Today I've got an awesome new hitting drill for you. I do a lot of video studying to try and figure out the best ways to hit with power and consistency. While watching the videos, it's always fascinating to me how some of these guys can hit the ball the way they can. Recently, I was watching a video of Babe Ruth hitting and was shocked at how he stood with his feet together. It begged the question, "why did he stand this way?" I thought about it for an entire day, and here's what I came up with:
I think that his stride that he took got his hips moving towards the baseball and due to the laws of physics they were able to explode quicker, because they were already moving. (An object in motion tends to stay in motion) Think about this. Who are the guys that don't stride? Pujols, Mcgwire, Edmonds, maybe some others. What do those guys all have in common? They are all freakishly big and strong. The guys who are not as big and strong have to get their hips moving before they actually begin the rotational part of the baseball swing, because they aren't strong enough to start them up without a "spark" as we will call it.
Think about Ken Griffey Jr. He's one of the greatest home run hitters of all time, and the man was NOT strong. He squatted only 300 pounds, and could only bench about 200 pounds, but he could hit 500 foot home runs. Why? He was able to "spark" his swing by going from a narrower stance with a stride to let his fast twitch muscles and hips work with more efficiency. It's really an amazing thing.
So here's the drill: We are going to call it the "Sultan of Swat" drill. Stand with your feet together in your stance, then take a stride and take your swing. You can do it off the tee, in batting practice, or anywhere you want. It seems too simple, but you'll be shocked at how this gets your hips into your swing, and how much more power it will produce.
Moral of the story is, unless you are unbelievably strong and quick, you need to "spark" your swing with a stride, a leg kick, or a toe tap, or something of that sort. We need to get away from the no stride theory.
Tip of the Day: The reason many kids and players are attracted to the "no stride" plan is because, quite honestly, it's easy to time up the pitch when you're not doing something with movement. Get in the cage and get the timing down to have some sort of spark in your swing. It will not fail you.
P.S. This completely contradicts one of my earlier posts where I endorsed "no stride" as one of the load styles. I no longer think that it is effective. This may go against what some coaches think, but I think that the laws of physics speak for themselves.
See how Ruth stands with his feet together,and Griffey has his feet slightly wider than
shoulder width? They use a "spark"
(a stride for both of these hitters) to get their
hips moving into the swing. I think that the
results for both speak for themselves.
Until next time!
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