Special Tribute To Babe Ruth
- Click Pictures for my take
on his genius approach to
power and the movements that
created it also scroll down
to read more on the videos.
Video is
the most powerful
teaching tool available
because information is
presented for all
learning types.
Visual feedback for
visual learners, audio
voiceover for auditory
learners, text and
drawings for literal
learners and
descriptions of how
drills should feel for
tactical or feel
learners. If a
picture is worth a
thousand words, then one
second of video is worth
30,000 words.
Author – Perry
is the author of the
Downright Filthy
Pitching Series and also
the Hitting Is A Guess
DVD series.
Public
Speaker
– With the Downright
Filthy Pitching Series,
Perry has presented at
the ABCA Coach's
Convention - the
National Pitching
Association's Coach
Certifications for 4
years - Ron Wolforth
Coach's Bootcamp - many
European Clinics for the
International Sports
Group as well as many
testing and training
clinics nationwide.
Sport Science
– Perry recently
appeared as a Baseball
Scientist on the popular
series, Sport Science on
Fox Sports Network.
This is a great new
series that explores the
myths of sports through
science.
Time Training
Effective Velocity
Hitting Is A Guess
Time
Training is the study of timing
as it relates to the
hitter/pitcher
confrontation.
This is a brand new way
to look at the art of
hitting instruction.
Effective Velocity is the study of speed
and what effect location
has on actual reaction
time of the hitter.
The first real
scientific approach to
pitch sequencing with
major league data and
over 8,000 amateur at
bats to prove the
validity.
Hitting Is A Guess is the mechanical
study of the baseball
and softball swing.
By the use of objective
measurement, hitters can
test their swings to see
where they stand,
pinpoint the trouble
areas and make the
adjustments needed to
improve their
performance.
The
vLog will
focus on the newest
discoveries with each of
these unique studies.
Latest Vlog
Does swinging down on the ball create backspin?
&
Does backspin actually make the ball travel farther?
Swing Down To Produce Backspin
I got a great question last week regarding the idea of swinging down to get backspin on the ball. I love this question because to answer it, we have introduce the idea of what you "teach" rather than what you actually think is happening in the swing.
"My son's baseball coach teaches a downward hitting stroke that is supposed to lead to backspin, which he claims makes a baseball travel further. Is there any evidence that this is true? And isn't the downward stroke on a different plane than the pitch, making it harder to make contact?"
This is a tricky subject matter but a great question. Some things that coaches describe are what I call "Teaches", I borrowed that from Tom House. A Teach is what you say to a player to get them to feel something or make a certain movement you are looking for. It may not be a truth, just a way to over exaggerate a movement etc.... As opposed to a fact or what is actually happening in the swing. With regard to your question, I believe most coaches preach the idea that the player should swing down as a "Teach" because most players often swing too upward and thinking about swinging down may bring the desired swing path; so in other words, tricking the hitter into the right swing path. Now some coaches actually believe this concept of swinging downward = backspin -- and backspin = farther bombs. There is some science involved because we can measure parts of the equation.
The bat does go down at the beginning of the swing to get to the line of the pitch, then it levels off, hopefully about 7-10 degrees upward, and then it goes upward on the follow through (the finish is a matter of what you believe, I teach to keep the finish low to keep the bat in line longer so the bat goes down to the line and then stays on the line the rest of the way). So in essence, coaches are right in saying the bat goes down but not during the part of the swing that is meant to make contact, the middle portion. Hitters want that middle portion of the swing to be in the same line as the primary fastball they are facing most of the time. For example, with a fastball at the top of the strike zone at 92 MPH, the angle on the pitch is going to be downward about 2-6 degrees, depending on the pitcher's release point height. Middle of the strike zone, the angle downward will be more like 5-10 degrees downward (again depending) and this is the line you want to make your swing follow. I teach upward about 7-10 degrees but call it level, not level to the ground but in the same line as the pitch. Although as a teach, I have used a hundred different terms to get players to swing in the right line and only some of them were actual truths. Most of them were intended to trick them into the right movement.
Body Timing & Pitch Timing
There are two very distinct sets of timing when it comes to hitting. There is the body timing which is the inner timing of the body parts to make the most efficient swing possible. Then there is the pitch timing. The extreme difficulty in hitting a baseball is that you have to coordinate them both at the same time at up to 100 MPH. It is not an easy task to get both timings close to 100% on time. Most instructors focus their attention on the body timing, the idea of finding that perfect set of swing mechanics. Elite hitters have to master both sets of timing to hit for power and average. The video below describes this in a bit more detail.
The predominant thinking from the hitting world is that if you keep the bat in the zone longer, it will allow hitters to be off-timing and still hit the ball hard. I am one of these guys, just for the record. However, the amount of timing that a great swing path can make up for is limited. The video below shows two swings that are geared for a 92 MPH fastball. One the hitter is on time (relatively close) and the other is a swing and miss. Both pitches look the same for the first 1/3 of the flight, then one stays on the original line and the other moves off the line (mostly down), like a cut fastball. As you might guess, the hitter swings and misses at the cutter, but why? His swing line is virtually identical to the first swing and it is in line with the initial flight of the pitch, as we can see with the overlay of one swing onto the other. So what is the issue? Most hitting guys will tell us that as long as you are in line with the pitch, you can adjust to pitches that are off speed which is only partially true. Timing, it seems is a bit more important than we may have previously thought. The truth is that being in line with the pitch, as crucial as it is, is only going to buy the hitter 3-7 MPH. If the hitter does not recognize the difference in the pitch speed, he is doomed to swing and miss more, even when it seems he is on the pitch line. On the one hand, this is a great way to illustrate why the Downright Filthy Pitching concepts are so solid. On the other hand, it is a lesson to hitting instructors that there is far more to training than simply getting the mechanics down to produce a swing that is in line with the pitch. Even though that is mportant, very important even, but only one aspect of the art. The video features a training ball and not a baseball. Please watch the video below.
The EV Zone is a difficult thing to wrap your mind around at first because it is a very 3 dimensional concept that we are trying to show with 2 dimensional graphics. The hitter swings the bat in an arc. So when a pitch location moves over just 6" inches further inside, for example, the hitter has to hit the ball 18" inches further out front. Therefore, the pitch effectively gains speed due to the hitter losing the reaction time. If he is to maintain his most efficient mechanics, he has to get the bathead out in front sooner by however long it takes the ball to travel 18" inches. At 90 MPH, this is equivalent to just under 3 MPH faster. The picture below is illustrating extreme changes in possible contact points along the swing arc. The deepest contact point, where the bat is stopped, is about 44" inches, or almost 4 feet, from the actual contact point out front of home plate. The back contact point is likely to produce a foul ball, but is used just for the sake of showing this big reach differential for contact points along the swing arc. The video below will describe this in greater detail.
EV Pitch Angles
Every pitcher's delivery style; including posture, arm angle, postion on the pitching rubber and various other factors, help to determine their basic release point of a given pitch. For argument sake, let's assume the RH Pitcher we are using as an example has the same release point with both a cut fastball and his normal fastball. The release point, in turn, then helps to determine the angle of the pitch from the view of the hitter. In the case of the video below, we are using a RHPitcher and a RHBatter. The pitch angle is very important in determining how deceptive pitches can be from the perspective of having the flights be in the same plane. In other words, when the fastball middle up to up and inside establishes a flight line, if the cut fastball is on the same flight line for a certain distance, at least 20 feet, there is a tremendous amount of deception because the hitter sees the initial flight of both pitches as the same and the EV of each is vastly different. Since the hitter uses the first 20 feet of flight to establish most of the data he will use to determine if he will swing or not, this is a crucial element of deceiving the hitter.
One way pitch angle helps deception is described in the video below.
The Cut Fastball
The World has fallen in love with the "Cutter" or the cut fastball and for very good reason. From the EV perspective, it is one of the most effective ways to take speed off your fastball while maintaining your maximum deception. To "hide" pitches, they have to share the same tunnel for the first 20 feet out of the hand. The cutter movement allows you to start it in the same line as your elevated fastball and keep it in the strike zone. The elevated fastball is faster than it seems and the cutter is much slower than the eyes are reading (assuming a RHPitcher vs RHBatter).
Another reason the cutter has become popular is due to how fast you can master it. In just a few minutes of playing with the Cutter Dial described in the video, virtually any pitcher can develop a fastball that has less velocity with maximum deception. The first video will show Matt in a college game throwing an up/in fastball and a cutter. Below that is a video on how to understand creating the movement.
Penn State University hitters saw their exit speeds off the bat (tee, live, live reactionary and Game Exit Speeds) all go up dramatically last season as well as their offensive production. Will Hoover, hitting coach, implemented some very focused Time Training drills to help his players work toward making their swings as efficient as possible without making their focus all about mechanics. Mechanics are important but thinking about them can get in the way of building an efficient swing, explosive, fluid and free of thought. So how can you train mechanics without thinking about mechanics?
The Time Training methodology is to identify the swing movement that is inefficient and then spend extra time and focus on that area. So what's new right? Well, in the past, coaches tended to see an issue in the swing and then ask the player to think about that movement during BP and try to fix the inefficieny. This can work with certain players (especially in their BP swing but does not always translate into their game swing) but there are those that simply cannot make physical changes in the swing by simply trying to focus on the movement in BP.
The new methodology involves the idea of the hitter making the swing movement in an efficient manner to the point of forcing the body to feel the right movements. In many cases, there is no bat involved in the drill at all, but yet the player is feeling the same type of movement we know is most efficient. After training a few weeks with "Efficient Swing Movements", these movements just sort of, "showed up" in players' swings. It isn't magic, just simply that with the increased focused on correct movements, the movements get better. When they get better, the player finds the movement showing up in their swing.
Thanks to Will Hoover, Penn State Hitting Coach and Pete Hissey, future hitting star of the Red Sox for sending us a couple of the drills that Penn State used in 2011, the campaign described in the last issue of the eView Newsletter.
Keep in mind that the drill is not always pretty. Sometimes the swing has to suffer to work on the actual movement that needs the work. Mechanics have to take off certain parts that aren't broken to get to the part in need of repair or replacing.
Source: Sports Illustrated | Published: August 2011
By Lee Jenkins - Trevor Bauer Will Not Be Babied
Trevor Bauer EV Grid
The first round pick of the Arizona Diamondbacks and the former UCLA star pitcher has a little different twist on how to implement Effective Velocity into his game. After reading about the tunnel concept in the Downright Filthy Pitching Books, Trevor and his father, an engineer, created a grid to help Trevor fine tune his deceptive skills. The grid was designed to show the ball flight at a point 20 feet out of the hand, the critical first 1/3 of the flight of the pitch. The grid is fantastic for pinpointing both the x and y coordinates of the pitch in flight to measure the tunnel location of one pitch versus another. By videotaping different pitch types and noting the coordinates as they pass through the grid, Trevor could determine if his pitches would look the same out of the hand. So if the fastball middle up strike going through the grid was at the same x/y coordinate as a curveball in the dirt, the hitter would have a very difficult time determining the difference so he is more likely to be fooled into chasing a pitch out of the zone.
Different Deliveries Can Cause Different Pitch Angles
Different Pitch Angles Create Different Tunnels This post is highlighting two young pitchers and how their different deliveries cause them to have very different pitch angles. We filmed with both of these right handed pitchers starting from the very extreme 1st base side of the pitching rubber. Logic would mandate that with them starting from the same place, being about the same size and ability that their release points and pitch angles would be similar. What we found was a bit of a surprise.
Josh, has a delivery that is a bit like Fausto Carmona of the Indians. They both stride slightly left of straight ahead and then throw away from their body a bit. Carmona throws a heavy sinker that runs away from the lefty and into the righty. His delivery enhances that movement due to the severe angle that he can create because of his ‘fall away’ type delivery. His ball will appear to be coming from either 1:00 or even beyond at times, as in the clock picture below right. So in our video example, Josh is also releasing from somewhere around 1:00 while Will is more traditional at 10:00 or 11:00. You can see how this will dramatically change the angle of the delivery.
These two distinctly different delivery styles will create two distinctly different pitch angles when throwing a pitch to the same location.
Instant Replay In Baseball – Absolutely -(Article Only - No Video Link)
I cannot be alone in the notion that there must be a better way to handle the idea of umpires getting calls right. The human element is important and umpires have a very tough job, but the right call is at least, equally as important. There have been far too many at bats, games, series and even seasons tipped in a direction due strictly to a bad call and the negative swing in momentum that surely follows.
Everyone is talking about the ‘purity’ of the game and taking the human element out of the picture would ruin the game. I’m on board with that, to a certain degree. I’m in agreement that calls have to be made by people and sometimes they are going to be wrong. But what’s wrong with holding umpires a bit more accountable? Players are scrutinized every time they turn around in this game, as are coaches, scouts, announcers and owners are all held accountable for their actions. Can’t we keep the best of both worlds? I think we can keep the human element but in a more accountable way.
This is obviously a walk right? Not so fast, pitch number 2 was a slider that the umpire called a strike. This was followed with fastballs up and in, pitches 3 and 4, both called balls. Now it’s three balls and a strike and pitch 5 is another fastball out of the zone, but called a strike.
Now granted these are close calls but how do you feel as a coach, having trained your players to take pitches out of the zone only to have them perform perfectly just to get cheated out of a well earned base on balls? This flips the momentum from the offense getting a lead-off walk to an out and a loss of momentum. Now this at bat ended in a swinging strikeout but it is very difficult to take pitch 6 after the other strike calls on balls so clearly out of the zone. Obviously, these are examples of smaller, less significant calls that are not usually a game changer, but then again, aren’t they all potential game changers. If you are that hitter who just went 1 for 4 instead of 1 for 3 with a walk (.250 vs .333 BA and not to mention the famous on base percentage being tilted the wrong way), you may look at it as a game changer and sometimes a career changer. It is very difficult to get cheated and have to sit back and do nothing about it. What’s pure about that?
Heavy Bat Training is one of the important elements to building an efficient swing. Training with a heavy bat helps build strength - explosiveness - body control - enhances body timing greatly - helps players extend through impact and is one way to help players maintain their bat lag angle. There are a couple of negative factors with heavy bat training that should be mentioned. The first is that swinging a heavy bat causes you to swing slower if you trained only with a heavy bat. Hitters also tend to "Cast" the heavy bat or release the bat lag angle early but there is a very good by-product of that. The wrists in trying to maintain a good angle with a heavier bat, will work harder to keep the angle. Then when the hitter swings their regular bat, the lag angle is now easier to control.
This new product, Jack It - Bat Weights for the middle of the bat - help reduce the casting as well as allow you to use your game bat to train with the heavier benefits.
The overload or heavy bat training should be countered with underload training to help train the hitting muscles to go faster to offset the slower overload training. Then the regular bat weight should finish off the workout.
(8 Mins 29 secs long)
Pressure Pitch Change Up - 2-20-11
Last week we talked about the Pressure Pitch using the cut fastball, this week we're looking at the Change Up as a Pressure Pitch. The definition of a Pressure Pitch is that it goes through the tunnel that Strike Pitches go through but they end up in the Pressure Zone.
Offensive production goes down dramatically when you get hitters to swing at pitches out of the strike zone, so this Pressure Zone is crucial if you wish to make the leap to 'Filthy'.
The video shows Matt, our minor league pitcher throwing a sinking fastball that stays up a bit and inside to a RHBatter and a Change Up moving in also to a RHBatter but coming from the same basic tunnel.
Swing Plane Drill - 2-11-11
"Bar" Hug Drill - This is a great drill for teaching players to be more aware of their swingline by becoming aware of their shoulder line. The bat plane follows the plane of the body lines, the shoulder line and the hip line are the body lines. Controlling the shoulder line is, in essence, controlling the swing line. The Bar Hug Drill is a simple way to work on mechanics of the shoulder line without swinging a bat.
The TorsoBurner is the more dynamic version of this drill that we use to help players become aware of their swing plane and build explosiveness at the same time. This is one of the drills from the Time Training Swing Efficiency program.
Pressure Pitches - Deception Tools - 2-10-11
MLB hitters are 50-80% less productive when they swing at pitches in the Pressure Zone. This begs the question, "how do you get them to swing at pitches outside the strike zone?" This requires some baiting for certain. First, you have to prove that you will throw strikes before hitters will bite on pitches outside the zone. Even then, pitches have to look like strikes to get hitters chasing. Here is a minor league pitcher that understands the idea of deception. Matt is working on throwing a cutter for a strike and one that isn't but could be mistaken for a twin brother. This video highlights a very good example of a Pressure Pitch cut fastball. At the point of this picture, about 1/3 of the way to the plate, there is very little difference in the tunnel of both cutters. One will end up a strike, the other a Pressure Pitch.
Matt - Minor League Pitcher (Not Shown)
Cole (Catcher)
February 9,
2009 International Power
Showcase Tropicana Field
Power
Quiz --Results–
Thanks to all of you for
participating in the
quiz it could be a bit
surprising to some of
you to see the final
results. Winners
to be listed Tuesday.
Quiz #
1 Results -- B - A - C
Dante Bichette -- 101
MPH Player B (2011 Grad)
Nelfi
Zapata -- 96 MPH Player
A
Cody
Geyer -- 95 MPH Player C
Quiz #
2 Results -- B - A - C
Vincent Giron -- 101 MPH
Player B
Jake
Schrader -- 96 MPH
Player A
Cole
Frenzel -- 95 MPH Player
C
Quiz #
3 Results -- B - A - C
Stetson Allie -- 101 MPH
Player B (2010 Grad)
Bryce
Harper -- 96 MPH (Wood
Bat 2011 Grad) Player A
Austen
Smith -- 95 MPH (Wood
Bat 2010 Grad)
Quiz #
4 Results -- B - A - C
Matisse VerDuyn -- 101
MPH Player B
Cole
Wassner -- 96 MPH Player
A
Josh
Sheffert -- 95 MPH
Player C
February 6,
2009 International Power
Showcase Tropicana Field
Power
Quiz --
Can you identify the
movements that create
the most power?–
Click on the pictures on
the right to play each
power quiz and send us
your picks of the
players with the highest
exit velocities off the
tee. The first one
to identify the players
of each quiz will win a
free Web Book of your
choice. You have
until February 10th to
submit your answers.
The first
one to identify the exit
velocity highest to
lowest of all 12 players
will win a book or DVD
of their choice.
After the quizzes are
answered, we will look
into the most powerful
swings and identify the
movements responsible
for the top exit speeds.
The top
picture has a brief
description of what to
look for in the swing to
help you pick the
highest exit speeds.
December 11,
2008
USC High School Prospect Camp
Video Analysis Now Available For
December 27-29th
USC --
Video Analysis With Bat
Speeds & Exit Speeds–
Players registered for
the USC High School
Prospect Camp December
27-29th at USC's Dedeaux
Field can now
sign up for
video analysis to see
how their power and
contact consistency
numbers measure up.
With a detailed analysis
players will see their
swing strengths and
weaknesses and shown the
key swing movements that
can make their output
improve.
December 20,
2008 Boys
& Girls Clubs Of Antelope Valley
&
The Lancaster Jethawks Are
Hosting The 1st Annual
Boys
& Girls Club Baseball
Fair & HR Derby
Instructional Clinics -
Skills Contests - Free
Video Highlight
(Must
Pre-Register)
-
Vendors
Home Run Derby details.
November 6,
2008
Junior College Experiment
Results
Pierce Junior College
- Woodland Hills, CA
– I recently conducted a
"Before & After" testing
and training program
with Pierce Junior
College, special thanks
to Joe Arnold and the
coaching staff and
players. We tested
their swings the first
day of fall for bat
speed, ball exit speed
both live and off the
tee as well as a myriad
of tests to get a
starting point for each
player. I did a
video analysis of each
player's swing and
placed it in their video
locker along with the
drills that we would
implement in the station
work. We then put
them through our 7
Station Training Program
to work on the
functional skills that
were identified in the
analysis that were at
less than maximum
efficiency.
"7
Stations"
– There were two
very unique stations
that are part of this
program that made a
significant impact.
The first was a
functional strength
station using the
BatSpeedChain and
TorsoBurner to help
players work on the
correct swing specific
movements at game speeds
and get a variable
resistance workout at
the same time.
This type of training
has seen huge speed
gains in tennis serve
speeds, as much as 30%.
Check below for some of
the results we saw in
hitting a baseball.
The
second new station was
the Small Balls and the
NOS Timing Trainer.
This station used the
NOS Timing Trainer to
work on bat lag, one of
the key functional
skills involved in
creating speed.
The XLR8 timing balls
and the NOS together
also increased players
"Sweet Spot
Awareness" by having
hitters working to hit a
golf ball sized foam
ball with a golf ball on
the end of the NOS.
"Test Results"
– Tee Test
Results --The
beginning cumulative
average bat speed of the
team was 85 MPH with an
exit velocity off the
tee of 87.4 MPH. After
the workouts and the
analysis, the average
bat speed increased to
89.7 MPH with the
average ball exit speed
jumping up to 91.9 MPH
for an average increase
of 105% for both bat
speed and ball exit
speed off the tee.
Live Test Results --
The beginning Top Live
Exit Speed was 91.83 MPH
(average of all hitters’
Top Speeds) and an
Average Live Exit Speed
of 71.76 MPH (cumulative
average of live exit
speeds). After the
detailed video analysis
and three weeks of
workouts, the average
Top Live Exit Speed went
to 94.7 MPH and the
Average Live Exit Speed
went to 86.9 MPH. The
Top Speed increased 103%
overall with some
players increasing exit
velocity as high as
112%, while the Average
Speed increased an
amazing 121% across the
board with some totals
increasing as high as
140-155%.
"100 MPH Club"
–
We started with two guys
with live exit velocity
of 100 MPH. After
the three week training
session however, the two
existing members of the
100 MPH Club went to 103
MPH and 104 MPH and
there were seven new
members added to this
exclusive class with
some players reaching
Top Speed increases as
high as 12%.
Unlike pitching velocity
which takes time to
develop, hitters can
experience these types
of increases virtually
overnight.
"Fall Game
Statistics"
– Making speeds go
up off the tee is great
and even in BP with live
pitching but the real
proof of whether
something works is in
game statistics.
Check out this Extra
Base Hit Study.
Keep in mind this is not
meant to directly
compare professional
season statistics or
Division I collegiate
seasons with a fall
Junior College season,
this merely indicates
that Pierce is on the
right track implementing
these swing concepts
into game at bats.
EBH =
Extra Base Hits (2B - 3B
- HRs)
EBHA = EBH/Hits
EBHAN = EBH/At Bats
The
Pierce team EBH totals
are much improved even
though their team
batting average is down
a bit when you compare
to last season’s total
but in the fall there
are players getting at
bats that will not
likely see a lot of
playing time in the
regular season. So we
also took a look at
their top 9 fall
performers to get a
better idea as to what
the up coming season
stats might look like.
What we see is very
impressive, again it’s
just the fall but
nonetheless, a very
impressive sign that
things are heading in
the direction planned;
more EBHs without
sacrificing batting
average. In fact, the
batting average of the
top 9 hitters is well
above the JC average,
18% higher.
The Pierce 9 had an
EBHAB of .167 which
means 17% of their total
at bats resulted in
Extra Base Hits and a
.441 EBHA which means
that 44% of their hits
were Extra Base Hits.
This is double that of
many Division I programs
that were hovering
around .085 EBHAB.
October 21,
2008
Babe Ruth Video Analysis
Special Babe Ruth Video
Analysis
– A very special
thanks going out to the
granddaughter of Babe
Ruth, Linda Ruth Tosetti
who has given permission
to post some great
vintage footage on the
vLog to help people
understand the
innovative genius of her
grandfather. I
will use the old footage
and some new video
technology to help point
out some of the
techniques he used to
generate one of the
greatest swings in
baseball history.
Please take the time to
visit her site in her
efforts to retire the
Babe's number at:
www.retirebabesnumber.com
.
"Babe
Ruth's 7 Perfect Flaws"
– If Babe Ruth played in
today's game, hitting
instructors would most
likely point out many
issues in his swing that
they felt would prohibit
power and consistent
contact. Their likely
criticisms, too much
head movement, too long
of a stride, a hitch in
the swing and a few more
that had he listened,
would have cut down both
his power and .342
lifetime batting
average.
"Babe Ruth
Stride Length"
– Babe Ruth was a
tremendous power hitter
that took advantage of
all of the forces at his
disposal to create
enough power to hit home
runs in an era when that
just wasn't done very
often. One of the main
forces used is weight
shift. He had possibly
the most pronounced
weight shift of all
time. This clip shows
his stride length and
some description as to
why it was a very good
thing.
"Babe Ruth
Stride Length"
– Weight shift is one of
the major forces at work
in the swing and Babe
Ruth took this to new
heights. This video will
show a sample of one of
the most pronounced
weight shifts of all
time.
"Anatomy Of A
Babe Ruth Home Run"
– This analysis
uses video measurements
to help explain some of
the innovative
techniques that Babe
Ruth used to generate so
much power.
Understanding the
science of optimal ball
flight will help us see
how Babe's swing
produced so many home
runs.
"Babe Ruth
Rotational vs Linear
Mechanics"
– Babe Ruth hit
invented home run
hitting as we know it.
In an era when there was
no one doing that, he
hit more home runs than
entire team totals.
To do this, he optimized
the use of forces and
mechanical movements.
This clip shows him
working on a batting
practice swing that
exaggerates both
rotational and linear
swing mechanics.
"Babe Ruth Had A
Hitch In His Swing?"
– Yes, by all
definitions, Babe Ruth
had a big hitch.
This clip shows why this
is a very good thing.
Using a 54 oz. bat in a
"Dead Ball" era forced
him to have to get
inventive. The
"Hitch" was his way of
creating power,
enhancing his body
timing as well as his
timing of the pitch.
"The Forces At
Work In Babe Ruth's
Swing"
– Babe Ruth had
serious "Pop" and this
analysis helps uncover
some of the mechanical
forces at work.
September
25,
2008 RHPitcher
vs RHBatter Change Up Usage
RHP vs
RHB
– Throwing change
up to like handed
batters has long been
thought of as Taboo.
This has set back
pitching for years
because it limits the
pitcher's ability to
throw "Soft Inside" as
well as "Hard Inside".
Visual Effects – The
speed difference of the
fastball inside and
change up inside is a
major factor in the
success of the pitcher
to keep hitters off
balance but the often
overlooked element of
this attack is the
visual deception that is
created. Depending
on the movement of each
pitch of course, the
change up if located
inside, tends to share
the same line of flight
as the fastball inside
for the first 1/3 of the
way to the plate.
This makes it very
difficult to identify
and react to. Even
when change up is "Hung"
inside, hitters at the
Major League level do
not have a great average
against this pitch.
Why? In 2004,
hitters hit .050 on this
pitch due to the fact it
didn't happen very often
for one and also due to
the fact that the "Hung"
change up was hit hard
foul. When in
play, it is rarely hit
hard. When you
look at all the factors,
the change up inside to
like handed batters is a
very "Filthy" habit that
hitters will not react
well to.
September
12,
2008
vPlanning - Video Lesson Plans
vPlanning
– Video is the one
tool that allows
students of all learning
types get the
information delivered in
a way that suits their
learning style.
For this reason, the
vPlan is a great way to
show students in advance
how and what you want
them to do in your
practice, lesson or
class.
"Frontloading"
– This is a term
from the education world
that refers to giving
students key terms,
concepts, definitions
and directions for some
type of curriculum in
advance. This
gives students a head
start on learning.
This vLog shows an
example of a day's
practice schedule done
in this format.
The drills are described
as to why, where, how
many reps and the key
focus points of each
drill. This is all
done on non-practice
time so practice time is
used more efficiently.
For you private
instructors, this saves
valuable time in short
lessons as well.
August 12,
2008
Visual Focus
Visual Focus
– To be a great hitter,
you must see the ball,
identify the pitch
traits and react within
a finite time frame.
This requires great
vision or does it?
Sport Science
– On the peripheral
vision piece on a recent
Sport Science episode,
they talked about what
part of the eye is used
for tracking movement
(the outside portion)
and which focuses on
color and details (the
inside portion).
When a hitter focuses
too finely, the portion
of the eye that detects
motion and speed is not
engaged as needed.
This does not allow the
hitter to "drink in"
the pitch
information correctly to
help their timing
judgment. This
video describes the
contrast between
"camera mode or still
shot mode" and
"video mode".
July, 2008
Bat Lag
Bat
Lag
– Sawyer is a long time
student and at times has
shown a nearly flawless
swing. In fact, I
would say that there is
one significant flaw
that has hurt his exit
speeds; casting.
Casting is simply
releasing the elastic
energy stored in the
wrists, too soon.
This takes the hands out
of "hammer mode"
and makes them more
passive at contact.
Solution
– Bat lag is a tough
skill to master because
it is hard to describe
and harder to think
about during the swing.
The answer in this case
is a device with a few
drills that actually
make the casting worse
momentarily. Hold
on, I know that sounds
crazy, but muscles tend
to oppose the force used
against them. A
physical therapist when
working with a person
that has lost use of a
muscle and is in re-hab,
will push against the
muscle to get it to push
back. This
opposing tendency is
alive and well with the
use of a new product on
the market. The
NOS Timing Training
Device is end loaded and
tends to make the hitter
cast the bat head early.
The wrists however, when
this happens begin to
fight back and the
effect is much the same
as the physical
therapist sees.
When the hitter gets a
bat in hand, the casting
tendency is lessened.
This is exactly what
happened to Sawyer.
July, 2006
Bat Speed Makeover
Before
– Danny,
a student from Austria,
tested in Atlanta in
2006 with a ball exit
speed of 71 MPH.
The night before the
official testing, Danny
did a pre-test and had
exit speed of 65 MPH.
He worked with Rob
Keller, a Time Training
instructor for a few
minutes and his exit
speed on test day was at
71 MPH, an increase of 6
MPH overnight. He
was not using the body's
rubber bands to get his
maximum elastic energy
release at max but was
slightly better.
After
–We did some very
uncomfortable drills to
help him stretch some
rubber bands and to firm
up at impact.
Although he felt stiff
and rigid, there was a
significant increase in
the first day. His
exit speed was at 79 MPH
before we left Atlanta.
In the following couple
of weeks, his exit speed
was as high as 86 MPH.
About a 21 MPH increase
in a very short period
of 3 weeks.
November 5, 2008 Babe Ruth
Stride Length
November 5, 2008
Babe Ruth 7
Perfect Flaws
November 5, 2008
Babe Ruth Weight Shift
October 21, 2008
Babe Ruth Swing Analysis
Anatomy Of A Babe
Ruth HR
Forces At Work In
Babe Ruth's Swing
Rotational vs
Linear Mechanics Babe Ruth Style
Did Babe Ruth Have
A
"Hitch" In His Swing?
Click For Sample Analysis
100 MPH Club
November 6, 2008
Pierce JC Hitting Experiment
Swing Adjustments
Carlos Gonzalez 102 MPH
Cole McCune 101 MPH
DJ Thomas 101 MPH
James Wharton 103 MPH
Jason Barmasse 101 MPH
Josh Reece 104 MPH
Nick Devian 100 MPH
Sean Spear 104 MPH
Sean Spear 100 MPH
Will Myrick 100 MPH
The Power Showcase
International
High School
HR Derby
Power Quiz
