I sometimes have a late swing and was wondering if anyone had any solutions for this. Thanks

quote:

Originally posted by lebanonbb:
I sometimes have a late swing and was wondering if anyone had any solutions for this. Thanks

Swing faster or sooner is all anyone could say without video.

Late or slow? Totally different...video helps with both.

Often hitters are late because they simply wait too long to stride...by the time the foot is down the ball is on top of them. No stide helps some; others will work on being sure the foot is down when the ball is halfway to the plate or even before depending on the pitchers velocity. Always better early than late. If a hitter is thinking NO,NO,NO,SWING they will often be late. Be ready for every pitch to be a hittable pitch. It's alot easier stopping a swing than starting one.

I have taught my son a simple rythm that has always worked. He has always been able to hit anyones fastball. Many a coach however have tried to correct his swing because they "think" it is unorthodox. the truth is however, almost every professional hitter uses the same rythm tool whether they know it or not. Here is the simple answer-

Be relaxed and swaggle the bat slightly when the pitcher is still in his stance. As he breaks his hand from the mit and brings the ball behind himself mimick this very movement with your own hands and bring the bat back to a loaded position. You should be able to feel like you are going to pull the trigger as soon as he releases the ball. The rythm of coarse is that both you and the pitcher are moving your arm back at the same time. I have video taped many a game and watched the slow-motion replays and 9 out of 10 times the late swingers are those who do not load up until after the pitch is on the way. Another fault i see in the late swingers are those who have no load up and instead start from a relaxed position and just throw the hands at the ball. Batting and hitting the ball out in front is all about two major factors-

1. Finding the correct rythm
2. Properly building up the explosive "load up" or cocking phase of the swing.

Take golf for example- No good golfer starts with his club in the straight up position. They just cant get enouph mustard on the swing, that is why they bring it back before bringing it forward. Another reason why is that the golfer will have better control of where he is hitting the club face on the ball if he feels a greater resistance at the top of his swing/ beginning of swing.

You will notice in a simple drill that the mind and eye can pick up on the location of a ball in about a two tenths of a second. You will also notice that it takes a full another tenth of a second or more to load up for the ball and then another tenth of a second to pull the trigger and make good contact. So if everything is done right with great precision evn a person who cocks late would barely have time to swing and hit the ball out in front. If rythm and preloading is added before the pitch is even thrown a full tenth of a second is eliminated from the swing process. This allows the mind to be clearer and allows the advantage of another free tenth of a second to prepare to swing the bat.

Coaching wise I have taught this drill to young players and with just a little practice they can all swing and hit a ball thrown at them with the same reaction times of mlb pitchers who throw 100+ mph. Even little leaugers swinging heavy bats can hit balls with less than half a second reaction time. Some even have shown they can adjust and hit the ball in about 3/10ths of a second if they get into rythm and make sure they are loading up and getting ready to stride and pull thge trigger at the moment the pitcher releases the ball.

Thanks alot GM! I'll try that drill monday at practice

Watch the pitcher hat, you will first see the ball there as he throws it.


easy but true,

drill

When you see the pitchers butt or back pocket, get loaded, cocked, set or coiled (however you want to describe it) with your hands and hips. Many hitters are late because they get set late. It makes an 85 mph fastball seem like it is 90. If you get loaded properly you will have plent of time to see the ball.

"Cusp in their swing"??? Ohh, goody now we have another word for part of the swing. If you are gonna invent a new meaning for the cusp, you need to provide the new definition.

Cusp...a point or pointed end;either point of a crescent moon;point where two branches of a curve meet and end, with a common tangent. Those are the accepted definitions in English so what is the new one as it pertains to the baseball swing?

Bluedog, read the entire post next time. What he is talking about is what is happening in the swings you show. If you fail to see it, don't blame him.

And the most feared pitch in MLB is Trevor Hoffman's changeup and has been for a number of years. Roy Oswalt is right behind. No hitter at any level likes the changeup, period.

Any actual advice for lebanonbb or do you just like trolling the internet?

quote:

........others will work on being sure the foot is down when the ball is halfway to the plate or even before depending on the pitchers velocity.

Can you show us a clip of a MLB hitter doing this?

quote:

quote:
........others will work on being sure the foot is down when the ball is halfway to the plate or even before depending on the pitchers velocity.

Can you show us a clip of a MLB hitter doing this?

In the "touch 'em all" segment of Baseball Tonight today every hitter had almost the exact same timing...getting their foot down when the pitch was roughly 50-60% on way to the plate. If you have tivo, slo-mo makes it a lot easier to see.

I think to hit it hard you need to be ON TIME...being early might get you a little more than being late but they are both undesirable.

As for the late swing...I advise to try to get a quicker swing by refining mechanics. I would think just from common sense and limited experience that loading up earlier would result in less power, and launching earlier would hinder the hitter in adjusting to different pitches, resulting in less contact.

What causes me to have a late swing is honestly one main thing, I dip which makes me late. I swing up causing me to miss practically everything and as I swing up I dip making my swing pretty poor. I use a tee alot but I seems like its not helping much. I recently went to the catches with my father and did pretty well but afterwards I really haven't been happy with my swing. Is there anything I can do to keep me from dipping/swinging up? I have my hands correctly but thats just the main thing I have been told that makes my swing bad. Any help?