Top right-handed hitter anyone?

Hideous stance though.

 

true

 

I'm surprised I didn't see these two names — could have skipped over them, though.

1. David Eckstein
2. Placido Polanco

If your true intent is to teach kids the proper mechanics behind hitting a baseball, these guys are hands down the top two in baseball. You're dealing with short, compact swings (which generally prevents long-term slumps because of the fewer moving parts). These are guys who know what their capabilities are. They choke up on the bat for greater control and put the ball in play. At 12 and 13 years old, the name of the game is putting the bat on the ball. Good things happen when you do that at that level, or for that matter, any level. Sure, home run hitters are more sexy, but Tony Gwynn made a pretty good living by knowing how to control his bat and put it on the ball.

Also, if you really want to get into teaching of a proper swing, there's three key steps: 1. The load; 2. The step; 3. Explosion.

1. The load is when you transfer your weight to your back foot. The best time for this is when you see the pitcher's back pocket during his wind-up.

2. The step is the transfer of your weight back to the front foot. It doesn't have to be an exaggerated step like Bobby Bonilla. At this point, the smaller the step the better (because of course fewer moving parts means fewer chances for problems).

3. The explosion is that weight transfer to the front foot with bringing the bat through the zone. I've always been a believer that you want your swing plane to be on a level, but downward motion. You want to get your right arm into the slot position (right elbow and upper arm against your body, bat making contact out in front of the plate).

So I know that was more than you asked for, but it's my philosophies. It's how I teach little kids to hit and it's always seemed to work pretty well because it's pretty basic. Again, these are my philosophies of trying teach contact hitting. There's other ideas you can work with for upper level kids about hitting for more power and seeing the ball better, but that's usually best left for high school age kids.

 

Sheffield doesn't use the bat waggle to create momentum. The waggle has nothing to do with his power. It's a timing mechanism, just like Chipper Jones' toe tap and Hal Morris' steps. It's how he times the pitcher's delivery so that all he has to do is adjust to the ball when it comes out of the pitcher's hand. Read and react.

The waggle isn't something I'd teach to kids, but they're going to have to develop a timing mechanism of their own anyway, if they want to keep their hitting mechanics consistent.

 

I might be a fool, but as far as short compact swings generating some good thunder, I'm surprised Michael Jack Schmidt hasn't worked his way into the conversation...aside from, you know, tons of strikeouts and all.

 

The closer to first base thing is really more at play than we think. Righties can't have as sweet a follow-through because they must change direction very quickly after swinging; lefties don't. Many righties have proper mechanics in the swing, just don't look as pretty.

 

Maybe you shouldn't teach weight-transfer hitting. What about the rotational approach. It worked well for Ted Williams.

 

Do you want these kids to end up with their heads cryogenically frozen?

 

I'm not teaching one or the other: I'm combining the two of them. Rotation is everything in baseball. And as far as the waggle being a timing device, I understand that, but I can easily seeing a younger kid miscontruing it and try to use it to generate momentum.

RHCP: very sound advice. As far as the step is concerned, I've always had a wide-enough stance that a big step wasn't necessary. Just a quick little step that doesn't go more than 2" off the ground. That's one of the reasons why I've been leary about mentioning A-Rod b/c he has a pronounced step. Not as big as it once was, but still something I'd like to avoid. I've also heard people say that his swing can get a bit long sometimes, too.

 

Derrek Lee. Takes outside pitches up the middle or the other way, and he pulls inside pitches for power. Dude's still hitting about .350.

Edgar Renteria.

 

I think with any major league hitter you have to make the kid understand that every moving part of their swing has a precise intention. Most of the time, it is a timing mechanism. But like my dad always told me, if you're hitting, it's a timing mechanism. If you're not, it's a hitch. I'd never teach a kid to pick up the leg A-Rod style, but I don't think I'd go as far as to teach them to spread out like Andruw Jones or Pujols to the point that there is no step. My advice boils down to teaching proper hitting mechanics on the most basic level. After a kid gets those down, usually around high school time you can let them "experiment" to find what works for them. When I got to high school, it was moving to an open stance because it helped me see the ball better. It's little things like that they can do to add their own "flare" to their swing, but only after truly understanding and putting into practice the fundamentals of the swing.

 

Working with 7-8 year olds this past year, the fundamental I stressed the most was the need to try to have the bat level as much as possible over the rear shoulder, level through the hitting zone and then focus on hitting up the middle. I believe that after that foundation, you can incorporate your "waggles" and "flare."

Hitting is very much like golf, you need to keep your wrists cocked as long as possible before releasing it in the hitting zone, early loss of the wrist cock leads to weak hits.

Pujols is sweet to see, his balance and level swing.

I know people hate Bonds, and I am a Giants fan, but his quick swing and ability to avoid lunging are phenomenal.