Clubhouse Gas
Casey: Well it’s Monday and it’s the month of April so we here at Clubhouse Gas are here to fulfill our promise to you of bringing you hitting tips every Monday from FIUs Coach Turtle Thomas. Today’s tip even though it’s a baseball tip can carry through a bunch of different sports so stay tune to Clubhouse Gas.
Turtle: How about this follow through position, always remember in every sport you’re follow through position has everything to do with the type of swing or throw or shot that you make as a hitter think about this one if I finish my swing and I got to finish way up here with kind of a big loop. Somewhere during my swing I had a big loop. Too long, too loopy, probably hit the bottom of the baseball swinging myth, pop it up, foul it back whatever it might be.
If I finish with the bat on top of my front shoulder pointed straight down my back I guarantee that’s a guy to hit too much all for his back leg. Just like this I’ll give you a good example. How about pitchers, you know the ones that drag that back foot and they create that hole in their pitching toe and they got to have you know they have a new pitching toe about every other week. The reason they do that is because their stride is too long as a pitcher and because their stride is so long they’ve got to drag their back foot 6, 8, 10, 12 inches before they can pivot up and around.
The reason pitchers have a hole in their pitching toe is because they stride too long. It’s just another way you fall of the follow through position. Alright, let’s think about this. When you swing do you hold on with two hands or one hand, well to me it’s an individual preference right there. If I’m the guy that swings too much with my body and shoulders or I’m a guy that gets to the ball and cuts my swing off like a horizontal L angle. No doubt he’s the guy that’s accounted to let go of the top hand.
I had a coach one time a very famous one, he said Turtle I don’t like my guys letting go of the top hand because they lose power and I kind of looked at him out of one eye I said, “Coach, the ball has already left your bat 30 or 40 feet before you ever let go of the top hand” and he kind of looked at me and he walked away I knew I had the big guy right there because he didn’t say anything about it. But you don’t let go of the top hand until the bat gets pointed down a foul line behind you.
So the ball has already left your bat a long time. Why do you do that? Why would you hold on or let go of the top hand? You use your hands more than you’re body and with 2 hands you use your body too much to swing with. Number 2 you’re not cutting it all, you’re getting good extension out front toward the pitcher and usually the ball will go 20, 30, 40 extra feet for you.
You look in the major leagues today and most of all the great power hitters, most of them are letting go of that top hand to get more extension through the baseball. Now am I saying always let go, no. You might be a guy that is swinging perfectly holding on with 2 hands, again an individual preference. How about this, I got an interesting point for you, what we say if when I get a kids that his mid— height wise. At the point of contact the barrel of your bat is somewhat parallel. As I follow through I want to follow through with a bat flat across my back 2 inches below my point of my lead shoulder if I hold on with 2 hands.
If I let go of the top hand barrel below shoulder level parallel to the ground behind me but I’m going to finish with the same bat angle as I had it contact, why, just before contact during contact and after contact I want the barrel of the bat to stay on the same plain of the ball to make the greatest hardest flat flush contact with the baseball.
Now think about it in another way, when I get a ball mid and down what we do is when we get the barrel the bat pointed down at contact then we want to finish that same bat angle above our front shoulder.
Casey: Follow through; I’ve coached it on basketball and on football even on the track so not surprised that you all heard it from Coach Thomas. Don’t forget to join us next Monday as we continue this show, this special 2 part series on follow through in the baseball swing right here on Clubhouse Gas.
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