Thursday, October 22, 2015
Baseball Swing Path: How-To Increase A Hitter’s Strikeouts?
http://hittingperformancelab.com/baseball-swing-path/
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How Do You Strikeout 208 Times in 2015 Like Chris Davis? (Is Baseball Swing Path the Issue Here?)
Is he taking more of an extreme uppercut on the baseball swing plane?
Is he not cutting down on his swing with 2-strikes?
Is he using an excessive barrel tilt, before he launches into the turn, much like Josh Donaldson did between the 2013 and 2014 seasons? CLICK HERE for this Athletics Nation post titled, “Josh Donaldson: Changes in Approach & Mechanics”.
Is he more susceptible to swinging at pitches out of the strike zone than say a Joey Votto? CLICK HERE for this great “Joey Votto on Hitting” FanGraphs.com article about the changes he made to his baseball swing path in 2013.
Here’s another perspective, from a guy I admire because he will readily admit he was wrong – on national television!!
Check out this short 3-min, 47-sec baseball swing path video of Harold Reynolds offering an explanation to the increase in MLB hitter strikeouts:
This video was done in July of 2012. Basically, Harold Reynolds traces the high strikeout totals back to how coaches push their hitters to ‘let the ball get deep’.
Look, hitter’s are dealing with hitting a pitch that, beforehand, they DO NOT know what:
- Pitch it is,
- Speed it is, and
- Location it is.
Sure, there are probabilities, but they’re almost NEVER 100% sure (stealing signs and/or a pitcher’s ‘tells’ aside).
Illustration from Ted Williams’s The Science Of Hitting
book on matching the plane of the pitch. The bottom image can even serve as the extreme uppercut if flipped upwards.
Hitters have to build a large margin for error into their swings, if they want to succeed.
Then it got me thinking…
Sometimes we can learn more from what not to do, than what to do.
Coaches & instructors, I’d love to hear your thoughts.
Please ‘Leave a REPLY’ in the comments section below to the following question…
What are the 2 biggest mistakes you think hitters make that lead to higher strikeouts?
I’m the founder of the Hitting Performance Lab. I’m a member of the American Baseball Coaches Association (ABCA), the International Youth and Conditioning Association (IYCA), and the Society for American Baseball Research (SABR).I’m also partnered with the Positive Coaching Alliance (PCA).
I’ve spent 10 years in the corrective fitness field, and have too many certifications to bore you with.I also played four years of Division One baseball at Fresno State (2000-2003).
It’s NOT how you study, but what you study that counts.I apply proven human movement science to hitting a ball.
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My name is Joey Myers and I'm the founder of HittingPerformanceLab.com.
I'm a member of the American Baseball Coaches Association (ABCA), the International Youth & Conditioning Association (IYCA), and Society for American Baseball Research (SABR). I'm also partnered with the Positive Coaching Alliance (PCA).
I played four years of Division-1 college baseball at Fresno State, I've spent the last decade in corrective fitness, and have a passionate curiosity to help baseball and softball players follow human movement rules validated by science.