I was in need of some swing improvements so I chose the Barry Bonds Christian Yelich drill. I did the drill for one week and saw immediate results. Using my Blast Motion baseball sensor to capture swing metrics.
This is literally the only video of anyone actually doing this drill on the entire internets. People post their “thoughts” on it but no one else has actually done it.
Maybe because lots have tried it, and nobody bothered to film their lack of success? Just a thought. Not knocking the swing, but here is 1 case study: About a dozen players of various ages tried to migrate to this swing, drills and in-game use. Power was certainly up, when your sole focus is rotational acceleration, you'll get good at that part of it. Unfortunately, batting average suffered, a lot, due to multiple foul balls. So players would get to 2 strikes pretty quick, and then subject to the strikeout pitch. With lack of of back leg movement forward, the barrel is not in the strike zone long enough to compensate for bad timing, and where the foul balls come from. And with all-in rotational acceleration, barrel control is VERY difficult, and not something younger players should try, until upper body strength is there to for barrel control. Every hitter is different, and why no single swing works for everyone, if this stuff works for you, great, but understand why it may not work for some. Yeah, Bonds was crazy on this swing, but he was an anomally, and only a handful of players in MLB use this swing, for a reason.
Not pushing is true but can't let a inside pitch get deep. U have to hit in front of the plate. That's is the problem with what coaching leave out to young hitters
Thanks so much for sharing how all the data is connected- you’ve helped my son and I understand more about blast data in your video than all the blast instructional videos we’ve watched. Thanks
I learned so much about what makes good batting here. I definitely didn't realize there were this many techniques and tactics ⚾😮 This whole thing was awesome.
There is an endless amount of train going, techniques and theories about hitting. It’s changed over of the years from what Ted Williams taught in his book “the science of hitting” To Charlie lau who was a popular hitting guru of the 80s and early 90s to all the new age terms today like launch angle, bat path and so forth. Irony is there is no exact way to put the sweet spot on the ball and that’s the only universal rule
@@chrislewis5069 Let me know when a high launch angle swinger hits .400, Buddy. :) Ted explained it in the book and vids? Short, compact step. You don't really need to load (in fact, it just increases your chance of getting off-balance), just get your hands back when you stride. Swing with a slightly upward swing path. The idea is to get the sweet spot in the hitting zone as long as possible. Move it on the plane of the pitch. Hands break after contact, finish high and balanced. That's how to not have holes all over your swing and hit for avg. AND power.
When you're getting it well you're getting that backfoot inward shift. Sheffield does that, Hank aaron does that, Willie Mays does that. Its a good move.
When I use to go to batting cages, spending a good 5 hours, I'd take a small hop and pull my bat back a bit so all that kinetic energy would fade. Right hand swing was similar to Jose Bautista. Left was like Mickey Tettleton. Had to use Mark McGwire's grip. Without it, the skin on my hand would rub so hard into the gloves I'd end up getting water blisters
Get a HitAway , hit the ball 10 times as fast as you could( only let the ball unwind once) do in repetition you build up good dexterity, it will fasten up your hands and keep your bat path level all in 1.
Heater Slider Lite 360 www.heatersports.com/responsive/product_details.php?id=SL129BB&c=Pitching%20Machines I think I mentioned it in video but it doesn't do well in the rain. I also use a 200w Flashfish Battery pack to power it www.amazon.com/gp/aw/d/B07SG4QG47?psc=1&ref=ppx_pop_mob_b_asin_title
In my opinion, you're getting ready too late. Try coiling a bit earlier. Also, you're pushing your swing instead of snapping your wrists and you are putting too much weight on your front leg.
Ima check your other vids but if you haven't yet you should try integrating the Shohei lead foot action into this. Keep that lead foot down, loaded heavy on rear foot wide stance, stay on ball of lead foot lightly, heel facing pitcher, then let it rotate back into position so when the heel STRIKES down on the ground it uncoils upward to the hips.
I’m vaguely familiar with this hitting program. I’m a former pro player- before metrics took over the game. My question is - does your back foot stay planted for a reason.? I just noticed your back foot didn’t rotate along with your body so I’m assuming you did that on purpose as part of the drill. I never got a chance to play against bonds - A) cause I didn’t play past AA B) I was drafted by st Louis & our SPT was in St. Pete & he had been just traded to giants - obviously they’re in Arizona for spring . Can I ask where you currently play? My son in true freshman at Rutgers-everyday player as 1B. He’s having a great year - big 10 freshman of week in march
I like you’re swing and the way you “throw the frisbee” with your top hand. Did you have help or influence from someone with you swing? Doesn’t look natural untrained mechanics and I mean that in a good way
Definitely not natural! I had a problem, swinging too fast, rolling over a lot. My hands would take over. Basically my cue for that was for my top hand to "finish palm up through center field." That fixed a lot of issues very easily and created a lot better contact. I've struggled with it since injuring my wrist as I dont have the strength built up in it to finish that way at the moment but I'd like to get back there. I'm not sure if it was specifically from one tip someone gave me or just seeing it over and over. A guy I played with years ago, Trey Hannam puts out a lot of good hitting stuff and it seems a lot of his guys swing like that. Arenado does it a little (seems more natural for him) and a guy like Tatis does it to the extreme sometimes.
Yes the baseballs are foam, they are the Driveline Smashfactor baseballs. I use them a lot because of the constant rain we get, it stops me from ruining baseballs. I've had them almost a year now and they're still going strong (only use on soft toss not on an actual machine) And I can definitely do a review of the soft toss machine!
Pitching machine is Heater Slider Lite 360, it throws light baseballs slightly heavier than wiffle balls but its very portable and I use a small battery pack to power it. ($180 for machine and $130? For battery pack) The soft toss machine is a sklz catapult, and I use driveline smash factor balls with it. The machine throws these balls slightly better trajectory wise and with all the rain we get here it's a great solution to ruining baseballs all the time
Thank you so much for sharing the information on the equipment you use! I’ve been using smash factor balls with my son all through high school and they’ve saved a lot of money on broken bats! My son is excited about getting the machine! Thanks again and good luck on your baseball journeys
Is this the Teacherman swing? If so my 9 almost 10 year old son has had a huge improvement with hitting the ball farther, harder and more consistent with that swing. Now if he could only improve his throwing arm to second from home lol. Thank you for the video!
Definitely not Teacherman. He takes away any aspect of "swinging down," even though he says he is emulating Barry Bonds to a tee (no pun intended). They both have ways to get to the ideal/perfect swing, but they are exaggerating different aspects of it completely.
Your feet look so close together, and you don't seem to be getting much hip or leg involvement in your swing. All arms. The open stance looks awkward. You're probably leaving quite a bit of power on the table.
My opinion: your back arm is too active and you're not getting enough hand depth, so your bat path is more directly to the ball, which is no beuno. Try swinging with just your front arm for a while, then add your back arm in.
I see in other comments you mentioned the Heater Slider Lite 360 and the Sklz soft toss as your machines. How did you get the numbers for your swing? Rotation acceleration, bat speed, etc.
Your weight is all wrong - it's all too far forward, so you're hitting with your arms. Stay back, with your weight on the back leg, and use your wrists.
Its called the LC 1 Linear Compression trainer. Basically it helped me get less hand dominant and use my lower half better. There's another similar tool called the perfect connextion, I just liked the straps on the LC1 tool