Donny Buster's "Total Presentation"

1
Preface

• The Hanson Principle. ( one to use)
• Always compare what anybody tells you about the
  swing to slow motion clips of the best hitters in
  the world.
• - - Mark Hanson
• Hope you will take the time to study and
  understandenjoy!

2
THE SWING

• Every great swing is the right combination of
  weight shift and rotation that stores elastic
  energy and suddenly releases it. There are no
  exceptions to this rule.
• SwingBuster Sports makes products that help
  hitters and coaches training hitters to apply
  these forces in the right proportions and
  seamlessly integrate them into an efficient
  athletic move.

3
Timing and Adjustability

• If pitchers threw the exact same speed on every
  pitch the mechanics of the great hitters would be
  very different.
• This is what happens at the All Star Home Run
  Derby every year yielding quite a show.
• Momentum rules at the Home Run Derby but takes a
  back seat when the real game starts.

4
Forces That Batters Use

• Muscle contraction pure strength helps but can
  get trumped by superior mechanics.
• Stretch and fire the energy stored in the
  torqued torso is the key to adjustability.
• Momentum cannot be delayed or conserved by
  itself and is less useful against great pitching.

5
What Great Pitchers Do

• Pitchers are great users of MOMENTUM. They want
  to create it, conserve it through the kinetic
  chain, and use it to throw very hard.
• There is no interruption of the flow from windup
  to delivery in pitching and no need to adjust
  pause, capture and hold stretch.
• The best pitchers can throw different speeds from
  similar motions taking the batters ability to use
  their momentum away.

6
When is Momentum Important

• Javelin
• Crow hop
• Pitching
• Amps up in HR derbies
• MLB hitters that can recognize the pitch speed
  and quality the earliest can utilize momentum
  best.

7
Momentum Has Its Limits

• A car going down the road that lets off the gas
  still has considerable force called momentum.
• Momentum rules in the Home Run Derby but has less
  application the following night when the All Star
  game actually starts. Why?
• Great pitchers are not going to allow you to use
  it at the same level.
• What can replace momentum forces and still create
  power?

8
Stretch and Fire

• The major muscle groups that can create and store
  energy are the muscles of the truck and torso
  that can twist and untwist like a rubber band.
• In order to be an effective hitter, one must
  learn to stretch the rubber band and release it
  on the ball.
• The action must have power and produce a wide
  timing window to handle the pitchers deceptions
  concerning speed.

9
Momentum vs. Stretch and Fire

• Momentum suggest that you start a motion that is
  not interrupted and its motion has a force. You
  cannot hit the pause button on this force and
  reintroduce it later.
• Stretch can HOLD energy and pause it and release
  or fire it at the correct time.
• Hitters that stay in the game rely on this
  stretch and fire power source as it can hit all
  pitch speeds.

10
When is Stretch and Fire Important

• Stretch is important even in youth ball as very
  young pitchers learn that most hitters want to
  use too much momentum and do not know how to
  create stretch and fire power production.
• Momentum is intuitive but stretch and fire
  usually must be taught.

11
Why the Hands Back Hitter

• Learning stretch and fire mechanics.
• Loading the torso and firing the mechanism.
• Taking away momentum for a while to learn how to
  create torque in the midsection to allow greater
  adjustability to pitch speeds.

12
The Hands Back Hitter
13
The Hands Back Hitter

• The Hands Back Hitter Pro is the premier trainer
  to teach hitters how to keep the shoulders loaded
  until the foot plants.
• When the shoulders stay back as the stride foot
  opens torque is created.
• Training with the HBH is a vital step to learning
  rotary power.

14
How it Works

• The Hands Back Hitter is cocked and a ball placed
  on the popper tube.
• The batter sets up about 3-4 inches from the
  trigger string.
• The focus is on maintaining slightly closed
  shoulders and cocked hands until the front foot
  gets down at a 45 degree angle.
• The ball is popped into the perfect location and
  the batter is in the perfect torque position to
  use his torso stretch to release the energy as
  rotary power.
• By removing momentum, the player can learn to
  access rotary power from the hips that moves
  quickly up the chain and levers to the bat barrel
  in a flash.
• It is human nature from throwing to use too much
  forward momentum in hitting during the formative
  years.
• This drill station can instill confidence in the
  power of rotational swings.

15
Getting To the Core

• In order to begin the process of discovery one
  must ask the question Where does the power come
  from?
• We can always look to golf for some answers as
  it has volumes of swing studies with supporting
  data complied by analysis of 100s of
  professionals. The famous X factor study removed
  all doubt about the power source.
• This study showed that the power comes from the
  ability to find the optimal separation between
  the upper and lower body . In other words, how
  can we dynamically bring the shoulder line in as
  the hips line begins to open and stretch the
  middle (torso) like a rubber band.

16
The Goal

• It is important to understand where your going
  before you start any journey. The goal and
  destination is now clear. We must learn to work
  the top half against the bottom half to prime the
  middle. The middle doesnt exist in sports until
  the X angle is created and stretched creating X
  factor stretch in the muscles of the torso.
• We must learn proper weight shift to stay in
  balance through contact.

17
More on X Factor

• This ground breaking study showed that the
  players that hit golf balls the longest had the
  greatest hip/shoulder separation at the top of
  the back swing just before approach to the ball.
• If you stood above the player and looked down the
  shoulder line would cross the hip line forming an
  X. Hence the name X angle.
• More importantly, they went on in subsequent
  studies to show that the really best players
  created their X angle and stretched it the most
  before approach. So X factor stretch replaced X
  factor as king.
• This study proved that dynamically created
  elastic energy in the midsection drives the power
  mechanism and optimizes adjustability.

18
Fixing the Swing

• CORE Swing flaws take three basic forms.
• Failure to rotate properly.
• Shifting too much weight.
• Not shifting enough weight.

19
Weight coiled into back hip. Weight coils back
and should not slide back outside the ball of the
back foot.
20
The weight should shift head over belt buckle
to thenew center balance center.
21
Rotary Power

• Rotation is generated by the batter working the
  shoulders against the hips to torque the body and
  create a circular pattern of force around the
  body.
• This is a horizontal connection.
• The Hands Back Hitter works to teach the batter
  how to get the front foot down early enough to
  turn into the path of the ball.
• The forces of angular acceleration are
  exponentially higher than straight line forces.

22
Shifting to Much Weight

• This swing flaw is commonly called lunging.
• Lunging is failure to control forward momentum
  and block it and convert that force to rotational
  energy.
• While we do not want the batter to literally
  stay back the Stayback Tee helps correct these
  batters that begin with a straight line push to
  the pitcher that doesnt get blocked and turned
  to rotation.

23
Lunging..rear leg and rear leg extension
24
Rear Elbow / Rear Leg Extension

• In linear hitting you will see the batter push
  toward the ball. The rear leg will get longer
  (extend) taking the batter closer to the pitcher
  with the head moving forward into contact.
• At the same time the rear elbow will get long
  also extending to the ball as apposed to slotting
  ( staying bent and tight to the batters side) in
  a rotational hitter.

25
Stopping the Lunge

• Lunging batters have no negative loading moves.
• Coiling the hips and triggering the hands as the
  weight is carried forward in the stride helps
  stop lunging.
• Hitters with no negative loading moves will
  lunge.
• I have never seen a kid that had hip coil and a
  good upper body loading pattern that lunged.

26
The Stayback Tee
27
Why the Infini-Tee

• Weight shift and application of the momentum
  after the stretch and fire mechanics are in
  place.
• The stage 2 tee to learn to take the pitchers
  pitch away.
• Teach low ball power mechanics and to practice
  the difficult pitch locations.
• Eliminate the standard batting tee that causes
  top hand roll over.

28
The Infini-TEE - The low ball diagonal plane
tee.
29
The Infini-TEE
30
Loading the weight into back hip as the front
heel releases
31
Barrel outside helmet as the hips coil and start
to carry the weight forward on the stride
32
The barrel returns to plane just before the front
foot blocks
33
Loading the back side by releasing the lead heel
and coiling as you prepare to carry the coil in
the stride. Keeping the barrel loaded outside the
helmet during the early stride.
34
The Infini-TEE. The barrel is returning to plane
and in this case the diagonal plane of the low
ball location.
35
Driving the Low Ball on the Diagonal Swing Plane
requires taking the hinge angle forward ahead of
the ball and hitting the inside seam.
36
Creating X factor- See Shoulder line closed and
hip line open
37
Segmentation X factor

• Segmentation is breaking the body segments apart
  so they can have a range of motion independent of
  each other.
• Segmentation can occur from upper half resistance
  as the bottom half turns.
• Segmentation can occur as the upper body loading
  action breaks the shoulders from the hips at the
  first trigger move.
• The more vertical barrel slot and the BHUT
  loading trigger move can counter rotate the
  barrel in an opposite direction from the
  direction the hips will turn.
• While it requires timing, this mechanism can
  really produce a segmented swing with a whip
  action vs. a batter trying to turn the shoulder
  unit fast to generate power.
• Segmentation creates spatially very early bat
  speed as seen on slow motion as the bat blurring
  behind the batter in the backside of the swing
  arc.

38
The Set Up

• Sorry, but we must digress to some fundamentals.
  We must get the body in the proper position.
  There is no time limit on this as you enter the
  batters box.
• You can solve many swing flaws by improving the
  set up before the ball is pitched.
• We will use
• 1. Grip
• 2. Bat position (slot)
• 3. Posture
• 4. Line of Direction (L.O.D)

39
Grip

• We do not use the knuckle as grip guides. We use
  the wrist angles and the knuckles take care of
  themselves. The bottom hand thumb bends to the
  lead elbow. The top hand knuckles bend to the top
  arm elbow.
• Another thought is to find the barrel slot and
  apply the hands comfortably to that bat position.

40
Top hand grip knuckles should bend back to elbow
41
Bottom wrist bends thumb to elbow
42
The Rotation Center Between the Hands

• Knob to the ball cues can make the player fail to
  understand that there is a rotation center on the
  bat handle between the hands. The hand, arm,
  elbow action serves to rotate the barrel into the
  ball with the palm up / palm down flat hand.
• Only but activating this center in concert with
  the turning core can the batter get the barrel
  out into the hitting zone.
• Getting the barrel out is called angular
  displacement .

43
The Top Hand

• While the bottom hand is thought to be the
  dominant hand in the connected rotary move, it is
  interesting that top hand action might have more
  control over the proper launch.
• The top hand is an important palm up power source
  at contact helping apply great power to the swing
  after the shoulder turn has almost been deleted.
• The top hand can get whipped on the ball on
  away locations and learning the proper action of
  the top hand is essential for total power
  production and hitting backside.
• The top hand is NOT just along for the ride but
  the top hand doesnt pull forward to the ball
  initially.

44
The Pronated Top Hand

• Pronation is a term meaning palm forward and
  inclined downward. Baseball people call it having
  the top hand palm facing the pitcher.
• The pronated top hand cannot go forward at swing
  initiation it can only rotate the barrel
  backwards as the rear elbow slots.
• Many great hitters pronate the top hand during
  the stride / load.
• Interestingly, this is the same top hand position
  a second baseman holds the ball just as he turns
  toward first to turn the double play.
• What is the next move of the top hand from this
  position as the hips open..BACK . That can be a
  natural move in the swing as well.

45
Palm facing pitcher and downward is pronation. A
pronated top hand cannot go forward it can only
turn palm up rotating the barrel at swing
initiation.
46
The top hand goes from the pronated (facing the
pitcher) to palm up when the rear elbow slots.
This accelerated the barrels.
47
The Bottom Hand

• The bottom hand should start almost vertical with
  the thumb side almost up.
• When the lead elbow goes up seeking the plane of
  the pitch the bottom hand palm goes palm down.
• This propels the barrel backwards into the back
  side of the swing arc rapidly.
• A small hand turn yields a big barrel move.
• Mentally extend that thumb up 33 inches and
  imagine how far the barrel accelerated as the
  hand turn to flat.

48
Lead elbow down and thumb UP
49
Palm flat
50
Posture

• Good posture has an amazing effect on the swing.
  The athletic stance often described for
  basketball and football, has the chest out and
  the rear out setting a spine angle that connects
  the upper and lower body. Any deviation from
  this optimum position at GO! will cause a weak
  connection and bleed off power. The bend in the
  knees and the straight back with the correct
  spine angle is essential to making a positive
  physical movement .

51
Bad Posture..bend at shoulder blades and hips
tucked
52
Better posture creates a good spine angle, the
bat is in the vertical slot and the hands set
is BHUT (bottom hand under the top)
53
Line of Direction

• Wow!..... What an important subject. Failure to
  find the correct line of direction of the feet on
  each swing is the reason the average golfer
  cannot break 90. It has the same profound effect
  in baseball. The correct line of direction
  (target line) has the feet on a line to the
  throwing arm of the pitcher. All coiling and
  loading action must occur AGAINST this line of
  direction or the core move and power source will
  break down.

54
The L.O.D in Baseball

• The batter should come to the box and place the
  back foot square to the plate.
• Look at the pitchers throwing arm with the head
  square to the release window and THEN set the
  front foot.
• Shoulders should be in line with the LOD of the
  feet and not counter rotated in the set up as
  that limits vision.
• Only when the lower body is in position, should
  the hands put the bat into the slot.

55
How to find the LOD?

• My good friend has won our State Am Golf twice.
  We occasionally play and I asked how he was in
  perfect alignment on every shot. He said
  two-eye contact on the target.
• What? I place my back foot and look at the target
  with both eyes equidistant to the target ( head
  square) and THEN place my lead foot down.
• The feet stabilize the lower spine and the head
  position stabilizes the upper spine.
• The coiling / loading occurs within their
  parameters
• The common set up flaw is always the same. The
  players LOD is almost always right of target
  or closed stances.

56
Effects of Bat Slots

• It is important to understand that the positional
  slot of the bat barrel as the weight is shifting
  will determine, in part, the nature and power of
  the swing.
• The higher (more vertical) the barrel slot and
  longer the barrel is maintained out of plane
  the more segmentation and X factor the batter
  will have.
• The higher bat slots yield better low ball plate
  coverage and better upward adjustability.
• The higher barrel is more on plane for the lower
  pitches.

57
How Do Bat Slots Effect The Swing?

• The bat slot will effect the X- factor stretch.
• How is that possible? The barrel is placed or
  loaded into a position that allows the hips to
  get ahead of the hands without conscience thought
  of that.
• No batter can take the bat directly to the ball
  with the barrel out of plane as the stride
  begins.
• So, sometime during stride and before foot plant,
  the barrel will transition back toward the 45
  slot behind the helmet .
• With the barrel more vertical, the hands cannot
  move but in one direction when the batter starts
  and that is BACK.
• All barrels launch from close to the same
  placenear the back shoulder with the barrel
  coming back toward the 45 slot. So why would you
  want to start out of plane? It is a mechanism
  to make the hands go back as the stride is
  underway and the hips are rotating opposite into
  foot plant. The load and the unload overlap
  increasing the X factor.
• You can enter the swing plane with the barrel
  above it effortlessly but you cannot raise the
  barrel on the way to foot plant to find the
  plane. A flat bat in the set up is powerless
  against a low pitch.
• Taking the hands back as the hips open is not a
  natural move for most players so barrel position
  / hand set can make it an automatic.

58
Bat Position (Slot)

• There are several bat slots seen in MLB player.
• 1. 45 slot is the barrel half way between the
  shoulder and the helmet with the barrel behind
  the player.
• 2. The 90 slot is a vertical slot with the barrel
  pointing to the sky. This is called a weightless
  bat as there is no downward pull force on the
  hands.
• 3. The helmet splitting slot is seen to bisect
  the helmet from the catchers view.
• 4. The tipped slot (minus 15 slot) has the
  barrel outside the helmet and pointed to the
  pitcher or to the oppo gap. Sheffield and Julio
  Frank would be examples.
• 5. The moving slot is a player starting in the
  45 slot, moving the barrel to vertical or beyond
  during the hip coil and having the barrel enter
  the swing plane as the barrel transitions back
  near the rear shoulder.

59
O slot
60
45 slot
61
Helmet splitting slot
62
90 slot
63
Weightless bat. As the barrel gets higher or more
vertical it is said to be weightless. That
means it is not pulling on the hands and wrist.
While it doesnt appear to be a fast position, it
increases speed through widening the torque angle
getting the hips to turn to completion before the
hands unhinge creating a whip action. This barrel
position helps batters struggling with upper body
dominance.
64
Slots for Tots

• The LL hitter age 7-12 will face some loopy
  pitches. These high arc pitches can cross the
  chest high making weight transfer difficult.
  Since weight transfer can be taken out of the
  equation on certain pitches, the batter is forced
  to hit off the back foot in certain pitch
  locations. The upper body mechanics are very
  important in this age group.
• The 45 slot seems to get on plane with the big
  arc ball. The hinge angle must be formed and
  maintained until the foot gets down.
• The LL player will often be forced to bend the
  back knee while considerable weight is still back
  there to get on plane with the loopy pitch.

65
The U Method of Upper Body Positioning for Kids

• The U is a line drawn from the point of the lead
  shoulder, down the lead arm, across the forearm,
  and back up the barrel.
• One option for group teaching LL players is to
  form the U and then rock the shoulder unit back
  (rock the U) until the tip of the lead elbow is
  behind the belly button.
• This is a position the kids can see easily and
  remember and is a reliable preloaded upper body.
• Teaching them to cock the hands, maintain the U
  and rock the U to a point behind the belly button
  is important.
• Staying in this preloaded position until the lead
  toe touches will insure some good pop no matter
  where the weight goes to get on plane with the
  very large strike zone and the loopy pitch.

66
You can form the U in the waiting period and
rock the U in the preload (see next slide)
67
Good set up for Kids / Bat Slots for Tots. The
barrel is splitting the helmet or more behind the
body. It is best suited for young players less
likely to have a optimal loading pattern in a
real game.
68
Tip of Lead Elbow at Foot Plant

• There are three basic places you will find the
  lead elbow at foot plant.
• 1. Barred out long on the first movebad.
• 2. Bent to 90 degrees but still over the lead
  pants pocket..this very bad.
• 3. Bent to 90 degrees and behind the belly
  button. Of the three, this is the optimal
  starting position at launch for the hitter.

69
Loaded Shoulders to Foot Plant

• An absolute for all hitters is you must create
  and maintain a loaded upper body until your foot
  gets down. If the swing begins at lead heel drop
  or as Ben Hogan said about golf the turning left
  of the hips, then the upper body must have its
  levers in position to use the energy generated in
  the lower body.
• So it is a worthy goal for the LL hitter to
  simply make sure the upper body is in the optimal
  position at toe touch.
• Hitters that fail to get OR keep the hands cocked
  and the lead elbow behind the belly button to
  foot plant cannot hit very well.

70
The One Plane Swing

• A one plane swing starts the barrel in the 45
  slot and launches the barrel in the 45 slot. The
  barrel stays in the momentum plane of the
  shoulder turn as the shoulders load and as the
  swing is executed.
• Examples are John Olerud and Joe Mauer

71
The Two Plane Swing

• The two plane swing involves loading the barrel
  into a plane that it cannot be swung from while
  the weight shift begins. It creates a method that
  will eventually brings the front shoulder in to
  the ball in perfect time with the hip rotating
  out.
• The two planer brings the barrel back into the
  launch slot just before foot plant (about 4
  average). The return to slot of the barrel at the
  back shoulder brings the front side in
• This forces an overlap between the shoulders
  loading back and the hips unloading forward. It
  maximizes X factor stretch and it more
  importantly maximizes it at precisely the correct
  time to capture and use the force.
• It is a trigger mechanism to increase torque
  exhibited by many HOF hitters like Aaron, Bonds,
  Williams, and others like Puckett Bo Jackson and
  Piazza.
• In golf, it is used by Raymond Floyd, Fred
  Couples, and Lee Trevino.
• It is interesting that the ball will go in the
  direction that the barrel is pointed. i.e. Julio
  Franko points the barrel to right field and he is
  a RF homerun threat.

72
The Gear Effect

• On this next slide the batter will turn his
  bottom hand under the top. Basically, you could
  say that he is counter rotating the handle in his
  hands AWAY from the direction that he must rotate
  it to go to the ball.
• What happens next is pretty amazing. The barrel
  will get a running start back into the back side
  of the swing arc.
• The hands are the active part of this negative
  set up move and start an interesting chain
  reaction.
• The hands are tipping the barrel forward as the
  stride begins. They begin to rotate back on plane
  as the elbow positions reverse. The high rear
  elbow comes down to the slot and the low lead
  elbow goes up.
• This applies leverage to the barrel rotation
  getting the barrel really accelerating behind the
  batter.
• The hip rotation that primes the torso starts
  turning the shoulders which levers the elbow
  action which levers the forces turning the barrel
  in the hands.
• The kinetic chain acts like the gears on a bike
  to AMP the rotation to levels unattainable
  through any other method.

73
Two Plane Swing. Barrel loads in one plane during
stride and swings and another.
74
The Secondary Adjustment

• Great hitters load the upper body the same on
  each pitch.
• Great hitters stride to a balanced position.
• On many occasions the batter must abandon the
  core orbit and make late arm and hand adjustments
  to breaking balls and off speed.
• Priming of the forearms and proper loading
  patterns can facilitate this ability to stay
  alive on great pitches.
• The two plane swing seems to have an advantage
  when it comes to making the better secondary
  adjustments.

75
Weight Shift

• Balance in a player with the arms outstretched to
  either side would be at the line that bisects the
  pants zipper.
• When you put both hands to the back side and then
  add the weight of a bat back their where is the
  new center of gravity? It moves to a location
  nearer the front inner thigh.
• What happens when you do the above and then pull
  on the bat that has mass and inertia (resistance
  to movement)? You are more out of balance
  backwards and you have no lead shoulder leverage.
• The new balance center at swing initiation is
  no longer the zipper. It is somewhere forward of
  that original point.
• So the weight must shift to the new balance
  center to be in balance at launch.
• Somebody once said, There is a button on the
  ground in front of every batter. How and when the
  batter steps on that button has a lot to do with
  the quality of the swing.
• Another great cue for weight shift is move the
  release point more out front or take the knob
  out in front of your lead pocket before to
  release it.

76
Head Over Belt Buckle

• The body axis must be maintained to near vertical
  during the shift. The axis can only be maintained
  if the head moves directly over the belt buckle
  during the stride or shift .
• If the front foot moves out and the head stays
  back the batter will be out of balance to the
  back.
• If the back knee hinges with weight still on the
  back foot then the batter is falling backwards as
  he is swinging forward..reverse pivoting.
• More weight is coiled into the back hip as the
  pitcher is releasing.
• The weight is shifting (moving the C.O.G) as the
  ball is just out of the hand.
• The front foot blocks the weight as the ball is
  about half way home.
• At contact, more weight is against the front side
  and the momentum has been used to optimize the
  rotary power. This was made possible by
  establishing the optimal balance point forward
  from where the batter began the loading move.
• John Daley said start on the back and finish
  against the front ..easier said that understood.

77
Head over belt buckle shift
78
Head over belly button weight shift
79
The Stride

• To move the center of gravity (and it must be
  moved) there must be some forward linear
  motionfact!
• Some players start wide and shift the center of
  gravity (COG) before launch and do not move the
  front foot (Pujols).
• Most players move the COG by shifting the body
  AND by moving the front foot.
• Make no mistake of this factfailure to move the
  COG before launch is a huge swing flaw.
• And yesBonds does move forward albeit well
  disguised.

80
Back Foot Action in Weight Shift

• The back foot will break from the ground
  initially evenly across the side of the sole of
  the shoe.
• The heel will lead the toe at the push.
• The toe will drag from the hip turning around the
  lead hip releasing the back side. The back side
  is nearly weightless at contact.
• The establishment of the new center of gravity
  and the turning of the hips to completion will
  release and passively drag the rear toe in many
  players.
• Again, we can look to golf for clues here. Golf
  Digest has illustrated this many times.
• This is a sign of good momentum transfer and
  should not be confused with lunging.

81
Back Foot Parallel
82
Back foot sole part as weigh first shifts
83
Back foot push forward showing heel leading toe
84
Back foot goes heel to sky, laces to pitcher and
can drag with hip rotation.
85
Front Foot Action in Weight Shift

• The front foot can be a no teach. I have stood
  behind many players and asked them to start their
  stride and unexpectedly pushed them from behind.
• 100 of them land with the lead foot at
  45degrees.
• The front side knows how to accept weight in a
  balanced position and needs to accept weight over
  a bent knee to become the lower body trigger.
• The upper body loads the same every pitch. The
  front foot becomes the trigger to adjust the body
  to the ball in different pitch locations.
• If you coil the hips as you stride you will
  naturally uncoil properly into front foot plant.

86
Tipped Bat Slot / Vertical Hand set

• See the front foot open 45 degrees and the lead
  knee fanning as the barrel goes from the vertical
  plane back to the launch slot.

87
Reaching out with the front foot with all the
weight back can be over done and result in back
foot hitting or dead front foot hitting. This
will certainly lead to bug squishing.
88
Watch back foot action in an improper bug squish
swing
89
Reverse Pivot.. heel swivels behind starting line
on floor..Poor weight shift
90
Anti- Squish Drill

• Players that fail to shift weight have their back
  heel pivot backwards and stay flat to the ground
  during the swing. The heel will end up closer to
  the catcher after the swing is completed.
• The drill creates instant feedback to bug
  squishing.
• We place a batting helmet behind the players
  foot.
• If he rotates his hips with no weight transfer
  then the spinning heel will knock the helmet
  backwards.
• With proper weight shift the rear heel is never
  closer to the catcher after the swing.

91
Inside Seam Drill with the Infini-TEE. The inside
seam is the batters aiming point. Attempts to
hit the inside seam aid in rear elbow slotting
and usually result in the ball contacted in the
center.
92
The upper half position at GO!. The release
mechanism of the upper body involves the rear
elbow slotting as the lead elbow juts upward
putting the hands flat. The lead leg blocks
weight and extends away from the pitcher.
93
Inside Seam Drill - Keeping the feet lined up
back to the throwing arm makes the player load
against the proper line of direction.
Approaching the ball to the inside seam forces
the rear elbow to stay against the rear hip and
makes the lead arm the connected arm to the core
rotation. Aiming at the inside seam with the
shoulders rotating down through the ball yield
incredible power not attainable on standard tees.
94
The Hinge Angle

• The angle created between the bat and the lead
  forearm is called the hinge angle.
• The most common swing flaw in youth hitters is
  failure to form and maintain the hinge angle to
  front foot plant.
• Taking the the hinge angle near the lead pocket
  with the bat in the lag position creates power.
• Moving the hinge angle such that it is maintained
  and released out front is a great weight shift
  cue.

95
Weight shift helps to get inside the ball. It is
difficult to get inside the ball without proper
weight shift. The downward gaze at the back of
the balls gives the batter the sense of going
down to the ball in the diagonal plane and
leading the hands in front of the ball location.
Line drives are hit well in this low ball
position.
96
The batter is releasing the hinge angle on inside
seam. The tee will tilt forward to work on
getting off the back side for hitting balls down
and behind runners or the tee will tilt back if
you want to release the barrel on the up side for
long ball trajectory.
97
Knob to the Ball

• The knob can go to the ball but we must define
  the ball location. Is the knob going toward the
  pitcher or toward the plate? That is an
  important distinction to make.
• Taking the knob to the pitcher usually involves
  pulling both hands forward at swing initiation.
  This linear hand path doesnt interface with
  turning hips well.
• Taking the knob to the opposite batters box or
  knob to the plate is a more rotational or
  circular hand path that does interface with
  turning hips best.
• Knob to the pitcher is a pull field move and knob
  to the plate yields the best plate coverage to
  all fields because the hip turn can reposition
  the release point.
• In the best swings, the knob is going away from
  the players belly button on approach.
• The upper body loading move should be the same
  against every pitch and should be occurring
  before the pitch location is determined.
• Taking the knob past the lead pants pocket is a
  great weight shift cue to get players off the
  back side or release the back side.
• Players that start the knob to the plate can
  rotate this body and turn on the inside pitch
  for an inside adjustment.
• It is better to set the posture and upper body
  loading for the down and away pitch and adjust up
  and in.

98
Maintaining the hinge angle and shaft to shoulder
position. Working on the pitchers pitch
location a couple of balls out of center and
down. Driving that ball back through box or right
of pitcher.
99
Hitting vs. Pitching

• Pitchers coil their hips, shift their weight, and
  have their hands going back as they land on a
  forward new balance center.
• By doing this they segment the body.
• Hitters make an identical move. If a batter can
  throw in a segmented whip then the batter can hit
  in a segmented whip.

100
The Bonds Hitch

• Barry does a few things people should understand.
  
• He has two mechanisms that increases his body
  segmentation, increases his torque, provides his
  barrel and his hips a running start, and allows
  him to have tremendous speed quickness and bat
  speed.
• He drops the entire box (hands and arms) and tips
  the barrel to the opposite field gap AS he shifts
  his center of gravity. He cannot load the
  shoulders until the box is raised and his hands
  return to plane. By this time the hips are
  already opening.
• This overlap gets him to a very powerful launch
  position with the ability to rotate on any pitch
  location and drive the ball out of the park.

101
Bonds drops the box in a downward hitch.
102
Bonds exaggerates the tip to the opposite field
gap as the box is down. Film clips will surprise
you showing the number of Hall Of Fame hitters
that tip the barrel to the opposite field during
their hip coil / stride to delay the shoulder
turn back.
103
Bonds hitch allows the barrel to return to the
launch slot allowing the hips to get ahead of
hands. Getting the hands to go back as the hips
rotate open creates great power possible due to
hip and shoulder plane separation.
104
Casting

• Casting is releasing the hinge angle early
  creating a long angle before the barrel gets into
  the hitting zone.
• Casting is common in batters that have poor
  weight shift.
• Maintaining the bat to forearm angle around 90
  degrees to just before release is essential.

105
Casting is losing the hinge angle early
106
Wrapping

• Wrapping the bat is breaking the hinge angle down
  to an acute angle early usually during the load.
  Wrapping is often happening in conjunction with
  getting the barrel too far around the body to
  recover or too deep in the neck slot creating a
  wrapped and trapped bat weakening the kinetic
  chain.

107
Wrapping deep in the neck slot. This is an area
that the bat can get trapped whereby the hitter
cannot get back to the ball. Note the flat hands.
The lead shoulder has a strong tendency to pull
of the ball or take a hard turn left from this
position. Batters with this set up often just
stare at the low and away strike as they know
they cannot pull the trigger out there.


108
The Top Hand Drill

• The top hand drill should be executed with a
  vertical barrel or tipped barrel and a pronated
  top hand.
• The goal of the drill is to reveal to the player
  the fact that the top hand accelerated the barrel
  back into the backside of the swing arc toward
  the catcher vs. pulling forward with the bottom
  hand.
• If both hand pull forward the rotation center
  between the hands is not accessed.

109
Top hand drill with pronated top hand. Properly
done the barrel should point to the opposite
field gap.
110
Top hand returning to plane to the launch slot
111
Top hand drill getting to the palm up position
112
Top hand drill getting to palm up impact
113
O degree slot - flat
114
Vertical weightless bat
115
Flattening bat into the 45 degree slot
116
Bottom Hand Drill

• The one hand drills are most often misused and
  misunderstood.
• These drills can be damaging to youth players
  with weak growth plates and should be done with
  very light bats and a padded target to decelerate
  the bat.
• You cannot execute the bottom hand drill
  effectively with shifting to the new balance
  center.
• Watch the starting barrel positions of the one
  hands drills. They should be done with emphasis
  on barrel rotation.
• The barrel will go from past vertical to the
  diagonal plane.

117
Bottom hand drill starting position also note
bat tip direction for this drill.
118
Bottom hand turning palm down
119
Bottom hand supinates (turns palm down) and
releases
120
Bat Lag

• Bat lag is a good thing as it describes the
  barrel lagging behind the hands.
• It seems that the barrel will not catch up but
  when players learn to stay in the lag position
  longer they tend to have more barrel pop.
• It is often used to described the position on
  approach where the barrel is coming parallel to
  the plate before the hinge angle is released.
• Some call this shaft to shoulder barrel
  position as the barrel is seen close to the rear
  shoulder as the rotation of the body is under
  way.
• If players are struggling with weight shift
  timing, then ask them to take the hinge angle to
  or past the lead pocket before release.

121
Staying above, inside, and hands ahead of the
ball in the barrel is in the LAG phase
122
Bat Drag

• Bat Drag is considered a swing flaw. In bat
  drag, the player is pulling the top hand forward
  toward the pitched ball.
• Great hitters rotate the barrel around the hands
  at swing initiation.
• Pulling forward of the barrel with the top hand
  is a swing flaw.
• The top hand should be torquing the barrel into
  the back side of the swing arc as the elbow
  slots.
• The slotting of the rear elbow should allow the
  top hand to accelerate the barrel backwards.

123
Shaft to shoulder position, weight shift moving
the release point forward. A good weight shift
cue is get the knob past the lead pocket before
you release the barrel. You will shift at the
right and for a purpose.
124
Stepping in the bucket

• The same fix for lunging works here as well. The
  step to the left is an effort to pull with the
  lead shoulder and head to generate power.
  Failure to coil the hips and load the barrel in
  the correct pattern is the upstream cause of
  lunging and or stepping in the bucket.
• Players that hit well have a sense of popping
  the whip (the head of the barrel) on the ball.
  Those that dont hit well have a sense of pulling
  the knob forward with the head and lead shoulder.
  This group has no sense of where the barrel head
  is during the swing.
• Players must learn top hand loading action to get
  the top hand in the proper position to function
  at contact.

125
Not Shifting Enough Weight

• Staying on the back side and spinning is a common
  swing flaw of youth batters taught bug squish
  mechanics early in the career.
• These hitters are out of balance to the back leg
  and are called dead front foot hitters and
  spinners.
• When you start the rotation with the weight over
  the back leg you reverse pivot and fall back
  before impact.
• The INFINI-TEE teaches the weight shift the right
  way.

126
Keeping to much weight back
127
Spinning

• Spinning means the batters hips / shoulders,
  arms, and hands are all turning together.
• It is also called a one piece swing.
• One piece spinning generates a late connected
  swing with weakness to the opposite field.
• The opposite of spinning is body segmentation.

128
Bug Squishing is Spinning with no weight
transfer. Watch the foot in relationship to the
red line.
129
Heel swivels behind the starting line when you
bug squish and fail to shift weight and release
the back side.
130
Drills

• Walk up drill.
• The walk up drill helps players that cannot get
  off their back side and tend to stay back there
  and spin or squish the bug.
• The goal is to feel the flow of weight from back
  to front and to be able to block the push and
  convert it to rotary power.
• In performing this drill, the batter can take a
  step behind his body with the back foot, then a
  step forward toward the tee and hit the ball off
  the tee.
• The first step BEHIND is important as it help the
  batter coil the back hip inward, and lower the
  lead shoulder.
• We also tip the barrel opposite field gap to get
  more segmentation of the body and assign an aim
  point for the inside seam.

131
Stopping the Bar Arm

• You cannot stop the bar arm without finding a
  trigger replacement for it.
• The bar arm is a bad trigger but gets ingrained
  into the batters loading pattern.
• We have had success changing the barrel set to
  the helmet splitting slot or the 90 slot and
  changing the trigger to just the hands tipping
  the barrel to the pitcher or the opposite field
  gap at the first move.
• Tipping the barrel (loading the hands only) as
  the hips coil vs. extending the lead arm is an
  acceptable fix.
• This new first move is a vast improvement in
  mechanics and physics.

132
Barring Beginning
133
Bar arm is early lead arm extension. The early
extension of the lead arm creates a long swing
radius with no torque in the midsection and a
slow powerless swing. Lead arm extension should
occur during the stride by hip / shoulder spatial
separation. The rear elbow moving up and in as
the hips open should extend the arm naturally.
It should not be a conscience or active process.
134
Hips vs. Shoulder Action

• The hips sockets are fused to the spine and the
  hip turn is flat and in a barrel and uniformly.
  The hips turn as a single unit.
• The shoulders are floating in the muscles of the
  scapula and unlike the hips can work
  independently.
• The lead shoulder can load down and in and the
  rear shoulder can continue to load back and in
  late in the sequence after the hips are already
  rotating forward.
• The best hitters are loading the back shoulder
  late in the sequence just before foot plant
  maximizing the stretch in the middle.

135
Internal Swing Timing

• In the segmented swing, the batter must practice
  the synchronization of he lower and upper body
  working against each other creating torque and
  creating it and releasing it on a fast moving
  ball.
• The ideal synchronization has the more vertical
  barrel returning to plane after the hips have
  begun rotating into foot plant and just before
  foot plant / swing initiation.

136
KAAAAA-Pow

• We use KAAAAA-Pow to show the time relationship
  to the pre-swing loading moves to the actual
  reactive / swing phase.
• Bonds is loading 6-8 frames and swinging 4.5
  framed from launch to contact. That is two parts
  KAAAA to one part 1 Pow.
• A 21 load to fire ratio should be shown and
  especially enforced on tee work.
• The Hands Back Hitter can help create separation
  and sequence the swing into the better load to
  swing time relationship.

137
The Beginning of the True Swing

• Ben Hogan said the golf swing begins when the
  hips turn left.
• Batters that fail to heed this and start the
  hands to the balls as the first move will likely
  have the hands pass the hips before contact and
  become upper body hitters.
• Getting the hands back dynamically and having the
  hips begin the positive move to the ball and
  letting the energy work up the kinetic chain
  takes 1000s of reps.
• The lead leg should fully extend pushing away
  from the pitcher a few hundredths of a second
  before contact.

138
Dead Start Hitting

• Dead start hitters have no pre-swing movement and
  attempt to get the barrel moving quickly at GO!
  from a motionless start.
• The lead shoulder tends to pull OFF the ball and
  the power side is usually the pull field.
• It is desirable to have some small muscle
  movement in the upper body and preferably a
  movement that breaks inertia giving the barrel a
  running start.

139
Upper Body Loading

• Three anatomical parts or groups can be used to
  show a movement pattern of many MLB greats.
• 1. The relative hand positional changes (BHUT)
  and tipping the barrel with a hand trigger.
• 2. The relative elbow positioning. The lead elbow
  will come down nearer the body as the rear elbow
  moves up and in.
• 3. Changes of the spine angle to move the barrel
  by postural changes.
• ( Pujols)

140
Pre-Launch Movement

• Pre-launch movement of the barrel breaks inertia
  and is used to have the barrel in position to be
  moving to the launch slot from above it as the
  player says Go!.
• Batters can enter the swing plane from above it
  better than from below it.
• It is easier to have the barrel higher to be on
  plane for a low pitch and adjust up to a higher
  pitch location and almost impossible to set up
  for a high pitch and adjust the plane downward.
• This is why bat slots and hand sets are so
  important. They effect adjustability and
  segmentation and top hand whip.

141
B.H.U.T. (Bottom Hand Under Top)

• When players load the barrel during their stride
  into the more vertical barrel position you can
  plainly see the bottom hand orient itself under
  the top hand.
• The hand / arm action of the barrel can best be
  done with no shoulder counter rotation and it can
  bypass tension and too much counter rotation in
  the shoulders.
• It is a useful cue to show hitters what the
  trigger move Bottom Hand Under the Top (BHUT)
  means and how it can replace arm barring,
  hitching, and set up the batter to rotate the
  barrel at swing initiation vs. pulling both hands
  forward.
• The shoulders are merely a linkage in the chain
  and a slow source of power when used as a primary
  power generator.
• Great hitters get the torque from the hip turn up
  through the torso and into the barrel too quickly
  to consider the shoulders as a power source.
• Young players that use the slow shoulder gear as
  the power source are upper body hitters.
• This can be seen on clips as the hands pass the
  hips and ball contact occurs before the lead knee
  locks out indicating completion of the hip turn.
• Remember, the hips turn to completion .05 seconds
  before contact. Lead leg extension is the
  indicator point for hip turn completion.

142
BHUT is a hand only pre-launch trigger. Notice
the lead elbow comes down close to the pec muscle
during the load of the barrel and coil of the
hips. The hitter can get a sense of the barrel
in his hands. Some coaches call thisfinding the
barrel. This move has to be exaggerated to be
taught effectively and then reduced if necessary.
143
Tipping opposite gap with hip coil. This is the
back view of the tip and rip position where
the batter feels the hips coil in concert with
the hands trigger forward. The center of gravity
is shifted to the back foot as the hips coil and
the hands cock the barrel out of plane. This is
the loading action of a two plane swing. In the
Inside Seam Drill you can tip the barrel to the
outside seam and swing with the side seam as the
aiming point on approach.
144
The forward tipped barrel tipped will return to
plane at launch and create a wide hip/ shoulder
line difference (X angle) torquing the
midsection. If the barrel is loaded out of plane
it will naturally get back on plane about 4 -5
inches from foot plant. The hips get ahead of the
hands without thinking hips ahead of hands using
this upper body loading pattern.
145
All barrels return to the normal launch slot as
the hips rotate into foot plant. The overlap of
the late turning in of the shoulders just as the
hips turn out give effortless power from torso
stretch. Widening the X angle stores energy in
the torso that can be paused to handle off speed
pitches.
146
Tip and Rip

• This drill can teach the basic concepts of upper
  body loading without any explanations as to the
  why.
• If you hand cock the barrel to the outside seam
  as the stride begins and approach the ball aiming
  at the inside seam the proper loading action can
  occur.
• A positive side effect of this drill is the
  uncanny ability to hit line drives back through
  the box.
• The inside / out approach that results from this
  drill contacts the ball center getting maximum
  compression.
• Opposite field power and outside plate coverage
  is greatly enhanced in this simple drill.

147
Tip and Rip Drill

• Since the perfect high level swing has some
  complex elements that make explanation difficult
  we break the process down into a simple beginning
  and a reactionary phase ending that gives the
  batter vital ball flight feedback.
• The beginning is the tip of the barrel with hip
  coil. The tip is the forward tipping of the
  barrel to the opposite field gap with the hands.
  The shoulders stay relaxed and on the same line
  of direction (LOD) as the feet and the hips coil
  as the hands only tip the barrel.
• The two negative loading moves that we want to
  connect in the players mind are the hand tip and
  the hip coil / tuck.
• So the command is coil your hips as you tip the
  barrel. The hips and the hands must get behind
  the rotary mechanism.
• The reactionary phase (swing) is stride and hit
  the inside seam of that ball on the tee with the
  laces vertical and facing backwards.
• The goal is to load the hips and the hands, carry
  the loaded hips and barrel position forward in
  the stride and then get inside the ball yielding
  a line drive through the pitchers mound area.
• The plane transition of the barrel from tipped to
  opposite field gap to back at the rear shoulder
  as the hips open into foot plant will yield the
  effortless line drives . If they practice the
  drill with this visual feedback of the inside
  seam as the aiming target and the ball flight
  objective of a ball hit between the gaps then
  they can synch the weight shift and barrel
  movement such that the lead shoulder is coming
  back to the ball at launch as the hips are
  opening.

148
Rear Elbow Slotting

• In rotational mechanics, the rear elbow starts
  down from an internally rotated position to a
  position tight to the players side.
• The top hand goes from palm facing the pitcher to
  palm facing the sky.
• Top hand action from a pronated top hand to a
  palm up top hand is essential to develop a high
  level swing.
• The tee position and inside seam drill makes the
  rear shoulder slot to get inside the ball.

149
Are you a linear or rotational hitter?

• This is easy
• If both hands pull the knob forward at swing
  initiation then you have a linear hand path.
• If you rotate the barrel between the hands at
  swing initiation then you are a rotational
  hitter.
• The top hand in rotational hitters doesnt move
  forward at launch.
• A pronated top hand cannot move forward and sets
  up barrel rotation at swing initiation.

150
BHUTbottom hand under top
151
Keeping the Front Shoulder on the Ball

• For LL hitters it might be advisable to attempt
  this using a preloaded upper body.
• The advanced player gets more torque with a
  loading pattern that BRINGS the lead shoulder
  back to the ball at precisely the right moment.
• This can be mechanized by triggering the barrel
  to the opposite field gap or by adopting a higher
  barrel set.
• The return of the barrel to plane will load the
  back scapula late (as the front side lower body
  base is formed) and the shoulder returns to the
  optimal launch point (on the ball) dynamically.
• This yields timing, rhythm and X factor stretch
  that great players seek.

152
Lead Arm Extension

• Golf is a double pendulum swing whereby the lead
  arm begins fully extended. The shoulder and the
  wrist are the levers.
• Baseball is potentially a triple pendulum swing
  where the shoulder, the lead elbow, and the wrist
  are the levers.
• Even in baseball, the lead arm can go into some
  form of full extension before contact on certain
  pitch locations. This lead arm extension should
  occur dynamically as the shoulder loading and hip
  unloading overlap.
• Bar arming is when a player extends the lead
  arm fully and THEN shifts the weight.
• Great players are getting some lead arm extension
  AS they shift and separate.

153
Lead Arm Action

• The lead arm( bottom hand) is the connection to
  the rotating core. The lead arm must connect to
  the rotation.
• Since a pronated top hand cannot move the bat
  forward, proper hand sets can make the lead
  shoulder the default connection to the body.

154
Is a hitch good or bad?

• Depends
• A hitch that triggers loading the weight back and
  alternates / delays the loading of the upper body
  as the front side base is forming can create
  tremendous bat speed.
• A poorly timed hitch can kill quickness and
  narrow the timing window.
• It is good to understand what is happening
  physically before cloning hitters into dead start
  positions.
• Some batters learn to use this internal timing
  and synchronization mechanism and abbreviate it
  and still have quickness.

155
Early Bat Speed

• Early bat speed is defined as the speed that the
  barrel generates into the backside of the swing
  arc.
• Early bat speed is only possible with rotational
  swings that properly use the bottom and top hand
  correctly at swing initiation to rotate the
  barrel vs. pull it forward.
• Upstream of that hand action is the elbow path
  that gets the barrel flat and on plane quickly.
• The players hands have little to do with getting
  flat at launch. The lead elbow up and the rear
  elbow slotting down set the swing to the pitch
  plane.
• The upper body spatially connects to the turning
  hips better with barrel rotation. Early
  connection allows the outside pitch to be hit
  deeper with great top hand action in the palm up
  position.

156
Late Bat Speed

• Hitters that initiate the swing from a dead start
  by pulling the lead shoulder usually have a late
  connecting swing that doesnt begin to generate
  power until the barrel starts to release out
  front.
• They are good pull hitters but often fail to
  offer (take / stare) at the away pitch as they
  instinctive realize that their mechanics do not
  favor it.

157
Trajectory

• The ball falls almost 2-3 feet in a downward path
  from the mound to home plate. To line up the
  swing path to the pitch plane the batter must
  create an upper cut without dropping the hands.
• The lateral tilting of the shoulders after the
  hips start turning left prevents lunging and
  lines up flat hands into the pitch plane.
• The weight should shift head over belt buckle
  to maintain the vertical axis before the
  shoulders tilt to line up the hands to the plane
  of the ball.

158
The Tilt www.mikeepsteinhitting.com

• The hip turn is the first move to the ball.
• The lateral shoulder tilt is the next move.
• The shoulder tilt connects the shoulders to the
  hip drive and lines the barrel up on the plane of
  the pitch.
• The shoulder tilt is GO! for the upper body.
• The weight shift must maintain a near vertical
  axis