What’s going on guys? Welcome. If you’re new here my name is Dominic and I’m from Perfect Swings USA, and today we’re going to be introducing a new drill series to the channel called quick tips.
And what we're going to be doing is talking about some of the issues we see in our lessons with hitters.
We're going to dissect those issues and then just give you some drills to help fix those problems. So today, we're going to be talking about swinging across the body. Let's get into it.
Swinging Across the Body
So we're talking about swinging across the body and what that typically looks like, is guys when the swing, they start out, they work across their body and continue that direction, versus going through the ball this way, and try to promote that solid contact. So, there are a couple of things that stems from.
Issue #1: Swinging Across the Ball
Number one, this is probably the most common especially for younger guys is when people set up and there hands are right here, when they load, they don't bring them back in like you want to. They start here and stay here and they end up swinging across their body because they think and decide well, it's like every other coach tells them, so they just continue that way, instead of forward.
Issue #2: Squashing the Bug
The second spot that we see it happen is what we call “squashing the bug” and what this looks like is when guys load. They get back here and they just rotate on that back foot. Your foot typically stays flat and they don't actually push off that foot and go forward. And so what happens there is, when they rotate, their upper body goes back and they end up swinging across the body like that.
Issue # 3: Shoulders Parallel to the Ground
And then the third thing we see is when the player loads their shoulders stay parallel to the ground. So, what that looks like, I'll show you with my bat here.
They'll start their load, stay parallel to the ground and because every action has an equal and opposite reaction, their shoulders are going to stay on that same plane when they go through their swing. And what that causes is they start here, their shoulders are going to push the bat out versus push the back forward.
Swinging Across the Ball Solution
So those are usually where we see those issues stem from, so let's talk about how to fix it. All right, so the first thing that we talked about before is simply in set up and starting out and staying out and causing you to swing across the ball.
So the quick fix for there is obviously going to be take those hands and bring them back in and then of course, when you're swinging, try and think about working in to out. But most importantly, bring those hands in and keep them there.
Squashing the Bug Solution
So the second issue that we talked about was squashing the bug. And again, that is loading and staying on that back foot and almost coming backwards.
We're going to do a whole separate video on that, but we have five or six different things you can do to fix it. But hopefully, I will say that whenever you're loading or starting or working on it, just think about going back onto that back leg and coming forward on your front foot. Actually pushing off your back leg and you want to see a little bit of movement in your upper body towards the ball.
Shoulders Parallel to the Ground Solution
All right, so next we're going to talk about our shoulders in our loading stride. And again what we're trying to avoid here is loading and striding with our shoulders parallel to the ground because that's going to cause casting the hands. So what you can do here is you can use your bat for this, but if you have a PVC pipe or broomstick you prefer to use that. The longer the object, the more visual cue you’ll have during this drill.
So what we’re going to do is take the pipe and move it across our chest like this, and we’re simply going to load and stride, just like normal. We’re trying to create that shoulder angle. So, we’re trying to look like this and we’re trying to avoid being like that.
And if you have a swing path trainer, it’s going to have even more benefit for you because then you can try and match the boarding. So we're just going to do the same thing. We're going to load and stride again, but we're going to try to match the board. So we're going to be right here, load and stride. Again, just trying to match that board, just like that.
Two Drills with the Swing Path Trainer
So for these last two drills I’m going to talk about, we're actually going to use our swing path trainer and this is going to be really beneficial to whoever's using it because it's going to do more than just fix the issue of swinging across your body and what I mean by that is, with a lot of players, especially younger players, there's usually a disconnect between what you're doing and what you're actually doing.
And what I mean by that to give you an example is if I'm swinging across my body and the coach is telling me to correct it by saying “Hey, stay a little bit more up the middle and keep your hands in”, and you're trying to make that correction, there's nothing telling you whether you're doing it or not, except for the coach.
All right, but there's nothing in your swing letting you know what exactly is happening. So with this, because we have physical barriers of the backboard and the guide bar, I'm going to know exactly what's happening throughout my swing.
All right. If I’m swinging it across and hit the guide bar or I'm hitting this front corner, I know that I'm still swinging across and I have to adjust my swing to stay more up the middle. So it's going to play a huge role with these last two drills and it's also going to provide visual cues. So you have a goal where you're trying to line up your swing and everything and again those barriers that are forcing you to swing that certain way.
Drill #1
So with the first drill we're going to do, I have it set up middle middle, hitting to center field and the adjustment I’m going to make here is, I'm going to take this back in and I'm going to bring it in about an inch or two towards me. And so what this is going to do visually is show me where my hands and where my barrel is supposed to be going.
And also again, talking about those physical barriers, if I don't follow this swing path, I'm going to know it and then I'll have to self adjust on my own. So you're swinging normally trying to take your hands to the ball. Stay in to out, and eventually, that will fix that swinging-across-the-body issue.
Drill #2
The second drill you can do here is set it back up normally, and I'm going to take a tee topper and put it down at the end. So what this is going to do is it's going to force me to keep more of my bat over the board. So if I do end up pulling off the ball swinging across, I'm going to hit right up here on the corner. So it's going to force me to stay over the board and through the ball much longer instead of pulling off.
But those are all the drills were going to be talking about today. If you guys have any questions about what we did or if you have any issues that you're working through or maybe one of your players is working through and you'd like us to talk about it, leave it in the comments below. We'd love to talk about it another time and make a video for you about it, but until the next one, we'll see you soon.
