Time
It’s really tough to change your swing, or your players’ swing mid-season no matter how old you/they are. Hitters need confidence when walking up to the plate come game time. The one thing that will zap the confidence right out of a player is having to think about the changes to your swing: “don’t drop my hands”, “don’t fly open”, “don’t over-rotate”…all very negative. Problem is, you forget about the game situation and you are thinking about yourself. Put the time in over the winter with a quality winter hitting program and come spring time, you can concentrate on “seeing the ball & hitting the ball”. One product that I use quite a bit now is called the Swing XP. It’s a weighted handle metal bat that promotes proper swing path. It is amazing to see a kid’s eyes light up with empowerment when they use the bat. Check out the video demo below:
How to tweak your swing
It is hard to make targeted changes to your player’s swing without them seeing it for themselves. If you are a parent coach, it is really easy to take video on your smart phone or tablet. Put this video into a slow motion video app like the one I use for my lessons, it’s called Coach My Video, its on the app store. Take video from multiple angles (front, side & back), slow it down and compare it to major league hitters. Some things may jump out at you and you’ll realize there needs to be a change. However, if you need a reference of proper fundamental positions, download the app I created, My Coach: Baseball Instructor. It is on the app store as well.
Use this app to see the proper fundamental positions of the baseball swing. You can also overlay onto your player in real time or over the video to see where changes need to be made.
What if you can’t pinpoint areas of the swing that need to be tweaked?
If mechanical flaws do not jump out at you right away and you have the resources, I highly recommend hiring a quality hitting instructor for that one on one time. Make sure this instructor has plenty of lessons under his belt. An experienced instructor will see flaws within a few swings. You can do two things, stick with the instructor for a long period of time or use the feedback and work on your player’s swing by yourself. This is where my site comes in handy. Search for tips, drill videos and training aids that will address your players needs.
Don’t have access to a quality hitting instructor? Not a problem. Some quality instructors offer video analysis where you send in a video of your player and the instructor will break down the swing. He will also give advice/drills to answer your question, how to fix my baseball swing. Try Coach Kyle Nelson at Cornerstone Coaching Academy .
Frustrated…Uncomfortable?
You will be…If you’re not, you’re not improving. I regularly have to tell my players that it’s OK to feel uncomfortable. It is incredibly hard to retrain that muscle memory that was built over the past few years. An athlete, musician, performer must have deliberate practice and get out of their comfort zone to change and improve. In fact, Geoff Colvin, author of the book “Talent is Overrated” states that
Deliberate Practice is a different kind of hard work…it is difficult and it hurts. But more of it equals better performance. Tons of it equals great performance.
It is the special athlete that will understand this concept and the athlete with the fire in his belly to commit to it to get better.
Have a question about improving your player’s swing? Post it below and I will get back to your with an answer or suggest a resource to answer it.
Stay on plane…
About CoachK
Great article Michael!
You are dead on… now is the time to make major changes with your swing. A lot of people think they will just wait until the high school season to make those changes, but here’s my reality as a high school coach…
1.) We start tryouts on March 3
2.) Our first game is March 15
3.) That leaves 11 practices before our first game, most of them inside (Chicago weather) with one batting cage and 60 players in our program.
4.) It takes thousands of reps to make corrections and changes, this kind of time just does not exist at the beginning of most high school seasons (especially in the north)
5.) Once competition starts, it is very difficult to make major changes and still have success in the games
We can tweak some things and implement an offensive philosophy, but in reality, making major changes in a player’s swing is just difficult during the season.
Also, I downloaded your app the other day. The changes and upgrades are awesome I especially like the links to the hitting drills!
By Kyle Nelson