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Youth baseball hitting tips: Should players get the bat off their shoulders?
We have heard it through the ages—“Get the bat off your shoulder!” It is a common phrase used by fans, coaches, parents, and players. The question is “Why is that so bad?”
Here is what happens when a player moves his bat away from his body in his hitting stance. As he does this, he consequently separates his hands from his body. And he ends up more often than not with his hands out over the plate on contact. This technique will produce only an arm swing, with no body support.
So why is that a problem? Let’s look at it this way.
If you had to arm wrestle an opponent, would you want your hands away from your body? Or would you want your hands close to the body for support?
If you had to throw the best punch you could, would you hold your hands away from the body? No, you would not. Your hands would be in a fist right at the back shoulder.
If you had to push an automobile, would you want your hands at your side, or would you want them in front of you? Your body gives thrust to your hands. So naturally, you would want your hands in front of you.
Now, stand up like you’re at home plate with your bat out over the plate like it is in contact with the ball. What’s behind your hands? Nothing! When this happens, your body gives your hands no support.
You might say…”I’ve seen MLB players start with their hands away from their bodies. So it must be good.”
Yes, that is true. But MLB Players make an adjustment: before they direct the bat towards the pitch, they pull their hands back to their bodies in the shoulder area. We usually don’t see this, because it happens so quickly. But research shows that is exactly what they do. Most younger players don’t have the power and athleticism to be able to adjust like MLB players and Albert Pujouls can, so this why we teach all of our younger players to start with the bat on the shoulder, or slightly off.
Therefore, let us be clear.
You will ALWAYS be in a better position to hit for good contact and distance if you keep your hands up and close to the back shoulder in your stance. Now allow your hips to rotate, KEEPING YOUR HANDS AT THE SHOULDER until they move to contact the ball. Now your hands are in FRONT as they enter the contact zone, NOT OVER THE PLATE.
So if you want to learn how to hit better in baseball, remember this rule: The only time separation of the hands from the body occurs is when they move forward to hit the ball.
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Ordered the Super 8 hitting initial dvd for my 9 year old son. He has always made good contact,but struggled with rolling of the hands and a lot of ground balls. After one day if watching the video, one hour of practicing the 8,step without any pitching,and then putting it all together we saw immidiate improvement on bat speed and more line drives to left center. Proving the bat is getting around quicker and staying more compact. Ive been coaching his teams since he was 5, sometimes having someone other than dad coach him on technique sinks in a little more. Thanks coach,hes excitted to keep working.
That’s great Brad. Congrats on the success so far. Keep working on the steps and keep us posted.
Interesting the bat on the shoulder. It is true we have always taught kids to get that bat off the shoulder. Watching the video it makes sense how doing that keeps the hands in. I’ll be ordering the DVD!