Clubhouse Gas
Casey: Today on Clubhouse Gas we conclude last weeks show when we talk about how to hit a line drive and what causes pop ups the follow through aspects of hitting. It’s Coach Turtle Thomas and its right here on Clubhouse Gas.
Turtle: I’m going to tell you a little something about low pitch real quick. There’s still a few people in this world that teach break down in your legs and get the bat flat. Tell me this guys, if you’re going to be able to hit a down breaking curve ball up a flat bat maybe 1 out of 20 or 25 swings you might hit it hard. Geometry tells me I can’t do that on the lower pitch I’m going to get the barrel of the bat down but out front as I make contact I want to follow through maybe 6 inches longer toward the pitcher and then follow through above my front shoulder.
On a low pitch it’s really 3 parts of your swing. Down but out front through the ball toward the pitcher which creates the line drive and then follow through a little bit higher. I don’t want to go down and pop right back up. That’s a vertical V in my swing. What creates the line drive of course you got to hit the center of the ball but what really creates the center of the line drive jumping off your bat like a pro player is that contact you hit it, you stay through.
Higher pitch hit it. Stay through it toward the pitcher and then follow through and finish your swing. That is what creates that line drive. So on low pitches finish high or higher pitches finish flat, same bat angle as the angle of contact. It also helps to give you that good line drive when you stay through the baseball. Now I’m going to give you great point right here, watch this.
This line right here, this black line, there is a big, big epidemic in our country alright and here’s what this epidemic is. Here’s my pitcher out here alright, he’s throwing the pitch right here. What everybody is wanting to do in baseball today including major league guys what they want to do is they don’t want to stay through the ball toward the pitcher long enough. What they’re doing is they’re not just cutting their swing off getting to the ball taking left hand turn, low pitch getting to the ball kind of coming up on it and you cut your swing all vertically as well as horizontally.
What everybody is doing is they’re pulling their hands across the front of their body way too quickly so it’s going like this. In other words instead of getting their hands extended this way toward the pitcher until they get extended and then follow through and finish your swing, what people are doing is pulling their hands diagonally across the strike. It’s like my hands are going right towards the third base coach, the third base bag or the third base mound itself way too quick. And when you do that, you’re pulling the back off the outside the corner running of bat and obviously you’re pulling everything if you hit it well at all.
Any time that you slice him behind the baseball that’s one of the main reasons that guys pop a lot of balls up to the infield by pulling your hands across the front, when you’re hands go this way too quick you just slice right in behind the baseball and got that nice pop up in the infield and just you know you’re thinking well I mustered all my back leg or must have done so all you’re doing is pulling your hands across the front of your body too quick.
Now the drill simply is, is that I would straddle, I would be about 5, 6, inches away from the bat by the knob of my bat directly between my stance foot width and what I’m going to do is I’m going to take my hands to the end of the bet, over the bat toward the pitcher and so I get there and I’m going to finish off my swing and all this is, is a good drill to stay through the ball and behind the ball. Now wouldn’t you like to hit the ball 30 extra feet when you like to be able to use the whole field, well you can do that when you stay through the ball toward the pitcher instead of pulling your hand across the front of your body too quickly right there.
Casey: Geometry, wait a minute, I as told there would be no math. That’s I reason I have Liberal Arts I don’t do that math but hey thanks again coach I really appreciate it has been a great series of shows if you missed any of the Coach Turtle Thomas and stuff you just go into our archives. I would always set on April but I think there’s a couple of shows in March too you may want to check out.
Anyway we’ll see you right back here tomorrow for great edition of Clubhouse Gas.
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