If Your Big Goal Is To Get To 1st Base…. STOP HERE! If However You Want To Go Further, If You Believe There Is Power Hiding Within, We Have The Solution!
Here is a player from the women's US National team demonstrating how to drive the ball into the ground. A superb athlete with poor mechanics. Your timing has to be perfect, power is from your upper body and when you hit the ball there is a strong likelihood it will be straight into the ground.
Linear Mechanics
Which Swing Would You Like To Have?
Are You Being Taught To:
"Keep your front elbow down"
"Keep the barrel above the ball"
"Don't Dip the back shoulder"
"Hit the top half of the ball"
"Keep your head down"
"Swing down for back spin"
Then why are the most productive hitters in the game not doing this?
Because they utilize the core mechanics found in Rotational Hitting to elevate their game and "HIT" their potential!
You Have A Choice To Do The Same!
So, what will the hitter learn?
How to correctly match the plane of the swing to the plane of the pitch
The vital difference between "style" and "technique" and its profound effect on productive hitting
How to properly stay "inside the ball"
Time-proven mechanics that increase bat speed, hand quickness, and POWER
When to stride and when to swing
How to self-correct—"on-the-fly"
Proprietary drills designed by Mike Epstein that help insulate the hitter from prolonged slumps
Take your training at NorCal Hitting and learn how to "HIT" your potential!
After going through the Certified Instructor Training Program, I am absolutely convinced that
Mike and Jake Epstein have developed a system that, when implemented properly, will develop one great hitter after another. For more data on rotational hitting "only", visit
www.NorCal Hitting.com
Before & After
"All I Hit is Ground Balls"
Are you swinging DOWN?
Are you dipping your rear shoulder immediately after your front heel drops?
Is your chin down and "watching the ball it the bat?"
Are you keeping the back leg bent when you stride and drop your heel?
Are you letting the front knee continue to bend after you drop your heel - instead of keeping it flexed (but not rigid)?
Are you "tilting" correctly and getting your lead elbow up in time when your front heel drops?
Are you "sitting down" on top of your rear leg in the approach?
I can't stop lunging and coming forward when I swing!"
Are you keeping the back leg bent when you stride and drop your heel?
Are you letting the front knee continue to bend after you drop your heel?
Are you getting into the proper torque position?
Are you controlling your stride length, or are you striding too far?
Are you letting your front knee drift forward - instead of keeping it flexed (but not rigid)?
Are you "tilting" correctly and getting your lead elbow up in time?
Are you "sitting down" on top of your rear leg in the approach?
Are you dipping your rear shoulder immediately after your front heel drops?
Are you balanced when you launch your swing?
Are you lining up your knuckles correctly (NOT "wrapping" the top hand)?
Are you doing the Torque™, Numbers™, and Enforcer™ Drills?
Is your rear elbow tucking in as you launch?
"I'm hitting the ball but have no power."
Are you rolling your wrists on contact?
Are you getting to the proper torque position?
Are you balanced when your hips pop?
Are you balanced when you launch your swing?
Are you doing the Torque, Numbers, and Fence Drills?
Are you staying on the axis of rotation that you set up in the stride?
Are you opening the front foot enough to allow the hips to get through (45 or more degrees)?
Do you have a firm grip on the bat?
Is your front heel dropping BEFORE launching your swing?
Are you separating your hands from your body in the stride?
Are you "anticipating" pitches correctly? (Do you have a PLAN before getting into the batter's box?)
Are your hips "level" from launch to contact to follow through?
Are you staying on the "heel line" as you stride?
"Every ball I hit goes foul."
Are you staying "inside the ball?"
Are you doing the Torque™, Numbers™, and Enforcer™ Drills
Are you correctly anticipating the pitch you're getting?
Are you "balanced" when you launch your swing?
Are you trying to do "too much"? (remember: "less is more")
Are you "letting the ball get to you"? (remember: pinball example)
Are you letting the pitch "middle-half away" get deep enough in your contact zone?
I'm always swinging late, getting jammed, and popping up."
Are you "cocking" your bottom wrist at the Launch Position (creating a "long" swing)?
Are you starting your counter-rotation before the pitcher releases the ball?
Are you striding at the right time?
Are you letting the front knee continue to bend after you drop your heel?
Is the bat too heavy?
Are you "sliding" your hands and arms through the strike zone (staying inside the ball)?
Are you doing the Torque™, Numbers™, and Enforcer™ Drills?
Are you opening your front foot at least 45 degrees as you stride?
Are you getting the proper "backside rotation" -- letting your rear foot/leg/back hip "naturally" release as you swing?
Is your stride too long, lowering your head -- and making the ball appear to rise?
Are you getting "balanced" in your stride?
Are you doing your "Enforcer Drill"?
Greater Bat Speed = Hitting the Ball Harder
Mechanics that Generate Bat Speed
Many tests have shown that rotational mechanics are far more efficient than linear mechanics in developing bat speed. In order to understand why this is true, it is important to understand the forces acting on the bat.
Other than the effects of gravity, drag (due to airflow) and other minor factors, there are two forces acting on the bat that create bat speed:
Circular Hand Path (CHP) - The transfer of the body's rotational momentum that occurs when the hands are taken in a circular path.
Circular Hand Path
The bat will undergo angular displacement (i.e., bat speed) when the path of the hands is also undergoing angular displacement (i.e., a circular hand path). In other words, as long as the path of the hands stays in a circular path as the body rotates, the circular hand path will transfer the body's rotational momentum into bat-head acceleration.
In technical terms, we often refer to bat-head acceleration generated from the CHP as the "Pendulum Effect" so as to distinguish it from the "Crack of the Whip" theory. (We'll take a brief digression to better explain this topic.) A pendulum is simply an object that swings freely back and forth in a circular arc (i.e., pendulum clock). However, in the baseball swing, there are two pendulums: 1) the lead-arm swings the hands in a circular arc, and 2) the end of the bat swings around the hands. This is referred to as the Double Pendulum Effect of a CHP. A double pendulum consists of one pendulum attached to another. (To see an example of the Double Pendulum Effect of a CHP,
Click Here.)
Linear mechanics is much different in that it does not rely on a circular arc (or Pendulum Effect), as it is based on a theory that when the hands are extended in a straight line, the bat-head will suddenly accelerate to contact like the crack of a whip ("Whip Effect".) However, this theory is flawed since there is no whip effect in the baseball swing (a bat is not flexible like a whip), and consequently, efforts to produce a whip effect has stalled many hitters progress for decades.
A substantial portion of a good hitter's bat speed is derived from the circular path of his hands (think of swinging a ball on the end of a string). As long as we keep our hand in a circular path, the ball will continue to accelerate in a circle. However, if the path of the hand straightens, the ball on the end of the string loses angular velocity and trails behind the hands.
The same rational applies when a hitter is swinging a bat. If the hands are kept in a circular path, the bat will continue to accelerate. But if the hands straighten, the batter loses the circular path and the bat will lose speed. With a straighter hand path, the bat-head trails behind the hands well into the swing. This is often referred to as "knob of the bat first" and results in poor bat speed.
"Did you know that ..."
...a baseball bat is the only retail product of significant value we purchase that comes with no directions how to use it?
..."resistance to change" and the "fear of embarrassment" are two major reasons why so many promising hitters never reach their potentials?
...that
Tiger Woods TOTALLY revamped his swing when he was golf's top-rated player? Everyone thought he was crazy! However, since his swing change, he has become even MORE dominant than before. It's interesting to note that Tiger plays for tens of millions of dollars and was willing to make adjustments and changes to get even better, yet baseball and softball parents will not even entertain the idea of change for their youngsters because they are simply "hitting?" Good hitters become great hitters with with the proper swing technique.
...pitchers are taught to stay under the hitter's swing plane?
...you're not learning anything unless you're "uncomfortable"?
...all great ideas seem absurd at first?
...hitting incorporates BOTH linear and rotational movements?
...the hotly contested debate on whether to hit with the elbow "up" or "down" is a "style" issue—NOT a mechanics issue?
...the toughest thing about success is that you've got to keep on being a success?
...it's hard to make a comeback when you haven't been anywhere?
...the concept of "linear" hitting barely resembles what it was 25 years ago?
...standing in the front of the batters' box decreases the closing distance between pitch release and bat-ball contact? The result is making the pitcher appear much faster and giving the batter less time to react.
...you can get there from here, but you should start pretty soon?
...determining how close or far away hitters should stand in relation to the plate is dependent on how well they stay "inside" the ball?
...there is no such thing as the "perfect swing?" The perfect swing is the adjustment the hitter makes to the pitch he gets. As a result, it constantly changes!
...that incorporating "torque" (the "kinetic link") into a hitter's mechanics is the mainspring for improving bat speed?
...part of Rome was built in a day?
...there is big difference between bat "speed" and bat "quickness?" Bat speed measures bat velocity; bat quickness measures the time lapse from launch-to-contact. If a hitter has good bat quickness (major league average: .16 seconds), he will have high bat velocity. However, a hitter can have high bat velocity and NOT have good bat quickness. Torque the body, or winding the "rubber band," is where hitters get high bat quickness.
...hitting is 50% from the neck up and very few hitters are taught the mental side of the hitting equation?
..."no stride" hitting, when taught and executed correctly, does not decrease bat speed or power?
..."no stride" hitting allows the hitter to focus on the pitch better because of less body/head movement?
..."no stride" hitting gives the hitter considerably more time to gauge a pitch?
...there are only TWO hitting techniques? A hitter either comes forward or stays back. If he/she weight-shifts forward (continuously moves his/her vertical plane forward) as he/she swings, he/she is linear. Rotational hitters also weight-shift, but once they reach the balance point in their stride, they rotate around a stationary axis as they swing. Simply, hitters that "stay back" are rotational. A hitter CANNOT stay back and be considered linear.
...the "rise ball" doesn't "rise?" It is used the same way a high fastball is used in baseball. Its primary purpose is to change a hitter's "eye elevation."
...there is no "proper" batting stance? It's different for each hitter and is a product of the hitter's "style"—not his technique.
Center of Gravity: The location of the
resultant of
gravity forces on an object or objects: sometimes called center of mass.
E
Energy: A property of a body related to its ability to move a
force through a distance opposite the force's direction; energy is the product of the magnitude of the force times the distance. Energy may take several forms: see
kinetic energy,
potential energy, and
elastic energy.
Flexibility: Flexibility is the inverse of
stiffness. When a
force is applied to a structure, there is a
displacement in the direction of the force; flexibility is the ratio of the displacement divided by the force. High flexibility means that a small load produces a large displacement.
Force: A directed interaction between two objects that tends to change the momentum of both.Since a force has both direction and magnitude, it can be expressed as a
vector
G
Gravity: An attractive
force between two objects; each object
accelerates at a rate equal to the attractive force divided by the object's mass. Objects near the surface of the earth tend to accelerate toward the earth's center at a rate of ; this value is often called the gravitational constant and denoted as g.
I
Inertia: The tendency of an object at rest to remain at rest, and of an object in motion to remain in motion.
Inertial Force: A fictitious force used for convenience in visualizing the effects of forces on bodies in motion. For an accelerating body, the inertial force is considered as a
body force whose
resultant acts at the object's
center of gravity in a direction opposite the acceleration. The magnitude of the force is the mass of the object times the magnitude of the acceleration.
Internal force: Forces which hold an object together when
external forces or other
loads are applied. Internal forces are sometimes called resisting forces since they resist the effects of external forces.
Linear: A structure is said to behave linearly when its the deformation response is directly proportional to the loading (i.e. doubling the load doubles the displacement response). For a material, linear means that the stress is directly proportional to the strain.
Line of Action: The line of action of a force is the infinite line defined by extending along the direction of the force from the point where the force acts.
Load: An
external force. The term load is sometimes used to describe more general actions such as temperature differentials or movements such as foundation settlements.
M
Mass: A property of an object measured by the degree that it resists acceleration.
Moment: The
resultant of a system of forces causing rotation without translation. A moment can be expressed as a
couple
Moment of inertia: Moment of inertia has two distinct but related meanings: 1) it is a property of a an object relating to the magnitude of the moment required to rotate the object and overcome its inertia. 2) A property of a two dimensional cross section shape with respect to an axis, usually an axis through the centroid of the shape.
R
Reaction: A reaction is a
force exerted by a
support on an object: sometimes called support reaction. Using this definition, a reaction is an
external force.
Rigid: An idealized concept meaning something which does not deform under loading. In fact, all objects deform under loading, but in modelling it can be useful to idealize very stiff objects as rigid.
Rotation: Motion of an object where the path of every point is a circle or circular arc. A rotation is defined by a point and
vector which determine the axis of rotation. The direction of the vector is the direction of the axis and the
magnitude of the vector is the angle of rotation.
T
Translation: Motion of an object where the path of every point is a straight line.
W
Weight: The
force on an object resulting from
gravity.
; this value is often called the gravitational constant and denoted as g.
. Where m is mass and v is the