It seems like the intentional barrel dump behind you as the first move would encourage your body to throw the arm. Is this the goal of the drill? Also, I understand what you are saying about too much side spin on the ball, but isn't this leaning toward an outside of the ball approach or around the zone?
Thanks, Ron. I'm not sure what you are referring to when you say the "intentional barrel dump." Can you explain what part of the video you are referring to and what that means? I also don't understand what "outside the ball approach" or "around the zone" mean. These are terms that regular hitting coaches use to distract and confuse. My guess is that it means "casting"? I'm not seeing any casting in this video, however I'll address casting for a second: Casting is not a bad thing. In fact, it's one of the quickest ways to turn a player's hitting around. Mel Ott, Roberto Clemente, Ronald Acuna are casters, and it helped them tremendously because casting gets the barrel into the zone early, while the back arm is still well bent. Again, not sure if this is what you are referring to.
@@theswingmechanic Sorry for the confusion. The intentional barrel dump I was referring to is how you are demonstrating a one handed swing by dropping your arm 3 feet behind you to your belt buckle.
Fantastic video. But after, let's say, 20 front arm swings, would you then take some full swings? Or would you maybe even take a few back arm swings? I assume you have to be concerned about not overdoing it. My experience in baseball is that lots of great advice works ... until it doesn't. And that's because we either take the advice too far or because we assume we have the advice mastered and we gradually go back to our old, bad swings.
Bill 8210 I would not take back arm swings. It’s human nature to be back arm dominant. If anything, we need to take even more drastic measures to increase front arm dominance. For example there are exercises and mobility work that need to be done to further increase our back arm dominance. For all the advice you get from other swing coaches, yes, I agree with you - your foot has to be constantly on the break peddle. But for this swing thought (front arm dominance) we need to be hitting the gas peddle hard. #fadswing is a complete paradigm shift. Make sense?
@@theswingmechanic Thank you so much for taking the time to respond. Your video has made me think that pitchers may have the same problem. When I pitch, I feel that my right (dominant) side tends to overwhelm my left side despite always trying to separate my hips and shoulders and throw more with my body and less with my arm. Do you think a lot of pitchers have the same problem? If so, is there a good drill or exercise?
@@Bill-uo6cm I would say the throw is back arm dominant, considering we only throw with the back arm. I'm not necessarily an expert on the throw, but I wouldn't buy into the hip/shoulder separation thing being important. It's being shown in the swing to not have a strong correlation to power. I think to focus on creating more and more of it in your throw is counterproductive and inviting hip injury. Side note, athletes, especially baseball players, should protect their hips and shoulders like their life depended on it. This isn't talked about among the new school swing coaches who seem hell bent on ruining a generation of hips - ie. the spine tilt into the finish of the swing - horrible - or just the overemphasis on "exit velo" and hitters taking extremely hard swings hundreds of times a day FROM THE SAME SIDE. This is not good for the body. The swing coaching industry in both golf and baseball is desperately in need of a complete overhaul. Give me a try - www.theswingmechanic.com
Bill 8210 I appreciate your insight as well. You said you watch golfers, hitters, and pitchers in slow motion and always see a very pronounced hip shoulder separation. So are you saying hip shoulder separation is something that “happens in the swing” or that it’s something that “differentiates the greatest hitters from everyone else.” Because I don’t see any evidence of the latter. This is a big problem I see in swing instruction. Coaches want to point out things that happen in the swing that are undeniable but that’s not where the value is. I’m really only interested in the things that happen ONLY in the greatest swings and happen to a lesser degree as the players get worse.
To clarify further, when I say I see the hip shoulder separation, I am referring to the best players who have learned how to use their bodies, whereas most non-professionals use their hands way too much. (But I will admit, there is a way to be a good hands -- linear -- hitter at the lower levels, but you will never be a great hitter at the higher levels with such a swing in my opinion.)
