Mistake #1: Improper Use of the Lower Half

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Ralph Warner
6 years ago
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1 Hitters Cheat Sheets By Miles Noland Mistake #1: Improper Use of the Lower Half Think about the size of the quads and hamstring muscles. Those muscles are very large compared to the bicep muscle. Many hitters stand straight up and do not utilize the powerful muscles in their legs, which can provide a great deal of bat speed. Many hitters only use their upper half and do not get the bat speed they could potentially have. Your swing is the same as a house. The foundation must be solid for you to have a solid house, and same goes for having a great swing. If your foundation is wrong, you will have a poor swing. I have coached 34 players who have been drafted or signed in professional baseball, and from this I learned that all the great hitters have some traits in common. One of the most important things they have in common is they utilize their back leg correctly. They drive their back knee to the pitcher, and get their back heel to the sky. This is very important because this gets the energy flow of the entire body flowing directly at the pitcher (where the ball is coming from). See the picture of Joey Votto below to see a proper back heel to sky (energy in a straight line)

This allows the hitter s barrel of the bat to stay flat through the zone for a long time, which gives him a larger margin for error (better chance to the hit the ball on the barrel).

This simple rotational movement (squash the bug) causes the bat to not stay in the zone very long and contributes to what many people call pulling out early.

2 This allows the hitter s barrel of the bat to stay flat through the zone for a long time, which gives him a larger margin for error (better chance to the hit the ball on the barrel). Many youth hitters simply rotate their back (rotationally, in a circle), and actually lose ground toward the pitcher in their swing. This simple rotational movement (squash the bug) causes the bat to not stay in the zone very long and contributes to what many people call pulling out early. The pulling out early is simply a result of the body starting too early in rotational movement. This rotational movement is all started by the movement of the back foot. Look below to see a rotational back foot (poor), instead of a back heel to the sky (good).

3 The movement of the back foot is very important to a quality swing, and that is where I start working with my hitters. I first start by getting hitters to bend their knees more. Bending the knees allows the large leg muscles to be used to provide more bat speed and pop in the swing. Bending the knees also allows the bat path to become much flatter, which helps the chances of hitting the ball on the barrel. Many hitters have a steep swing, or chop down at the ball. Instead of changing the entire swing to have a flatter bat plane, hitters should just increase the flex in the knees, and it will flatten their swing out. Mistake #2: Improper Training Methods or a Lack of Training Many players only practice baseball, and do not physically train their body to be successful in the sport. I have met many big league players, and they are much bigger than they look on TV. All of the players, tall or short, are muscular and physically well-built. The key to ascending levels, even at the little league level, is throwing harder, running faster, or swinging faster than others. You can practice all you want, but if you are not athletic and do not possess some baseball tools, you will not move up the ladder. Set aside time to work on strengthening the overall body. At ages 13 and younger, simple body weight squats, planks, pushups, and band rows done a couple times a week can do wonders for an athlete s strength and playing ability.

4 If older than 13, a baseball strength and conditioning program done regularly can help overall ability and bat speed tremendously. I highly recommend getting a qualified strength and conditioning professional (try to find a non-football guy) to design you a program. (If you need help contact me at miles.athletefit@gmail.com). Mistake #3: Not using Overload/Underload bat speed training: It is highly beneficial, but you must do it correctly to have the maximum benefit. Many hitters use a donut to increase bat speed while on deck, but they are actually slowing their bat down (placebo effect). For overload/underload to be beneficial the overload and underload must be no more than 20% of the overall bat weight. For example, if you swing a 20oz bat, the overload bat would be 24oz, and the underload would be 16oz. If you need 1 bat that will take care of all the correct weights, check out

5 For a practice session take 1 set of 6 with your regular bat, 2 sets of 6 with the overload, 2 sets of 6 with the underload, and 1 set of 6 with the regular bat. Make sure each swing is as hard as you can. Rest at least 1 minute in between sets. This program has shown to increase bat speed at an absurd rate! A 1 mph increase in bat speed results in the ball traveling 5-6 feet farther. That s a huge deal!! Think about if you increase your bat speed 7mph??? extra in distance! Mistake #4: Poor routine Routines are everything in baseball. Establishing a consistent routine will help you as a hitter become more confident and consistent. Routines take work, but the results are worth the effort. a.) Visualization- Very few youth players do this, but this can make a huge difference in performance. Visualization can be done at home, in the car, in class (shhh, don t tell anyone), or at the field. Take 5-10 minutes to relax, and remind yourself of your best performance ever at the plate. Remember yourself, your movements, how you felt, and how easy the game seemed. Now place yourself in the position you will be in at the upcoming game. See yourself moving the same way, and executing each task successfully. There was once a guy that was in jail for a few years. Before he went into jail he consistently shot in the mid 90 s for 18 holes of golf. After 2 years of

6 visualizing himself shooting great golf shots for a few hours each, he consistently shot in the mid 70 s! Without actually playing golf for many years!! b.) Breathing- Long, slow, deep breaths help give oxygen to the working muscles. Oxygen relieves tension and stress, and allows the players to function at their highest capacity. Strive for 10 seconds on the exhale, and 5 seconds on the inhale. Do this anytime to help yourself focus on the task at hand. c.) Pregame preparation- Study the pitcher throwing in warm-ups. Notice the release point, how hard he is throwing, and movement on the pitches. Go into your load and stride, and try to time up his pitches. In the on-deck circle hitters should be timing up his pitches again, noticing the umpire s strike zone, and visualizing himself performing successfully. d.) Get your pitch every time- This might be the most important part of hitting. So many hitters get hung up on making contact as soon as possible to avoid strikeouts. The reason many hitters show poor mechanics while at the plate is because they swung at a bad pitch. If you as a hitter go outside your zone, your mechanics will look poor. I would much rather a hitter have an 0-1 count than swing at a pitch they can t handle and get out. If the hitter swings early and gets out he learns nothing about the pitcher s velocity, movement, and or type of pitches he

7 throws. The hitter doesn t make the pitcher work, and he learns nothing about the umpire s strike zone. The teams that have the best on-base percentage every year are the teams that make the postseason. Teams have a great on-base percentage by refusing to swing at pitcher pitches early in the count, and work the count to their advantage. Then the hitters either get a great pitch to hit, or they walk. Use the above techniques to be the best hitter you can be. I see many hitters get overwhelmed with information, and then do nothing. The best plan is useless without action. Take action on 1 (ONLY ONE) of the above items to start you on the journey to being a great hitter with impressive bat speed. Once you are successfully improving one of the above 4 aspects, then move on to the next, and keep going until you have implemented all 4 tips. Be the best, Coach Miles Noland P.S. Click here to find out how to dramatically change your hitting career by changing how you take batting practice. 99% of youth coaches go about BP all wrong, and I show you how to change your preparation to have you begin hitting lasers all over the field during the game.

8 P.S.S. I will be sending you more s with informative blog posts about how to become a great hitter. Make sure you open the s, devour the information, and I guarantee you will become a better hitter.

Moorhead Baseball Routines/Hitting Drills

Moorhead Baseball Routines/Hitting Drills Philosophy How we train: Teach everyday with the goal of our players becoming their own coach. Get them to feel what s going on. Consistent mix of instruction