Your Baseball Swing: Lower Body Power Potential

Lower Body Power Potential 

There is nothing more frustrating for a hitter than having a mechanical problem with the Baseball swing and not knowing what the issue is or how to find a solution. While I don't have the ability in this short article to discuss all of the main causes to the countless mechanical failures of a swing, I will give you one to think on and work through in your own swing. Of course, you will need to consult with your hitting coach for more depth and practical baseball drills to help solve the problem I mention. 

The Problem: Weight floating forward

It is widely and freely taught that at the beginning of the baseball swing, the hitter must transfer some weight from the stance position to his back leg. The weight distribution will then be roughly 60% weight on back leg, and 40% on front leg. Most hitters can do this step quite easily without a lot of training work to assist in the understanding of this concept. 

The second movement a hitter makes is to begin to take some of the weight he has loaded onto his back leg and move it forward to create energy (this is the trigger process). At this time the back knee and foot begin to rotate towards the pitcher. This is the point in time when the hips floating forward problem begins for most hitters.

The weight that was first placed on the back leg MUST remain as the back leg and hip rotation occurs. You can observe this happening by taking a look at the angle of the back leg. If there is a gentle bend in the back leg at the knee (during contact with the baseball), there is a very good chance the hitter is keeping his weight back and centered in the correct position. If the back leg is relatively straight when the hitter makes contact with the baseball, then the problem of weight floating forward has occurred. The main reason this happens is that frequently younger hitters think they must move their entire body towards the baseball as they begin the swing process. This is simply not true and does nothing to create energy.  In fact, it destroys the ability to create a quick and powerful swing.  Keeping the weight centered at the completion of a baseball swing will allow the hitter the best chance for success.

Learn to Crush The Ball!