SABERCOACH BASEBALL
For Swing Analysis, Email video to florko.derek@gmail.com
Check out Tewks Hitting EBook:
Ryan JOhnson
Ok Ryan, here is a clip from our first session together, one thing I always love about your swing is your intent to hit the ball hard, not all kids have this, and its very nice to see. Another thing that looks pretty good is your lower half in the first half of the swing, your forward move and your hip opening are both good. However one major thing is your hips do not finish their rotation. At the end of your swing I want to see your back from this angle, but with you your stomach is still very much visable.
If you watch this swing of Jose Bautista, you will notice at the end of his swing his stomach is completely gone and we can clearly see his name and numbers. The power in our swing comes from our rotation so dont cut it short!
Here is the video you sent me after we worked togther, I believe your focus in this video was getting your knob towards the catcher, and it did get better, however we still need to create some more separation between your upper and lower body.
Your bat angle has improved in the second picture for sure, when the knob is pointed towards the plate like in the first picture your will have a tendency to push your hands through the zone rather then them being pulled and whipped through. Now that you're starting to get a little feel for this concept, lets try to take the next step.
In this picture of Josh Donaldson look how his hips are beginning to open while his hands are still back behind his back shoulder, knob to catcher. This is called separation, hips going before hands/shoulders. This is a very big concept for you to work on, and with your work ethic I am sure you will have no problem.
Here are the most recent photos you sent me, while photos can be some what hard to analyze I think there is one big thing we can see here. By the way I really like your position in that first picture! However the problem lies in the space between picture 1 and 2. As we execute our forward move, are hips should begin to open ( just as foot is about to hit ground), while our hands should be going slightly up/back. What I see in the seocnd photo is when your hands should be creating that separation your hands are going with your hips and dropping down below your shoulder rather than staying above/behind that back shoulder, like in this Josh Donadson photo above.
Swings to Study
Jose Bautista and Josh Donaldson are good guys for you to study Ryan, they show the things you need to work on very nicely, keep working on it and keep filiming yourself! Any time you need me to take a look let me know!
UPDATE:
Here is your newest video Ryan. Last time I ask you to work on keeping your hands up as you work forward and as your hips begin to open. We wanted to create more separation between your lower and upper body, stopping your hands from dropping into foot plant. Lets take a look how you have come in this regard over the past few weeks.
So in the first picture (live pitching) I asked you to work on having the knob of your bat facing the catcher rather than forward. Which you did better in picture 2. From there we wanted to work on your hands going up as you go forward rather than down. As you can see in the third picture you are doing a way better job at this.
If we just look at the upper half, this looks pretty awesome Ryan, hands are still up, knob to the catcher, you have done a great job making these adjustments. The next step is to see if we can carry this over to live bp. This week when I throw to you we will make sure to take some video to see how you do!
Ryan here is your newest swing with me, I hope you like my new technology! Its time to move on from the stuff we have been working on thus far, you have made huge strides in the first half of your swing, lets take a look at day 1 til now.
Here is the first part of your swing, the first day you were with my Ryan. And below is the most rescent. There are HUGE improvements in this portion of your swing, you have done a very nice job!
Next Step!
Ok Ryan lets move on to what we need to work on now. As I have said this first part of the swing is awesome, and you need to keep it up, but this next video will show what I want you to focus on now. Its a simple concept that I know we have talked about. The rotation of our swing is what provides us with power. As you can see in the clip is that you are not finishing the rotation of your swing, you are cutting your rotation short.
At the end of your swing Ryan, your stomach and belt are still very visable, I want to have your lower back facing me by the end of your swing. Right now you are rotating to the ball then stopping, I want to see you rotate all the way THROUGH the ball. Take a look at Bautista below, notice how his abck his facing the camera, not his stomach.
This camera angle is from a little bit behind so its a little exaggerated, but you can still see how much Bautista turns through the ball not just to it. I want you to think about showing your back to the camera, getting your belt buckle pointed towards third base, TURN THROUGH THE BALL! One last thing that will help with your turn, at some point you have started to land with a closed front foot, I am not sure why but let that thing open!
Here is your first attempts at turning through the ball, while it is slightly better there is still much room for improvement here. The video below you sent me, you are doing a much better job of turning, and during your next session we will focus on translating that movement into your swing! Once we can get this peice ironed out you will be in great shape!
It is absolutley awesome seeing your body turn through the ball, this will be a huge step for you in your swing Ryan. One thing we will try to do it get a little bit lower into your legs as we turn to avoid such an upright finish. Like the video below, you are almost there pal, very proud of your hard work!
Here is your newest swing with me Ryan. As I have said before I love your load so dont change it! So we still need to turn more, One thing that might help is going forward less and more turn. Right now your body is sliding forward, around 2 feet maybe? Youre not going out side of your front knee which is good but lets try to take some of that forward momentum and exchange it for more rotation! Back to the camera! I love how your swing is very athletic and non robotic, dont change that at all please!
How far your swing has come Ryan is quite amazing, when looking at your swings there are just a few little things that we can continue to improve on, 1- you know is to keep rotating through the ball, and 2- Sometimes when hitting live your swing plane can get a little choppy at times. If you look at your bat after you make contact it is going down, we want it going slightly up! Think about rotating your front elbow up it might help.
This is much much better Ryan! Your are turnig through the ball its beautiful! And your swing plane like I mentioned in the last video is better also! Now lets take this swing into live batting practice. Very nicely done I love it. Just a reminder here is old Ryan below :)
Update: Game Swings
Its been a while since I got to work with you alone Ryan, but there are a couple things we really need to focus on when you get into a game. First and foremost you really need to get those hips going, you get to a pretty good spot with your legs but as soon as that foot hits the ground I need you to turn AS HARD AS YOU CAN!! Secondly I believe you said your coach was concerned you were loading to much? Or to much movement with your load? I am not to sure what he thinks is a load but the problem in these swings is you are not loading. Our hands should never stop moving as they go through the load into the swing. When I look at the swings above you can see your hands are not moving until they go forward.
If we go back to the last time we hit together you can se ehow much more work your hands are doing. That down to up movement as you leg kick and go forward is exactly what we need to bring back into your swing.
Focus on!
1. Turn as hard as you can!
2. Never let your hands stop moving, load down to up!
Here is the progression of your swing so far Ryan, top left is the very beginning, top right was after a few months of work, bottom left was your in game swing, and bottom right is your most recent swing we filmed. The rotation of your swing, the turn, is the best it has ever been in the most recent swing. However I would like to get your load closer to the top right swing. We need to make that movement a little slower and a little bigger. Its crazy to see how far you have come!
This is by far the best swing you have taken Ryan, it looks like an inside pitch, you may not have hit it perfectly but all the movements that we have been working at look awesome. This is a better swing than the majority of high school kids I coach, keep up the awesome work! And keep doing this!
Here is a good look at one of the big things we have been working toward Ryan. Not letting our hinge angle get over 90 degrees while matching the tilt of our body to the tip of our barrel. While this clip is better than before we can still tighten this up a little bit. remember when we tilt our chest over the plate we want to maintain good posture. This video may help! https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MghWT9N7JUc
Secondly we have talked about the movement of the running start alot. Remember we went back elbow down front elbow up, our rear elbow and hands need to work seperate from eachother, when you watch this movement you can see your hands drop as your elbow drops. I am just going to post a bunch of videos below so you can hopefully see the difference.
