This was originally posted on November 7, 2011
On March 6, 2011, I told you what I thought about the no stride swing. I said it is a bad idea because a batter that does this is not going to hit the ball as well as they could. They will have less power and will use their wrists to try and make more energy which will pull the bat out of the hitting zone way too quickly. This will make them pull the ball causing many more weak grounders and hit more pop ups to the opposite field. Lately both baseball and fastpitch hitters have come in using a no stride swing and everyone of them are hitting the ball at 50% or less of what they could. Whether you play baseball or fastpitch softball you want to take a 4 to 6 inch stride to give yourself much more power.
In March I also told you about Derek Jeter going to a no stride swing because the Yankee hitting coach said this would help him see the ball longer and he would be able to use fast hands. When asked about this Jeter said this was not a big change, he wasn't changing his bat path or anything major. I wrote in March this will change his bat path. Because of this he would now hit the ball much weaker and and he would pull more weak grounders to the left and more pop ups to the right rather than the line drives he usually hits to the right center. I also wrote the Yankees and Jeter's website that this was a big mistake. I told them the way he uses his body now there is no way he could go to a no stride swing, it will make him a below average hitter.
They didn't listen to me. Jeter and his hitting coach worked on this all spring. After the first 9 games of the regular season, Jeter according to the NY Times on April 12 was hitting just .206 with no power. Two weak infield singles put his average over the .200 mark. After his 10th game, thankfully, he went away from the no stride because he had only hit the ball hard twice. The line drives were gone, he was mostly hitting weak ground balls and popups.
He went back to a stride swing but the damage was already done, he had changed the way he used his body. According to a NY Times article on May 4, after 100 at bats Jeter had the highest ground ball percentage 81.3%, more than any other player in baseball according to Stats LLC. Only 4 of his 26 hits were classified as line drives by Baseball-Reference.com. Ten of his hits were infield hits that many of which didn't reach the base dirt path. After 28 games he was still hitting around .220. It took him half the season to get back to using his body like he use to. He ended with a pretty good year, think how good it would have been if he hadn't been told to try something that would change the way he used the bat.
You can see how the Yankee hitting coach took a great hitter and made him a below average hitter by just changing the way he used his body. From Little League to the Major Leagues to hit the ball your best, no matter what your skill level is, you have to use your body to hit the ball not your arms or fast hands. Even a future Hall Of Famer proved he was a below average hitter when he used fast hands.
Learn the best way to use your body in your swing. Almost 99% of the hitting instruction will make you swing mainly with your arms and hands. This means you will use your body only 50% as good as you are capable of. Don't let bad instruction make you a below average hitter, call Mike Sedberry at 304-722-6393 for more info of how you can reach 100% of your full potential, you will be amazed how good you can become.
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