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Hit The Ball Harder With More Line Drives

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Almost every batter that comes in to use our cages whether they play baseball or fastpitch softball swing basically the same way, mainly with their arms.  They will start the first round swinging hard as they can using fast hands and usually miss the first few pitches till they get their timing down and then hit mostly weak grounders and pop ups.  They then slow down their swing a little to try and hit line drives.   The problem is when they hit the middle of the ball it usually floats off the bat and the bat tends to slow down at impact.   Then they are told to finish their swing. They try to swing harder to finish their swing and go back to hitting mostly weak  grounders and pop ups. Then they try swinging slower again to hit line drives and the process starts all over again. This is why most hitters are not consistent.



Parents and coaches don't understand why the batter usually doesn't finish their swing when they hit the middle of the ball.    When they swing harder so they can finish their swing why do they hit the ball weaker with mostly grounders and pop ups?  The simple reason is they aren't allowing the bat to hit the ball with enough force.


As I have talked about in my past blogs almost everything that is taught (up to 99%) makes a hitter use mainly their arms or fast hands to hit the ball.   When a hitter swings this way they actually take force out of the bat, making it lighter to the ball, so they hit the ball much weaker.   It is much harder to hit the middle of the ball with fast hands.  If you do hit the middle of the ball it will be more of a slap which causes the ball to float off the bat.  This is why the bat slows down at impact and also causes the stinging in the hands many hitters experience.



Major League hitters that use fast hands go into slumps immediately because they hit the ball so much weaker.   Look at Alex Rodriguez who has been in a six year slump because he is using fast hands.   He is hitting the ball so weakly he is now being called a singles hitter only because what he has been taught actually takes force out of his bat.   If someone showed him how to use his body correctly like he did before he could hit the ball so much harder than he has the last six years.   Sad that a great career has spiraled down so much only because he went away from swinging with his body because he was told by the hitting coach to start using fast hands.  



Your body can provide the forward momentum needed for you to create the maximum energy and force to put into your bat.   With more force your bat will become much heavier to the ball and will accelerate through the middle of the ball much more often.   You will hit the ball much harder and it will now explode off the bat.  My baseball and fastpitch softball students tell me they barely feel the ball now when they hit it, almost like they are hitting air, no matter how hard the pitcher is throwing because the bat has so much more force.  With more force the bat goes straight through the middle of the ball (line drives) much more consistently like a sledge hammer.



When you correctly use the body and bat together the game will slow down.   All great hitters when they are hitting well are in a zone and everything seems in slow motion.  This is what makes hitting a baseball or fastpitch softball so much easier.  When doing this it is amazing how much better any hitter can become.  If you would like to learn how to use the body correctly and hit more line drives with much more force call Mike Sedberry at 304-722-6393.


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