The Six Steps Of HITTING
THE GRIP: Place your bat on your back shoulder. Grip the bat with your bottom three fingers on each hand. Close your hand around the bat. Your ‘knocking’ knuckles should be in alignment and on top. Raise your bat to a 45-degree angle; keep your hands shoulder height, and your elbows down and relaxed.
THE STANCE: Stand with your feet just outside your shoulders. Twist your back foot slightly inward, so it points slightly towards the pitcher. Bend your knees and lean your upper body slightly towards home plate. Your weight should be essentially on the balls of your feet.
IT ALL STARTS WITH A GOOD STANCE AND GOOD GRIP!
THE SWING:
1)LOAD UP – SHIFT your weight to your back foot. This is accomplished by moving your hands straight [level] back about two or three inches. [At this point you should feel your weight on you back foot, primarily on your toes/balls of your feet]
2)THE STRIDE – Stride your front foot forward about two inches placing your toe down first. Your back foot’s heel should come off the ground [stride should never be longer than your bat –toe to toe].
3)POP YOUR HIPS – turn your back foot towards the pitcher and ‘pop’ your hips, also towards the pitcher. When completed properly, your back foot’s laces should end up facing the pitcher. [DO NOT TURN YOUR SHOULDERS, KEEP SQUARE TO HOME PLATE] As you POP YOUR HIPS, your hands should stay high, the ‘KNOB’ of the bat should point down at the hitting zone, and the hitter’s eyes should be down looking at the hitting zone.
- Drill: have the batter stand in a batting stance with the bat held behind their back [linked through both arms] in the normal batting stance. Then have the batter LOAD-UP, TWIST THEIR BACK FOOT, and POP THEIR HIPS.
4)PUSH THE BAT TO THE BALL [or ‘PUSH TO HIT’] – a bit tough to understand, but, if you are in the correct position, the natural move will be to PUSH THE BAT with your backhand into the path of the ball and THROUGH the ball.
5)EXTEND TO THE OUTFIELD – Continue to push your hands through the ball and extend your arms towards center field.
6)FOLLOW THROUGH – Finish your swing and HOLD ONTO THE BAT.
WHEN DO I LOAD UP? WHEN THE PITCHER IS A THE TOP OF HIS POWER TEE!