You always hear coaches say "Remember to load," or "Dont forget the load" or somthing along those lines. Well here is my question. What is the load? Is it when the hands start backwards is it when the foot hits the ground is it when the pitcher starts the windup and the batters weight tranfers back. What???? SO yeah its pretty dumb I know but I hear it all the time and several different people have explained sevral different ways. Thanks

Bump...Someone should be able to answer this.

i think it is an accumulation of all of them. when i refer to loading... the hands start to go back & up slightly (some say make a backward C) the weight is transfered more to the backleg, and you are taking the short stride with the front foot. some refer to this as getting in the "launch" position

Move this to hitting and add in the words "rotational" or "linear" and there will be 200 replies.....

Seriously it should be moved to hitting and someone there will answer.

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If you need any help with the move just give me and 80PATRIOT a call...

I'm no big hitting guru, but my understanding is that it is pretty much when a batter transfers weight back and prepares their hands to swing. The way we have been taught is that the batter should be in constant motion through preparing for the pitch through the actual swing. So as the pitcher gets ready to pitch, the batter should begin the process of transfering weight back, hands back, then begin the swing. In other words, you should not start the swing from a static position, but from more of a pendulum, or movement position. I would say load is what the batter does with his weight and hands prior to the actual swing.

Loading doesn't happen all at once. It can come with stylistic differences, but the goal is the same.

The lower body load can be a slight inward turn of the foot/knee/hip (Pujols), or it can be a more pronounced leg raise/hip turn/weight shift (Soriano). Usually, the bigger the lower body load/unload, the bigger the upper body movement (compare Pulos - slight , Bonds - more, and Sheffield - very pronounced).

As the front foot moves forward toward foot plant, the upper body loads, usually with an inward pinch of the front shoulder along with some type of hand/arm load (hands move toward launch point near rear shoulder, and rear elbow elevates or can pinch back/scap load as some term "pulling a bow and arrow).

There is separation in the load of the lower and upper body/hands/arms.

It is a continuous process working it's way through the body.

Wayback,

Very well stated!

I think to define it in a nutshell would be: the load is the movement(s) right before the swing begins to move forward.

I prefer tip and rip loading.... is it more rotational?/ idk, I hear its hard for younger kids to time it.

I dont like pulling the hands back .... is it more linear? maybe. It might be easier to time though.

Stepping and landing of the front leg is unloading the lowerbody to load the upper body.

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I dont like pulling the hands back .... is it more linear? maybe. It might be easier to time though.

The hands don't always have to move back...they just have to move to the launch point. The direction they move depends on where they are positioned in the batter's handset/stance. It may be a downward move (Youkilis), it may be a down, back and up move (Bonds), it may be a minimal tip/raise of elbow (Pujols). It's a matter of set up, style, and synchronization with lower body.

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Originally posted by BOF:
Move this to hitting and add in the words "rotational" or "linear" and there will be 200 replies.....

...and not a single opinion will heard or changed.

Now let's move on and ponder a topic we can ALL agree upon

....the value/stupidity of weighted baseballs...

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