Youth Baseball Coaching - 8 Elements of a Super Baseball Swing

Youth Baseball Coaching - 8 Elements of a Super Baseball Swing
By Nick Dixon

The perfect baseball swing is a thing of beauty. There are few movements and actions in sports that are practice more often than the baseball swing. Players take thousands and thousands of practice swing during a season. The key to game swing quality is practice swing quality. There are certain basic rules that every batter should remember when taking a swing in practice and games.

Those rules are:


Make your stance wide to keep a short stride. A shorter stride is desirable because it allows the batter to execute the swing with little or no striding action. This allows the batter to keep the weight and hands back longer thus eliminating the possibility of being fooled on off-speed pitches.
Keep your hands close and stay inside the ball. The batter must learn to execute a swing that keeps the hands, wrist, and bat inside the ball.
Keep the head in and the front shoulder down. This body position will prevent the batter from pulling of the ball or popping up.
Move the lead foot...keep the back foot still. The lead leg should be planted and kept stiff. The back leg and hip will turn and rotate during the swing. The proper swing action is a "turning of the hips" and not a lunging action toward the ball.
Pivot of the back leg. The back toe should finish "on the toe-shoe laces to the pitcher". The turning in of the back toe and knee serves to free the hips allowing a smooth powerful swing with the hips generating power.
See the ball go flat. The concept is that the batter should see the bat distort one side of the ball upon impact. The barrel of the bat will "flatten" one of the ball when the ball is hit. The batter should keep the eyes and head on the ball so well that he can see the ball go flat.
Get extension through the ball. The batter should drive the hands through the ball using a quick wrist action to get maximum bat speed generation. The path of the bat should be similar to the path of a "landing plane". The path should be downward and through the ball to maintain bat to ball contact for as long as possible.
Finish long and smooth. The hands, wrist and arms should be driven through the ball in a long smooth path. The finishing position of the hands and bat should be one that has allowed the bat to go long through a long arch. A quick or abrupt stopping of the swing will alter the path and timing of the bat.

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Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Nick_Dixon

Add Power to Your Baseball Swing

By Jim_Bain

Once a player learns the basics of hitting a baseball and becomes more and more confident of his/her abilities to make contact, they seem to invariably want to start hitting home runs. A wise coach will immediately discourage this burning desire to become the next Babe Ruth, as nothing but a development of bad mechanics can result.

However, the ability to increase the power of your basic, fluid batting swing is quite desirable and achievable. Let's exam a drill which will increase the power of your swing quickly and safely.

One must consider baseball hitting in terms similar to a martial arts student, a boxer, football kicker or any other athlete who wants to increase his power. You're taught to power through your target. To envision the follow through of your fist, foot or bat, powering through the target, in this case, the baseball.

This simple, yet effective drill, is designed to increase your hitting power by actually hitting a heavy object and swinging the bat through it. Your power will increase as you progress, but perhaps more long term importance is you will train the hitting muscles and visually see (therefore your mind comprehends and believes) the success.

You'll need a partially deflated soccer ball or basketball, a hitting tee, a plumbers' plunger and a bat to execute the drill. Pay special attention to the ball as if there is too much air in it, the ball will explode off the tee offering little resistance. If there's not enough air it will simply collapse upon impact with the bat.

Slide the plumbers' plunger into the hitting tee with the plunger end up to hold the basket ball / soccer ball. Set the deflated ball into the cup of the plunger.

Using your natural batting stance and swing, hit the deflated ball off the tee. The first few strikes will seem awkward and there will be a large hesitation in your follow through swing, but that's Ok... keep swinging. The intended goal is to hit the ball off the tee without any hesitation in your swing as the bat makes contact with the ball.

As you eliminate this hesitation action your power will increase and the ball will travel farther. Additionally, you will be able to see results, positive or negative, rather quickly and you can see whether adjusting hip rotation or your strength training program is improving your power swing.

Jim Bain Has played and coached baseball for 50 years. He shares everything he knows as well as the insights and skills of the many coaches and players he used to compete against.

http://www.Learn-Youth-Baseball-Coaching.com
Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Jim_Bain

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A Few Little League Baseball Drills to Teach Swing Mechanics

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A Few Little League Baseball Drills to Teach Swing Mechanics
By Joseph Harrison Jr

Batting a baseball is no easy task. Often it is especially frustrating and discouraging for a child. A successful swing requires control and sound technique. This article will cover basics of hitting and introduce some very simple and effective little league baseball drills, aimed at improving mechanics and technique.

First of all and most importantly your child should watch the ball all the way to the bat. Meaning when they hit the ball they should actually see the ball hit the bat.

There are several simple little league baseball drills you can do to improve "picking up", or seeing the ball.

Perhaps the most common is to stand, chin on front shoulder. As the swing is completed the chin will rest finally on the other shoulder. A batting tee can be used to develop this skill. Soft toss is equally as effective and can offer a change of pace. Both of this little league baseball drills are very effective at improving eye hand coordination and increasing bat speed.

To be a successful hitter balance is a must. Most people feel comfortable with feet shoulder width apart, although this is the norm there are a wide range of stances out there so go with what feels comfortable and more importantly with what works. However they stand be sure they are firm footed and well balanced.

A fluid swing is the result of several parts of the upper and lower muscle groups working together. Bat speed is created by the hands and wrists and is as important, if not more, than lower body muscle groups in hitting for power. A short, quick swing will generate more power than a long over extending of the arms. A shorter swing speeds your bat up, generating more power.

The hands are also extremely important in hitting. Hands should be held at chest level with the bat in front. This is a generalization, many prefer to hold their hands high and others low but chest level is the best point from which to begin a swing for most.

Avoid dropping the hands before swinging. This cuts the time a batter has to react to a pitch. The soft toss drill is one of several little league baseball drills that will develop wrists and hands. A tennis ball can be used to promote hand strength. Stronger hands mean more bat speed can be generated.

The lower body is also an important part of hitting. Many players over stride when swinging, creating an awkward swing. Have your child lift the front foot off the ground and simply place it back. This helps in keeping their weight back, creating more power in the swing.

Proper hip usage is crucial to a good fluid swing. Squashing the bug is one of several little league baseball drills to teach proper hip usage. Your child can practice swinging by placing the left hand out in front of the body over an imaginary strike zone. Then have them swing through with the right and make contact with the left in the center of the zone, keeping in mind to pay attention to form and technique. The drill is used to teach correct balance. The batter will sharply turn the right, or back, ankle as if to squash a bug with the toe as the hand swings through the zone.

The key aspects of hitting are balance, seeing the ball and precise timing of the body's lower and upper muscle groups. Hitting is very difficult by any measure. Improvement will come through good habits and practice.

I am Joseph Harrison, a baseball coach since 20 years ago. I love baseball since I am young, especially the feeling when you know you will absolutely crush the ball. Training your kid to gain interest in baseball will benefit him from both mentally and physically. In with he will gain team spirit, learn how to cope with teammates, and at the same time train up his physical, and concentration (to have good eye and hand coordination and the ability to use both at once). Go through my article and you will know all the benefits of baseball.

Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Joseph_Harrison_Jr

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One Drill That Guarantees the Correct Baseball Swing

One Drill That Guarantees the Correct Baseball Swing
By Jack Perconte

There are very few coaches of young baseball players who can look at a baseball swing and know it is a good fundamental swing. Even many high school coaches are not experienced enough to do this. There are some fine technical ingredients that are hard to notice by an untrained eye. The good news is that anyone can help a player with their swing with one drill.

One common saying that I tell hitters is, "It takes perfect fundamentals to hit an outside pitch solidly to the opposite field." For example, a right handed batter would be able to solidly hit a pitch on the outer half of the plate into right field. Hitters' hands and bat barrel position, as well as their timing must be perfect to continually drive this ball the other way. Many hitters hit pitches to the opposite field because of swinging late or because of incorrect fundamentals. However, in order to consistently hit a pitch "the other way" on a ball that is on the outside half of the plate, it takes a perfect fundamental swing. This is very important because the odds of hitting the outer half pitch solidly when it is pulled are not good. Pulling a ball is hitting a ball to the same side of the field as the side a hitter stands in the batter's box. Believe it or not, a ball that is fouled off to the opposite side of the field or straight back is often a better sign of a good fundamental swing than when this pitch is put in play to the pull side of the field. A foul ball is a positive on a tough pitch.

Coaches can get an indication of a good fundamental swing by noticing which direction players hit balls depending on the location of pitches. Players should work on the correct baseball swing by working on driving outside pitches to the opposite field with the following drill.

Drill

Very simply, set a batting tee on the outer half of home plate making sure the batter stands in their normal position at the plate, as in a game. Have hitters work on hitting line drives the opposite way until they can do it repeatedly and until it becomes very natural. A continuation of this drill would be to do the same thing with balls flipped by a coach to this part of the plate and following that with batting practice on outer half pitches.

As mentioned, it takes great fundamentals to consistently do this on this pitch. Hitters will find that as they become more consistent with this pitch, their swing will be correct on all pitch locations.

This drill is also another way of analyzing a player's swing to see if it is a good fundamental swing, especially for people who don't have a trained hitting instructors "eye." Players, who cannot consistently drive this pitch to the opposite field (8 or 9 out of 10 times), need improved baseball swing fundamentals. Additionally, because of the use of aluminum bats and their fear of hitting batters, pitchers throw more pitches "away" from hitters so becoming better at hitting outside pitches can only help hitters' batting averages.

Former major league baseball player, Jack Perconte gives baseball hitting tips and batting practice advice for ballplayers of all ages. His baseball hitting lessons advice can be found at http://www.baseballhittinglessons.com/baseball
Jack is the author of two books, The Making of a Hitter and Raising an Athlete - his parenting blog can be found at http://positiveparentinginsports.com

Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Jack_Perconte

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