Baseball Hitting Drills to Improve Your Bat Speed Part 2
This is the second article in the three part series entitled, Baseball Hitting Drills to Improve Your Bat Speed. If you havent had a chance yet to review the first article in this series, do so before reading on. This one will make far better sense with some background knowledge.
After a hitter begins to generate momentum with his back knee, thigh, and hip, the second of the three power sources kicks in to help in the bat speed process. This step is simply the opening of the front hip. While it is possible to rotate the backside of the body some without opening the front hip, its impossible to rotate much on the back side before the front hip begins to open. Some may question why write an article on a step to the bat speed process that seems almost automatic. While much of what the front hip does comes from how the back leg begins, there is much more too it if you are looking to put some serious pop on the ball.
Many hitters when working on their baseball hitting drills ignore this next step. Its vital, and easily missed. The key is to delay the hands a split second as the hips begins to rotate. What does this do? Think of your upper and lower bodies as a giant rubber band. If you begin to uncoil the lower half of your body first, your upper half (above the waist) will whip through the strike zone at a quicker pace. This is commonly called torque. All hitters need torque to create bat speed.
Mix this following technique into your baseball hitting drills to work on torque. On a batting tee (or soft toss) feel your back leg rotate and move towards the pitcher while the front hip opens. During this initial movement you want your hands to be relatively unmoved. Once your hips have rotated some and your hands are unmoved, pause for just a second to let your mind feel how this movement works. This will take some getting used to for most since many hitters allow their hands to come forward at the same time as their hips rotate. Once you have opened your front hip slightly, finish your swing on the tee (or soft toss). This will begin to retrain your upper and lower halves of your body to work independently from each other at the beginning of your swing.
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