Movement in Hitting

“I coach youth teams in the spring, summer and fall. I travel to high school, college and pro games. I gather video as much as possible. I have probably 2 terabytes of hitting video.

It is painfully obvious that hitters across all levels aren’t learning what elite hitters doing.

There seems to be a fear of movement. A fear of letting hitters be athletic. A fear of inconsistency. In my opinion, this needs to change.”

— Bobby Tewksbary

I could not agree more. I long felt that too many coaches were quieting hitters down, and even removing basic elements of the swing such as the stride (it is possible to have a good no-stride swing but that’s a different topic). I’ve seen too many hitters who look more like statues at the plate than this player, Georgia’s Alex Hugo:

hugo_hr_alabama_zpsf613289c

[click on image to see swing]

I also could not agree more with Tewksbary when he says young hitters should be encouraged to try many types of movements. When doing batting drills, why not try taking a huge swing like Babe Ruth, or swing like Ty Cobb? Exaggerating movements in practice can help hitters incorporate new movements into their game swings. Even if an exaggerated movement isn’t used in games swings it can help hitters feel something that the coach is trying to teach.