Early Season Hitting Advice from Chris Young

Young alters hitting approach

8 commentsby Nick Piecoro - Feb. 25, 2009 08:52 PMThe Arizona Republic

TUCSON - When Chris Young came up in the first inning Wednesday afternoon, Diamondbacks manager Bob Melvin noticed the left side of the Colorado infield shift toward the hole, the area where Young often hits the ball.

But after Young lined a single toward center field, Melvin took note of their reaction.

"You could see them look at each other like, 'Wow, that's a little different,' " Melvin said.
That wasn't even the best part of the day for Young, whose screaming home run to left-center field in the third inning capped an eventful Cactus League opener for the Diamondbacks, who beat the Rockies 5-3 at Hi Corbett Field.

For Young, it was an early indication that the mechanical adjustments he had been working on in the early days of spring training might pay dividends.

"It's not important that he has to get off to a good start," Melvin said. "But to work as hard as he has in the off-season and get some results right away, it certainly adds conviction when you go through some struggles."
Young described his changes as an effort to "stay quiet at the plate." He is trying to keep his head still. He has cut down on his stride, instead just picking up his left foot and putting it back down. He wants to see the ball longer, better.

"Last year," he said, "I was getting my foot down real early and I've been working with (hitting coach Rick) Schu to get more of a load going and try to stay a little more quiet. That way I can stay on the heater but at the same time be back for the off-speed."

He said he felt good with the changes in batting practice, but wasn't sure what to expect in games. If anything, he thought it would take some time to see results.

"I honestly went into the game thinking I was going to be jammed a few times or I was going to be late," he said.

Instead, he singled off Rockies ace Aaron Cook then homered off Ubaldo Jimenez, who is slated to be Colorado's No. 2 starter.

"The timing was there, but I still have a little work to do," he said.

http://www.azcentral.com/sports/diamondbacks/articles/2009/02/25/20090225spt-dbacks.html

ARod at "Pinch Drill"

Pujols at Pinch Drill

Albert Pujols’ front heel has just planted. His hands have just started to move, his back elbow has dropped significantly, and his back heel has just come off the ground.

His back leg is starting to internally rotate, and his back knee is starting to bend, while his shoulders have not yet started to rotate, indicating that his hips are rotating just ahead of his shoulders.

His hips have moved forward roughly 9 inches (the distance between the two blue dots).

http://www.chrisoleary.com/projects/Baseball/Clients/SampleFlipbooks/Flipbook_Hitting_Sample_Baseball_001.pdf

Pinch Drill Problems

One of the main problems we are having with our "hitting blast" is that the players are having a tough time understanding the pinch drill.



WHAT ARE WE TRYING TO DO?
What we try to simulate during the pinch drill is the moment in the swing where seperation occurs after our stride foot has landed.

HEEL PLANT
As your stride foot lands (ball of foot first, then instep to heel), your knee will be inside your ankle. As your front heel plants, that ends your linear movement to the baseball. With the end of your linear movement, you now will begin your rotational movement as your back heel begins to lift. This movement allows your hips to begin firing.

BACK HEEL
With your back heel lifting and hips firing, you MUST still keep your shoulder closed and locked on the pitcher. This is the position that we begin our pinch drill in.


SEPERATION
You should feel like a rubber band between your front knee and hands has been stretched to the max and is ready to snap back.

This is called SEPERATION. You are creating torque in your body.

Look at the posts above for some great pictures of "pinch" or Seperation!!!

Correct Stride

After loading your back hip/inside of back leg, you will pick up and put down your stride foot. While there are many different approaches to the stride.... somethings must remain constant. When your foot lands, your body must be in a 50/50 athletic position. There should be an equal amount of weight on each leg. This athletic stance is very similar to one that you would have when playing defense in basketball or the stance you would take as you got ready to steal a base.

If you leave any extra weight on your backside, this will cause you to spin, wasting energy when you rotate away from your body... spinning off the ball as your swing.

Instead, you must think about working forward towards the pitcher to get to 50/50. Your inside ball of your back foot will push your stride foot forward. As this push occurs, you will bring your power source forward in a linear path.

Some people ask how much ground should you gain with your stride? A good rule of thumb is that your back knee will gain the same amount of ground as your stride foot.

What about "staying back"? The main thing to remember that staying back is when the front foot lands, with your knees inside your ankles, and you are 50/50. If you get passed this, the momentum will lead your front knee going over or past your front ankle and this would be "out in front". The momentum gained during the stride is tough to stop if the knee gets outside the ankle.

Finally, one important teaching note is that we must land with our front foot closed when we are doing drills. This forces us to keep our front side locked in.
TIPS TO CHECK-
1. Landing on ball of front foot at 45 degree angle
2. Knees are inside the feet and have equal bend
3. Hips are square and shoulders are level and in (could be slightly down)
4. Hands are even with back foot (from side view) or behind back elbow and inside front elbow (when looking from a front view)
5. Barrel of the bat is pointing towards the head
6. In an athletic and balance position
7. Most hitters who fail to hit-fail to get to this position properly and with timing.

Video on Stride from Justin Stone

http://elitebaseballtraining.blogspot.com/

Correct Load or Negative Move

An easy way to load is to take your back foot and press the ball of the foot into the ground. When you are in your correct athletic stance, with your knees inside your ankles, and you press the ball of your back foot into the ground, you will feel the weight on the inside of your back hip through your compressed knee.

The pressing of the ball of the foot into the ground will cause you to sink. This sink is what must occur for a proper load.

TIPS TO CHECK:

1. weight shifts back to the inside of the back leg and hip (slow and controlled). Sit into back hip
2. center of gravity shifts to behind the head
3. head, shoulders, hips, knees stay level
4. putting yourself in good attacking position

Incorrect Load

When we load, we want to eliminate the "rocking motion" that many of us have learned about over the years. The problem with rocking back is that you will get your back knee over your ankle or outside your ankle.

If your knee is over or outside your back ankle, this will cause the weight to be on the outside of your back thigh. When the weight is on the outside of your thigh, you will be unable to move linear. Linear movement is an essential part of the swing.

EASY TIPS TO REMEMBER-

• IS MY KNEE OVER OR OUTSIDE MY ANKLE?
• DO I FEEL THE WEIGHT OR PRESSURE ON THE OUTSIDE OF MY THIGH?

If so.... you are loading wrong!

Tips on Grip

Look at this picture of Albert Pujols' grip on the bat. Look at his top hand and how it is not over rotated. Remember that you must keep the bat in your finger tips and stay loose with some finger movement to contact.

Remember that Loose= Quick!

Phase 1- The Stance

THE STANCE: Matter of style, but ……

1. needs to be able to get you into good hitting position with proper timing
2. should not be still-should create some rhythm and timing.
3. head should be middle, inside the knees with both eyes on the ball
4. shoulders parallel with the ground facing pitcher
5. hands-shoulder area
6. hips parallel to the ground
7. knees inside the feet
8. weight on the inside of the feet
9. Something to think about-changing your stance is a way to break bad habits. It creates new muscle memory.

Video on stance from Justin Stone

http://elitebaseballtraining.blogspot.com/