Keep ‘em coming Kenny, and use Coach Cramblitt over and over…he is always a pleasure to watch. Please start a website for baseball parents to watch videos about how to respect the manager, and learn that their kid sucks….that is why a younger kid is playing and their boy is sitting…..maybe try soccer instead.
Its hard to depict a perfect swing on dry runs..even a bad swing produces hits sometimes…its the adjustments we have to make next time at bat or even in practice…we know what we should be doing but sometimes our body doesn’t always respond the way we want it to..thats why we practice over and over..its all repetition..doing the same thing over and over and over again until we think we have it downpacked…its so many things that can go wrong on a particular swing and then we think, ok I pulled my head out or overrotated my front foot, etc., its the theory aspect that we try and teach about anything…I played college baseball and now play 16″ slo-pitch softball and am now trying to incorporate the rotational swing to my game…because the ball is pitched slower and I have to supply the power, my mechanics have to be more precise..patience is the key especially when hitting to the opposite field down the line….thats what i mean by being precise, placing the ball 4-5 feet inside that outfield line but over the 1st or 3rd baseman head…that spin send the ball away from the fielder and that s all I want to do is be on 2nd base and maybe even 3rd..my belief is, its both linear and rotational but its up to the person and which they believe (theory) works
There are a number of good points noted on the website. I’m a true believer that rotational hitting with a minimal amount of linear movement is the best way to hit. The linear movement I refer to is from the load position to toe touch is when there can be some linear movement with the body to provide momentum to start the lower body. However, this linear movement is advanced and probably not taught to young hitters until they are strong enough to brace the front side to avoid lunging. It’s amazing to view the major league hitters with slow-motion video. They have there differences primarily before the pitch is thrown, but nearly all of them have the same swing charteristics: posture to the ball, some linear movement (or momentum just before rotation), torso begins the rotation pulling up the back heel supported with a firm front leg, head remains close to center, palms up and down at contact finishing with the back shoulder slightly below the front shoulder.
The coach indicates the back heel begins the swing. I think coaches should be careful in using this instruction for all players. It’s been my experience that some youth players may just spin on the back foot with this instruction. The torso starts the swing and the back heel comes off the ground as a natural reaction to this movement. But this may be hard for youth kids to understand. They may relate to the back heel off the ground or taking the back knee to the front knee, or taking the front hip back to the catcher, or a number of other ways to describe the lower body actions. It’s up to the coach to figure out what is the best way to describe it that will resonate with each player. Also, some folks were a bit critical of the coach’s swing especially indicating that by clearing his hips early he could not hit the outside pitch. With this swing, the batter must wait on the outside pitch and, accordingly, if he waits the hips would not be as open as it would be on an inside pitch. There’s a low of technical stuff here…when it comes time to hit the ball in the game, the batter must be able to clear his mind of the mechanics and just react to the pitch.
If anyone is a proponent of linear hitting and swinging A to C I would like to understand how do you hit the low and outside pitch for a line drive with an A to C swing. To me it defies physics but maybe I’m missing something.
Liner hitting is a thing of the past. Yes it can still result in Major League players but if a hitter can do the rotational swing it is the way to go. Less forward movement =More power and better vision. Once upon a time Football kickers used liner movement to kick a ball(running directly at the ball then kicking it) It is evident now that the rotational movement of a soccer style kicker createas much more energy. The movement of a Soccer Style kicker uses many of the same principals as does a Golf swing.
There was at least one comment about not teaching the same swing to different size hitters. I think that should be re-considered if the desired outcome is a line drive. If the coach wants the smaller player to slap out some ground balls to the left side for infield hits he should swing with a linear, A to C, swing which would be different than the bigger player. But if you want the smaller player to hit line drives I believe it should be virtually the same. I know of high school players no taller than 5′7″ and less than 150 lbs. who hit extra base hits using the same swing (rotational)as 6′4″ players.
Having been a coach for 38 years, I have seen all kinds of styles come and go. Many of the remarks in this blog are completely off on what Linear and Rotational dynamics are about. Rotataional uses a coiling effect that often is taught with the hands near the neck inorder to create bat head speed through the zone. As Jeff stated in his post, as viewed from above, it looks like a circular hand path(CHP) over a stationary base. But so far, I have not read a really good explanation of what Linear is. Linear is not starting hands back and then pulling mostly forward with those same hands all the way throught the zone with hip rotation coming as an afterthought with weight landing on the front foot. That style of hitting went out years ago, though any student of the game will recognize Hank Aaron used it to destroy the Babes record. I ,and any knowledgeable hitting coach would not teach that to a young hitter. The linear vs rotational debate we are having in my area is about CHP over a Stationary base vs Hands lower and further back driving through the zone. The bottom of both swings is similar. It is hand path. I have lost count how many high school and college players I have had to fix their swings that struggle with pure rotational swings often taught by guys with impressive resumes. I agree each hitter is unique and should be treated as such. The biggest assets with rotational (CHP) is a very quick bat and explosive power. The minus is it can be hard to master particularly for young htters. Because you have a very CHP, timing can be an issue: timing the pitch and timing the rotation of the shoulders and hips. Too much rotation too early results in lost power. Once again I am talking about hand path, the bottom half is virtually identical. Linear(hand path) leaves the bathead in the zone much longer while still allowing allot of explosive power. That eliminates much of the timing issue for younger hitters trying to master the game and increases the contact %. Average goes up and so does confidence. Later, as they develop, maybe a pure rotational swing is something they can master. Before someone says linear (hand path) loses power, know my 150lbs son landed a College Baseball scholarship because of his batspeed generated with a more linear hand path and is hitting homeruns in the games of 380ft or better. Know also one the best athletes I have ever coached employed a pure rotational swing (CHP) his senior year and his average and power went down tremendously until late in season with college offers dwindling I put him back into a LHP(linear hand path) and his power numbers exploded again attracting offers from the Naval Academy and Memphis among others. Just my thoughts as a really old coach, guys.
Great discussions gentlemen.
There are a lot of good points brought up (especially by coach Jeff Hillwig) and some I feel that are a little “off base”, but that fine too. As a former major leaguer that struggled with hitting my entire life, to this day I have never stopped trying to learn about this wonderful art of hitting. As you all know hitting a major league pitch is often referred to as one of the most difficult things to do in professional sports. Hitting a round ball with a round bat and hitting it squarely….consistanly…with power…impressive to say the least!!
Some guys do it and it looks effortless, like Ken Griffey in his prime and some guys do it and it looks ugly, like Justin Pedroia, but they key is…. they get it done. As far as the back heel topic is concerned, there are a lot of different ways to skin that cat too. I think it is OK for coaches to ask their very young players to “Squish the Bug”, to get some rotation going, but we all should know that this is Not correct either, but it helps the younger kids, so go with it, if it helps. I’ve heard Boggs talk about using the back foot as a rudder as he drags his toe durring the swing; Ichiro will do this from time to time as well, usually when getting slightly fooled on off speed stuff. Have you guys ever watched Jim Thome and Troy Glass crush balls?? They rarely if ever have a prototypical high heel raise swing, but they still manage to unleash their hips… big time!
I’ve been taught by some of the best major league hitting instructors around in 80’s and 90’s including Ron Jackson formerly of the World Champion Boston Red Sox, Rudy Jaramillo, currently with the Texas Rangers and even Walt Hriniak when he was with Chicago White Sox just to name a few. Each of these guys had a slightly different philosophy on hitting. They each worked tirelessly on helping each individual player know their strengths and weaknesses. More importantly they gave each and every player a clear and concise game plan to be successful at the plate. As hitting coaches, instructors, and parents, we all owe it to our kids to continue to be open to new ideas and training methods and to encourage a great work ethic. Most importantly I believe that we must make sure our kids are having fun while they work hard and continue to learn the game. Hitting is a life long process that teaches us life long lessons.
Keep up the great work Coach Kenny!!
Really enjoyed the comments regarding “rotational V Lienar” hitting. I am a staunch advocate of the rotational method. I coach middle school players and prepare them for High School. Unfortunately the high school coaching staff in my area is a proponent of the linear method and spend time “re teaching” what I have established. Very frustrating. This usually results in lower batting average, less power numbers and a losing record.
My son is playing for these coaches and continues to use what I have taught him. This has resulted in the best hitter in the school playing JV rather than Varsity ball. Again very frustrating.
Okay done venting. Coach Kenny keep up the great work.
Anyone who is a coach knows that ALL the top D1 schools, top of the heap Florida,Cali Texas High school programs and EVERY Pro team is teaching nothing but the Rotational swing. Sure Hank AAron and Roberto Clemente were Linear hitters(Energy thanfered toward the ball) AKA front foot hitters. That proves nothing but they had great hand eye coordination. Would you teach a hitter like that to swing differently- OH Corse Not! The point is the most effeciant way to hit a ball is staying steady in the box, little if no forward movement and hitting from the ground up. A hitters core rotation is the key to hitting the ball with authority. If you want to hit anyway other than rotational you better be the next AAron or enjoy your little league and maybe your high school baseball because that’s were you will hit a wall. As a coach who has been involved with players at all levels from Little League to professional I promise you that if you are not teaching the rotational method you are doing your students a disservice, any other swing will be changed in time unless you are the next AARon,Clemente,Ichiro etc. Professional Hitting instructors will not change a guy like that. If it aint broke don’t fix it. That said, it is not the way they would prefer you to hit in this day and age.
Wow, coach, great video release, tremendous discussion, My strong-team all-star catcher 11 year old son just completely stabilized his hitting after 20 minutes with this video. It is like we played a whole season and improved after the viewing. Please continue this forum for the sake of
developing kids and coaches.
Let me clear up a few things from my previous post. 1. Hank Aaron (and others)were GREAT hitters(w/ great eye to hand) and while they used what was popular in that day, LINEAR, I and any knowledgeable hitting coach would not teach it(which is what I said).In fact I haven’t seen that kind of hitting taught in a decade in my area. 2. Nobody on this site has stated they teach old school Aaron and Clemente LINEAR that I have read, so if that is the debate(Old school Linear vs New School Core Rotation) then that debate has been settled in my local area. 3.My point was not about core rotation as everyone (That I know)is teaching core rotation. The debate in my area as I said was about hand path. As a couple of the 1st posts noted, the Coach in the video is using a LINEAR HAND PATH (LHP) over a STATIONARY but ROTATIONAL CORE, which is what I teach by the way(some folks are calling this rotational hitting but it is not TRUE ROTATIONAL HITTING). This is as opposed to a true rotational swing in which the HAND PATH is very CIRCULAR (CHP) over a STATIONARY but ROTATIONAL CORE. Maybe there are 3 kinds of swings A)Old School LINEAR B)TRUE ROTATIONAL C) HYBRID ROTATIONAL/LINEAR(Core Rotation with a Longer,more Linear Hand Path (LHP) which the Coach in the video demnostrates and which nost of this site seems to be talking about and teaching. Any thoughts Coaches on 3 kinds of swings? Oh by the way, If it matters, Beyond coaching for nearly 40 years with mostly High School and college ballplayers(I am a High School Coach), I run a successful Hitting practice on the side.
Coaches,
The last 2 posts listed as Coach Frank should have been listed with a different handle than “Coach Frank” as it was already being used by someone earlier in this posting. I apolologize to the 1st Coach Frank and will change my handle to “COACH FRANK2″.
Great discussion!
Great comments gentleman… I am an ex minor league player & currently a high school coach of 4 yrs.I think as coaches we can over compicate the simple art & beauty of hitting.
As we know it actually doesn’t matter how you stand or look when your at the plate.
You’re gonna look great on one pitch & the nextlook like crap. We need to worry about getting into a kids head & keeping him focused on the little things that make a kid a good hitter. Keeping his head still…. keeping his shoulders square & etc. What does matter is that you see the ball… rotate the hips & get the bat on the ball.
It doesn’t matter if it’s linear or rotational technique. It’s the result that counts!!! No matter what the style hitting, throwing, pitching are all a mechanic.
Don’t ever make a kid hit to your style whether that be rotational or linear. It’s about what works for the kid. Tweek him, give him your help & let him have at it.
We get too deep sometimes & loose our focus as coaches.
Good stuff Kenny….
Unfortunately, there are still a number of instructors and high school coaches in our area who teach linear hitting which creates confusion for players who may be getting personal lessons one way and the high school coach or the travel team coach is teaching the opposite. If nothing else is true, trying to learn both at the same time is confusing and frustrating to the players.
Great comments by both Coach T and mikel. In my area we have the problem of High Schools coaching one way and travel ball/paid instructors coaching another in hitting, pitching, and fielding. It is pretty bad. As a HS coach and a private hitting instructor, i am not sure what the solution is but I guess that would be another blog for another time.
I wholeheartedly agree with Coach T that it is very important to get into a kids head and keep him focused on the basics. And my personal philosophy for many years has been that each hitter is a unique sum of Athletic talent, personality, and skills with probably differing learning styles, experience levels, and at different stages of physical development. Which usually means I have to approach each one individually. From there, hopefully we can get the most out his talent whatever the techniquea or mechanics.
Great Posts guys!!!
What does everyone think about teaching 7-8 year old KIDS, the art of rotational hitting at this early age? I have been, basically, if a kid can hit the ball already, then I am coaching them to begin learning this system. I try to keep it very basic at first, stance, shoulders and moving back hip, once they get this, I keep adding to it. My question is, should I be trying to teach them this now, and if so, to what degree do I teach them? Does anyone have a guidline or program for the little ones?
Thanks, Pete (fromhowell@aol.com)
Coach Pete, I believe the earlier you start the easier it will be for them to develop the swing you ultimately want them to have. I agree with you that you should start with the very basics. I started this approach while coaching TBall with the bat resting on their shoulder (similar to Paul Molitor) to avoid tension in the grip and progressed to raising the bat off the shoulder once the bat could be held without tension. Nearly all of the kids could perform the basic rotational swing at ages 5-6. It may have been easier at this age in that I did not have to unteach other swing methods.