WSNS Academy

A great deal of the young boys and girls WSNS Academy works with take part in programs involving baseball and/or fast pitch softball. This page will offer tips to help improve players involved in these sports. It will also work with the fitness page to help boys and girls to get stronger and healthier, not just for sports, but to help them live longer and enjoy a more active life style.

Beginners to hitting or those trying to make successful adjustments, focus on creating a strong foundation and a correct grip.

A correct grip has light tension in hands. Handle of the bat should sit in both hands where the fingers meet the palms. Relaxed is fast, tense is slow, remember that.

Unlike other sports when hitting, players need to stay away from the balls of their feet and allow their weight to move in their hips, glutes and heels. This provides a solid foundation that allows players to shift weight effectively from back lower half nearest catcher to front lower half towards the pitcher.

When players first start out, especially at younger ages allow them to practice and play by being very aggressive. Tell them the objective is to swing and try to hit the ball. So any pitch that is close you want them swinging. Let them know it is perfectly fine to fail, that will be the only way they will improve is by swinging and trying to hit the ball. As parents and coaches we will never know what a player can do by having them take pitch after pitch. It will be hard to watch, but will pay huge dividends in the future.

Advanced hitters, need to know and understand these following things that make the swing work with the greatest amount of power and effectiveness.

Forward momentum, this is the linear movement of the swing toward the pitcher. It happens after hitter loads back hip.

Along with forward momentum a hitter needs to learn to unweight their backside and let gravity assist in the unweighting process. Top MLB hitters do this, hitters that struggle or try to lift the ball are fighting gravity. This is a fight they will not win eventually. Some younger players get away with it, but at some point it catches up to them.

Shifting weight from back hip/glute/heel into front hip/glute/heel while maintaining their head centered between their hips. This movement comes with forward momentum and will come with linear head movement and in most cases the head lowering with the body. Early head movement in hitting is good, late head movement after front heel plant is the head movement that creates problems. A simple drill for those that argue against head movements is this, have hitter hold imaginary bat and take a strong swing trying to hit a ball a long way. Now have the hitter set up the same and stand behind hitter holding their head in place and tell them to try to create the same powerful swing. It won't even be close.

As a hitter is starting to land into their front heel/glute/hip their hips should be beginning to open before foot plant, at the same time their front shoulder should be pulled slightly down and in. This is separation, the same type of movement a power pitcher uses to create high velocity. As the front foot plants the front leg should act like a shock absorber compressing down as the backsideof the body drives downward to begin the rotational portion of the swing. These actions help create ground force power. The hitter's head should stay as still as possible their front leg should feel short with a lot of force and weight into it. The hips and shoulders rotate fully.

With the arms in the correct position the hands and the bat should feel as if they are being pulled by the rotational force of the body. If at any point the hitter feels his hands are in control, they have lost a great deal of power or they were never in position to create power. The job of the hands and arms are to get into the correct position to allow the body to move them with the greatest amount of force possible. This is why leg/core/back strength are vital for hitting.

The rotational portion of the swing success depends on correct body positioning and angles. This allows the hips and shoulders to rotate working together. Getting the rear shoulder on plane of the pitch allows the bat to get on plane with speed and power.

This is just the initial entry for hitting, I plan on adding more information and getting input from players that train at WSNS on their thoughts and drills they feel work best for them to correct any problems. In the future I will add drills, videos of hitters and address timing in hitting. Until then work hard and enjoy yourself, baseball is a game have fun. Also if you are a high school or college player take the time to talk to younger players, spend five minutes they look up to you guys and you will have a friend for life.