Re: Increasing the Bat-speed of a baseball hitter

[Guest guest]

Bob,

Being an ex-collegiate player and instructor

myself I would have to say the best way to train a

hitter to increase batspeed is to correct a technical

flaw in the swing. This is all coming from a naked eye

assesment but it has worked for many players I trained with.

In my opinion the main culprit of a decrease in

bat speed, especially against the fastball, is

" swinging around the ball. " (aka a long-to-long swing)

In this case the hitter's hands immediately get away

from the body and the barrel of the bat is out too

soon. This creates a mechanical disadvantage in

angular velocity in that the mass of the implement is

away from the COG (torso). A hitter can bring their

bat speed up dramatically by learning to " swing inside the ball. "

This concept basically means that you try to take the knob of the bat toward the

ball without

letting the barrel come away from the body. In the

physical sense this will make the mass of the bat

lighter by bringing it closer to the the COG. You can

try this by attaching a few onces of weight to the

knob of the bat and have your hitter dry swing or take

BP. This overspeed technique was the concept of the

Pro Cut device that was manaufactured years ago.

Other drills include wall swings and front flips with

a loaded tee positioned to the open side of the

hitter. These drills focus on the hitter making a

clean swing without striking the wall or tee. As far

as conditioning goes the focus should be on the

developent of speed and strength from the wrists to

the knees, especially on rotational exercises. The

hitter can develope speed from the hitting position

through the use of medicine ball throws, a rebound or

swinging device (heavy punching bag), or a cable attachment.

I would also say that the use of the Olympic lifts wouldn't hurt so as to

develop some

athleticism, coordination, and overall body

explosiveness. As for strength, hitters can use the

basic movements (chins, presses, squats, d-lifts, good

mornings) to develope raw strength and " stability. "

Pete Arroyo

Chicago, IL

--- Bob Kaufer <kaufer_law@...> wrote:

> For those of you who have worked with baseball

> hitters

> or those that would know the best principles, I pose

> the following question.

>

> What would be the best way to train a baseball

> player

> whose main objective is to increase bat-speed.

>

> If I correctly read Supertraining by Dr. Siff, a

> hitter would want to develop Speed-Strength. More

> specifically, from 5.2.3 of Supertraining 2000,

> Speed-Strength from the first fundamental group

> listed

> where the speed of the movement plays a fundamental

> role in overcoming a relatively small resistance,

> (i.e. the bat).

>

> Some follow ups, for those that answer, did you test

> the players bat-speed before and after the program.

>

>

> Some other thoughts to keep in mind when thinking

> about this question, is that some of the major

> league

> players that have the greatest bat-speed are very

> big

> and strong. Examples are Mr. McGwire, Mr. Sosa,

> Mr.

> Bonds. If you look at pictures of when these

> players

> were rookies, they were relatively small compared to

> their present state. How much did there increased

> size and I am assuming increased maximum strength

> contribute to their bat-speed. Would it be a

> correct

> assumption that these players did not attain their

> size, strength, and bat-speed without pushing heavy

> weight.

>

> Thanks to all that ponder and answer this post.

>

> Bob Kaufer

> St. , Minnesota, USA