Hips Lead Hands…Using Video Analysis
I’m always trying to find good video that helps to explain the concepts we try to teach regarding baseball fundamentals. The Hips Lead the Hands video offers a great short summary that coaches and players can use when trying to learn to use the lower half of the body. Underutilization of the “lower half” is likely the biggest single mistake that immature hitters make in swinging a baseball bat. You need only look at your younger player’s arm mass versus their leg and hip mass to be convinced that utilizing the larger muscles should increase bat swing speed. Faster swing speed means the ball should be hit harder…a good thing at all levels of baseball. Faster swing speed also means that players can wait longer to start their swing…this should result in swinging at better pitches, assuming their judgement is good.
I’ve included s short video we took of Banks Northington…probably the most advanced 12 year old hitter I’ve had on my Coke teams in the last 3 years. In order to watch the video, hit on the orange words: Banks Swing Analysis. That will take you to a 9 second YouTube video.
I attribute Banks’ swing attributes to several factors: 1) He’s had good instruction in his young life; 2) He works harder at this craft than most of his peers; 3) He’s a fantastic golfer and there are many similarities in the baseball and golf swing; 4) He’s got great hand/eye coordination.
If you watch Banks’ swing in slow motion, notice several things: 1) Good balance at the start and t/o the swing; 2) His head moves very little, especially once the forward swing begins…that means the ball is easier to see; 3) He gets some backward movement of his hands (the trigger) prior to his hands moving into the hitting zone; 4) His forward swing starts with his forward heel dropping (after a small stride) and his back knee rotating forward; 5) His hips begin rotation and has hands stay back (forward arm almost completely extended); 6) Once hips are completely “cleared”, his hands move forward. (BIG MUSCLES LEAD SMALLER MUSCLES).
Several other points worth mentioning: 1) At this point in his career, Banks hit most of his balls the opposite way. This happened for a number of reasons. First, he waits a long time before starting his swing and drives the ball the opposite way. Secondly, he almost always hits with a stiff front arm. As opposed to someone like Albert Pujols, who doesn’t extend his lead arm until after contact. A swing with such a stiff (again, in Banks case, probably a huge help in his golf game) makes turning on the inside pitch a little more problematic. If I had been pitching to Banks at this stage in his life, that’s certainly how I would have gone after him (up and in).
There is so much to the baseball swing, and I’m not particularly good at seeing the intricacies at full speed. Slow motion video analysis, if you have the equipment and the time, is a great tool that coaches may want to add to their toolbox.
