THE NECESSITY FOR USING SHORT TRAINING BATS
TO TEACH BAT SPEED, PRECISION AND POWER SKILLS.
Featuring:
“ THE SECRETS OF TEACHING WRIST HITTING”By Harvey Krupnick,
Varsity Baseball Coach Holliston High
School, Holliston, MA. and director of
Harvey Krupnick's Batting SchoolLets face it coaches one of the most difficult skills to teach effectively in the baseball swing, are the movements of the arms, elbows forearms, wrists and hands. These movements happen so fast it's difficult to break down and come up with training drills which will effectively train these actions. The use of short training bats aren't a quick fix piece of equipment but a very legitimate way to impact the training of your players. The short one handed training bat improves the precision contact ability of each arm, wrist and hand separately from the other arm, wrist and hand. The player is able to see and feel the difference and you as their hitting coach will have a training method to isolate in on a specific part of the swing that needed an adjustment. It (short bat) especially elevates the skill in the weaker non dominate arm, wrist and hand. The short bat can truly help adjust a poorly performed mind, muscle memory swing pattern into a technically sound short accurate stroke. Often our players swings are for whatever reason physically and mentally negatively imbedded in their own personal style of swing action. Coaches are always looking for a method that will help improve the performance level of their hitters. Players imbedded mind, muscle memory swing patterns can be readjusted with the use of the short one handed training bat into a newly adjusted mind, muscle memory pattern, thus the ability of the short one handed training bat to improve performance isn't a gimmick piece of equipment, but a true legitimate training tool for coaches. Over the past 25 years I have found the use of short training bats can effectively teach the baseball swing in a shorter period of time than any other method, and I'd like to share and discuss this method with you.
When teaching hitting one batting fault that almost always comes up is the negative swing action of a “sweep hitter.” A hitter who flattens the bat early and swings out and around the plate creating a swing that is “long to the ball and short on follow-through.” This swing action is totally opposite of a technically efficient movement swing which is “short to the ball and long on follow-through.” A long swing exposes the handle of the bat to an inside fast ball. A short stroke can bring the barrel through the inside half of the plate thus making solid contact with the barrel and is more apt to keep the ball inside the foul lines. Moving short to the ball requires an explosive push through or punch through action and creates what we refer to as an “inside out swing.”
The Batting School began in 1974 and for the first time I started using batting tees to help hitters learn to control their body positions during the swing action. I thought tees would work a lot better than trying to teach someone to hit while throwing batting practice. As I grew up in the fifties and sixties this is the way hitting was taught. I wanted to try this and found right away hitters were able to learn hitting positions and adjust their swing actions in a shorter period of time. The batting tee controls the pitch ball variable allowing the hitter to concentrate on performing his mind, muscle memory patterns. Thus through swing repetitions off of the tee the hitter is able to solidify his five basic swing positions while maintaining a strong balanced finish. The correct positioning of the body is important as it creates a firm foundation for the swing to be performed from a strong, sturdy base of balance. The body in essence COMPLIMENTS how the EYES and HANDS perform. If the body swing foundation is poor then the EYES and HANDS have to COMPENSATE for a poor body position. You may hit the ball , but it won't be with authority.
Now that the body is in a good position and stabilized, it's time to begin training the swing actions. The swing action happens so fast it's difficult to figure out how to go about training it. One thing we need to understand is that even though we call it a “swing”(after the wrist have been cocked) we don't start the swing by flattening the bat and swinging the arms. The first part of the hitting action is not to swing, but to bring the hands to the ball, maintaining a cocked wrist position.(see photos A-2, A-4.) Therefore the top arm action begins as a piston like, explosive, power punch. As the hitter begins to pivot and turns the hips the cocked wrist position is maintained until the sense of visual timing indicates the exact moment to release the cocked wrist POSITION and WHERE. For example, the outside pitch location is deeper in the strike zone away from the hitter. The hands lead the knob of the bat and the barrel stays initially close to the back shoulder. (photo A-2.) The top hand wrist and elbow will drop to a leveling position earlier in the hitting action for the outside pitch, whereas the point of contact for the inside pitch is more out front of home plate, therefore the hitter will maintain a cocked wrist position a little longer and then release the cocked wrist position leveling the bat to the ball. The final point of contacting the ball is the result of a kinetic chain of movement events. Starting with the back foot pivot, leg drive (legs firming up) opening the hips, body slightly leaning in with balance, chin to shoulder, eyes tracking ball, and the right shoulder to elbow extend through the wrist hyper flexion action.(photo A-8) The sequence of unlinking this kinetic chain creates a powerful physical explosion of accelerated bat speed straight through the ball. Obviously this takes place in 100 ths of a second and is very difficult to see with the coaching eye, let alone train someone. This is where short bat training really comes into play as an excellent tool for the coach to be able to teach the integral parts of the wrist action swing. The short training bats are so short (20inches 14oz. photo DB-1) that it doesn't get in the hitters way of learning how to adjust their long swing action into a short quick elbow to wrist action. It also helps us to become better hitting coaches as the short bat unlike the longer game bat doesn't get in the way of the batter adjusting to a slightly new swing path. In fact the short bat facilitates this learning process.
In addition and traditionally we call it a baseball swing and “yes” the bat does swing, but it doesn't swing around the body as much as it accelerates around the wrist and hands. This means the top arm action doesn't begin as a swing action, but a piston like punch through action. This action allows a hitter to wait on a fast ball and still be quick and precision-like to the ball. It's the essence of good fast and curve ball hitting. It doesn't take much strength to straighten out the top arm elbow as in a loaded punch like action. One of the best drills to teach this action is to use a short training bat and with the top arm practice punching the ball off of tee with a flick of the wrist. ( I'll get into short bat training technique soon and please view the accompanying photos included with this article.) After the hitter strides and loads up the hands (cocking the wrists) the movement to start the forward action to hit is the simultaneous movement of pivoting the back foot, turning in the back knee and bringing all together to the front the back shoulder with the hands. When coaching players I refer to this part of the hitting action as “turning the corner” and “right side coordination.” Young hitters have a strong tendency to start their hitting by swinging around the corner rather than turning the corner and bringing the hands through the inside, thus enabling them to keep their hands and swing inside the ball. All the hitter has to do is just turn to the front, continuing to keep the elbows flexed (bent). When it's time to hit, both elbows simultaneously extend to the ball leaving the wrist still cocked until the last possible moment and then “BOOM” the cocked wrist position is released hitting the ball with maximum barrel head speed. Each wrist contains approximately 8 small bones allowing the bat to circle around the wrists creating a wrist action swing, rather than a full body swing which I call a recreational swing. A recreational swing allows someone to hit, but it's not a competitive swing allowing someone to hit fast balls and curve balls. It's important to understand how the baseball swing works and difficult to express the unraveling details of the swing in words. The wrist turning action is an isolated action creating precision and blurring bat speed. When the two bones in the arms are extended by the elbows the bat could be looked at as a third bone and when the wrist flexes to hit, the bat becomes an extension of the hands and needs to turn in proper alignment with the arms and hands. Power is created through the short, quick speed release of the elbows which immediately transfers to the flick of the wrists (kinetic chain) pivoting the bat with the hands and wrists. The bottom hand wrist action is very similar to a racquetball backhand and the backhand wrist flick can be trained with the use of the short training bat and batting tee.
The backhand wrist action and top hand piston punch action combine to create the “hammer like” speed action we are all looking for in our hitters. For sure all of us have heard of “HAMMERING HANK AARON.” I wonder why he was named “Hammering Hank?” Do you think it had something to do with his wrist actions? Hank was noted for hitting home runs with a “flick of his wrists.” Gee, just a flick of the wrist can create a long home run in fact 755 of them. Now that sounds easy. If you use the wrists correctly it makes hitting a lot easier for kids. Because it doesn't take strength so much as it takes quickness which translates into bat speed. Matter of fact if wrist techniques are performed correctly you don't even worrying about swinging level. You just push your hands at the ball and the flick of the wrists turns the bat straight through the pivoting action of the wrists. This is called isolating the wrists. Being able to isolate the wrist action at point of contact creates for a more accurate hit. (Please note on pitches slightly below the waist there may be a very slight turning of the bottom elbow upward with a slight dropping of the back shoulder combined with the body position slightly leaning in towards the plate.) When the wrists isolate the performance of bringing the bat level and basically cuts the ball in half (dead center) the hitter can now concentrate on seeing the ball and reacting to the speed and location of the ball with precision power and confidence. The hitter isn't concerned with trying to force the bat to make a level swing. If the wrist technique is done correctly the bat automatically goes straight through the ball without the hitter worrying about trying to swing level. It just happens as a result of proper technique. The hitter now trusts his hands that wherever he throws them he makes solid contact. That feeling and knowledge really creates confidence and makes all your hitters a threat to put the ball in play. This precision skill can easily be taught with the bottom hand performing a racquetball-like backhand with a short bat.
There're three parts to the baseball swing the BEGINNING, MIDDLE and ENDING. The BEGINNING starts (after the striding and cocking action is completed) by pivoting the back foot and bringing the hands (knob of the bat) to the ball while maintaining a check swing position or cocked wrist position. (please view accompanying photos.) The MIDDLE, point of contact, palm up palm down continuing through, both wrists performing their full wrist action. Top wrist at point of contact and through performs a wrist hyper flexion action and the bottom wrist at point of contact and through performs a wrist hyper extension action. This combined wrist action creates a precise pivoting action of the bat through the hands. The ENDING, maintaining the extension of the arms through a high follow through action. So there's a transition of the barrel of the bat from the back side to the front side with a quick “flick” of the wrists. Hitting doesn't begin by swinging, but by bringing the hands to the ball, maintaining the cocked wrist position for as long as possible and releasing the hammer like force at the last possible moment. This force is created with a minimal amount of muscle contraction effort, but with a relax quick reflex force similar to what takes place in a boxer's punch (quick jab.) Just straightening out the which really takes no strength creates the speed force of a punch which is transferred into bat speed. The precision for this is created by how fluid and accurate the bat can be transferred (pivoted) through the wrist turning action. Please note here, I stayed away from using the term “rolling the wrists over” because the wrists work so fast the human eye may detect a rolling over action, but the wrists really don't roll over. The wrists position at contact is palm up palm down, but please note upon contact both wrist actions obviously don't stop. There's a continuation transfer of barrel head speed. So you not only hit the ball, but you drive through the ball. To continue through the ball the top wrist hyper flexes. (View hyper flexion wrist photo.) This keeps the toe of the bat from changing it's path around the torque action of the bottom wrist. This proper wrist action creates a precise eye-hand barrel positioning enabling the batter to hit straight through the ball, whether the ball is low, high, inside or outside. This wrist action through the use of short bat drills brings out the hitting talent within your players. If the wrists happen to “roll-over” it takes the path of the bat slightly up, over the pitch and down. This creates an inaccurate wrist action and cuts off an effective follow through. Done correctly you can now visualize the barrel smoothly transferring from the back side to the front side straight through the pivoting action of the bottom wrist. The bat doesn't stop at palm up palm down contact, but the bat explodes through the ball and continues with full wrist hyper flexion and extension into the high follow through position.
A coach might be able to model this action, a coach might be able to explain this action, but it still doesn't mean his hitters will be able to copy the action, or conceptualize the idea into action. But if you put your hitters in a learning position with a tee and short bat your hitters will have their own chance to feel what your demonstrating and saying. They and you now have a training method to learn how to teach and produced a short, quick powerful wrist action. Thus allowing your players to be able to wait and be quick on the fast ball and wait slightly longer and take the curveball away, to the opposite field. As Ted Williams would say to me many times when I trained with him at his baseball camp in the early sixties (Lakeville, MA) “wait and be quick” and he would add…”stand deeper in the box, the longer you wait on the ball, the less your fooled, and the less your fooled the more your going to hit.” Ted's statement is very true to this day, the problem us coaches have is how do we bring out the speed, precision and power skills in our players? How do we teach our players that short quick stroke? And how do we coach it in a minimal amount of time? How do we teach the long time ago Ted William's tip “wait and be quick?”
All of our players have varying degrees of talent and quickness and it's our job as a coach to bring out that potential and talent in each and everyone of our players. Our players have for the most part excellent reflexes, but perhaps their concept of the swing isn't allowing them to reach their full potential. The short training bat allows us as coaches to be a better teacher of hitting because the bats are so short and light the bats don't get in the way of us trying to train our hitters in producing a “short, quick, powerful stroke.”
Hitting with the short training bat allows the batter to separate the bottom hand action from the top hand action. The bottom hand is basically very similar to a racquetball backhand wrist flick, while the top arm action begins with a piston like punch through action. Hitting with the bottom hand and top hand separate allows the batter to feel the difference of precision, power and coordination of each of these hitting actions. It gives the batter instant feedback on how well each arm-hand is performing it's own separate hitting technique. Initially the batter misses the ball entirely. It takes him several attempts just to find the ball with a left handed backhand. Initially it's not an easy skill to perform and that's just the point. It indicates to the batter he needs some work on this. He realizes his left hand can't even find the ball. Usually after more practice attempts the left hand finds the ball and the backhand begins to consistently make contact and soon after the power begins to blend in with the precision aspect. It's amazing after awhile the batter doesn't even think about missing anymore. You can stay with the batting tee drill or move on to ball toss from the side and later ball toss drills from the front. Now as each arm-hand is making progress you take the short bat and have the batter use his two hands together. It's imperative if your going to use short training bats that you know how to teach a racquetball back hand. You have to have the bottom hand an inch or two from the back shoulder and let the barrel hang or angle slightly towards right field or first base position. This position of the barrel maximizes the barrel head speed through the hitting zone as the starting position of the wrist begins in a totally torque position. (View one handed short bat photos.)
When training with two hands on the short bat I use what I describe as the “Loop n Hammer Position.” Please don't miss construe this term. It isn't the underneath, down side loop action which causes the bat to swing under the fastball. It's a term used to describe the top of the barrel movement at the beginning of the swing action. The barrel is slightly tilted in the stance position toward the pitcher or right field side of the diamond. The barrel position hyper flexes the bottom wrist maximizing the wrist power potential. This is one of those secrets of wrist hitting not much is said about. “View bottom wrist position in photo AA-1.) This bat position in the beginning appears to be a little more difficult to do, but with a short training bat it becomes much easier and the hitter usually finds immediate success. You're teaching your hitters how to finesse the bat by having them feel how to maximize their wrist action. They are learning how to manipulate their hands and wrists in a specific way which results in the hitter learning how to control the barrel head while learning how to maximize barrel head speed. What do us coaches want out of our hitters anyway. But, someone who has a quick powerful swing and still doesn't miss out on the precision contact aspect. This is the kind of result you can get from your players when training with a bat that is so light and short that it doesn't get in the way of them making your coaching adjustments. Plus if you can coach this and get the desired results your going to be a valuable hitting coach. The short training bat allows your hitters to make these kinds of positive adjustments. They are no longer using a long swing to the ball. What has happened is the top arm goes short to the ball and the barrel has to catch up to the hands. The top arm is learning to punch through, short to the ball and not to take a long sweeping swing path to the ball by going around the plate. The hands are now leading the knob of the bat way ahead of the barrel and the barrel has to play catch up to the hands, and in so doing the speed of the barrel becomes a “blurr” that is difficult for the eye to detect. In the starting position (stance) you can visualize the bat angle slightly towards the pitcher or opposite field. The hands begin to move toward the ball and the barrel and hands trade places. The barrel of the bat was slightly hanging towards the pitcher and now the hands go towards the pitcher and the barrel is moved back to the back shoulder which was the initial starting point for the hands, but at the SAME TIME the hands pushed to the front without swinging. (So we just got rid of a backside sweep, long swing, COOL EH!) We now have the hands and barrel in the check swing position. The barrel is now in it's normal “Hammer-like” wrist position ready to be released. This is done in one fluid movement of a powerful push through action. Your now hitting basically with a “flick of the wrists.” The bottom hand has been trained to do an accurate backhand wrist “flick” and the top hand does a punch through wrist “flick” and when there both put together they produce a “Loop to Hammer” wrist flick. Please note when you use a “loop n hammer” swing, you “loop n hammer” to an “inside-out swing action.” The wrists and hands stay inside the ball and basically bisect the ball in two. Note when the wrist flatten (to swing thru the ball) the top arm elbow follows this action as it simultaneously drops into the side of the hip or waist area. I said previously the batter actually no longer has to try to swing level. If the technique is performed correctly, swinging level through the ball happens automatically. Where ever the hitter throws his hands to the ball the bat becomes a dynamic straight line extension of the hands. REPEAT “the barrel is an extension of the hands.” That's because you've done the bottom hand short bat training where the hitter has practiced his backhand accuracy. Wherever the hitter throws his backhand he cuts the ball in two, DEAD CENTER. This action can be performed for any pitch in the strike zone, whether it's low, high, inside or outside. Now as a teacher of hitting you have just improved your players ability to make solid contact without even thinking. It just happens automatically as a result of elbow and wrist movement technique and with the advent of short training bats this technique can be effectively taught. This now gives credence to the old fun term of “all hitting is, is to SEE ball HIT BALL” and I believe that's what this all boils down to.
The short bat training not only helps the hitter adjust his longer stroke into a “short stroke” but it also accelerates the learning process. I have found this can be done within an hour of practice time or up to one hour a day for 5 days. Depending on the athletic ability of the player. I do this with as young as 8 year olds and up to high school, college and pro players. Once it's learned keep using the one hand short training bat as a warm-up training skill drill as it continues to create and improve in each arm separate PRECISION and POWER skill actions. Then we put both hands on the short bat and do “ loop n hammer” wrist flick drills and the hitter perfects the short quick stroke. After practicing short bat training from the “loop n hammer” starting position, the hitter can then adjust the starting position by placing the bat in the more traditional starting position between the shoulder and neck slot. (View photos.) Sometimes referred to as the “slot” position. Now with the short training bat the batter continues training from the “slot” position. A variety of Major Leaguers tilt the bat forward of their hands in front of their back shoulder, while others cock their bat near or in the shoulder slot. Some famous “loop n hammer” or cock your bat slightly forward of hands would be, Richie Allen, Frank Robinson, Frank Howard, Gary Sheffield, Mo Vaughn, Miguel Tejada, Ruben Sierra, David Ortiz and even Ted Williams and Stan Musial cocking of the wrist styles started with the barrel tilted slightly forward of their hands and toward the pitcher. Strangely nobody talks about this style of bat positioning. It's another secret of wrist hitting.
The position of slightly hanging the barrel of the bat forward of the hand position does look a little difficult for a young player to perform, but with a light short bat and a tee the youngster is able to learn this major league style at a young age. I like to plant seeds and get the kids started young. Almost all kids start by swinging a bat and performing a long arm swing. How do we as hitting instructors accept the challenge of helping kids adjust to hitting fast balls and curveballs.? We put the kids in a learning position with a bat they can handle and a technique of movement that allows them to feel the difference between their long swing and the short stroke. Short bat training helps hitters learn bat speed and precision skills faster. They learn how each arm and hand works a separate hitting action from the other arm and hand. The batters then put both together in a precise fluid coordinated action. When our kids become successful hitters, we become successful hitting coaches. My thoughts on what is a successful young hitter is someone who is always a THREAT to put the ball in play. Making consistent contact, cutting down on strike-outs and putting the ball in play is a successful young hitter. When you put the ball in play you've given your team a chance to win. As coaches we have seen a million times what might go wrong when a ball is put in play as anything can happen.
I've been doing one handed swing training drills with short training bats for the past 25 years. And now I'd like to share with you the short bat training method I've been using with all ages in my Batting School, with my Holliston High School Baseball Team along with college and professional level hitters.
© copyrighted by Harvey Krupnick, March 2005
