This is something I have been hearing being taught by many baseball and fastpitch softball instructors lately. This is a bad hitting cue that will lead to bad hitting mechanics. You are wanting the bat to go out through the ball when hitting. When you throw you want the ball to go out also. Would you stand in place and not take a step when throwing a ball, no because you wouldn't have any power, you would throw with your arm only. Everyone I have seen that throws the ball hard takes a step for more power. Same thing with hitting if you don't step you will lose most of your power and swing with only your arms.
In 2011 the Yankee hitting coach wanted Derek Jeter to stop taking a step when he swung the bat. He wanted him to put his front foot up and down or just toe tap in the same spot so he could stay back and use his fast hands. The hitting coach said " this will help him see the ball longer and better and use his hands to get to the ball easier. Jeter said " this is not a big change, it isn't changing my bat path or anything difficult.
The bad thing was he changed his bat path when he went to a no stride swing. He felt less momentum going forward so to make up for this he pulled with his hands harder than before so his bat path was changed. It also caused a significant decrease in his power. He worked on this all of Spring Training and after 9 games in the regular season he was hitting only .206. He had two weak infield singles in that game to raise his average above .200. After 9 games he had hit the ball hard only 4 times. After game 10 he smartly went away from the no stride swing and started taking a step. It saved his year and he ended up with an average of .297.
Even a future hall of famer, when you take his step away, can become an average hitter. For the average hitter the no stride appraoch is even more devastating.
I have had many students come in using a no stride swing that they had been taught by previous hitting coaches. They came in because they were having the same problems as above, no power and timing way off. I tell these new students lets try an experiment . Lets hit 10 balls using a no stride and 10 balls taking a 6 inch stride. We find when they didn't take a step they swing so hard with their arms, they have no timing and they rarely hit the ball hard. When the students take a 6 inch stride they hit the ball at least 50% harder and they hit in the middle of the ball twice as often. Every student and parent can't believe the difference.
If you would like to learn a great swing and be the hitter you always dreamed of call Mike Sedberry at 304-419-2588 for more information.
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