Solving Problems: Focus on Rhythm and Tempo

                                                                                                         (photo credit: m.mlb.com)


So many hitters focus on their hands, their hips, their posture, their stride. These are integral chains in the kinetic function of the swing. However, often these problems are not problems, rather they are symptoms of the problem.

When you have a cough, the cough is not the problem, it is a symptom of the problem. You have a virus or perhaps even allergies, and your body responds by producing mucus that drains into your throat. Gross.

A doctor knows he can help you manage the symptoms of the virus, but ultimately, you cannot get rid of a virus with cough syrup or throat lozenges. A doctor would tell you to eat well, exercise, and wash your hands frequently.

To best avoid viruses (or weak contact), you have to focus on the first step in the chain of events, your body's inability to fight the virus efficiently.

The same is true of hitting. We must attack the problem, which often requires understanding a body's ability to operate as efficiently as possible. That is, we want to maximize power (force and acceleration) translating into the ball. Sounds complicated.

You want complicated? Check out this swing.

Fangraphs recently had an intriguing article on Jason Howard's inefficiency. The article clearly showcases his weaknesses, and how they have actually shifted, though they are exacerbated.

Heyward has attempted to make adjustments to his approaches and swing. It seems as though he is attempting to hit more pitches that are elevated in the zone (a positive concept), without creating a swing, and most importantly, a rhythm, that will allow for him to do so efficiently. The Fangraphs article presents symptoms of the problem.

Regardless, Heyward has always had a problem: he has poor rhythm at the plate. His pre-swing movements are short and quick, violent almost. His hands move quickly away from the pitcher and snap forward with average control. While I am not a fan of Heyward's swing path, he could immediately make himself a better hitter, with more consistent barrel contact, by only changing this load rhythm and tempo.

                                                                                                   (photo credit: chronicle.augusta.com)

RHYTHM

Rhythm: a strong, regular and repeated pattern of movement.

If you watch highlights of Heyward hitting, he has problematic rhythm. His load and stride conclude at the same time. This is bad. When the front foot HEEL lands, a hitter must hit. For Heyward, his load rhythm is the first place the kinetic chain breaks down.

Great hitters finish the negative motion of their load (while continually moving, allowing the barrel to turn) prior to their stride foot HEEL hitting the ground.

Watch these dudes:

Josh Donaldson

Barry Bonds

Andrew McCutcheon

Miguel Cabrera

TEMPO

To have the ability to consistently square the ball up, we must have consistent, regular and repeated patterns of movement. Secondarily, we must have excellent tempo. Few hitters pay attention to their tempo.

Tempo is speed or pace and usually is related to music.The tempo of a hitter's load is the speed of movement between when hand or arm movements change direction. Many hitters have a circular load, while others bounce up and down. The speed with which those movements cycle is the tempo of the load. Within a swing, we want our tempo to be more Jack Johnson than AC/DC.

We can pick apart any hitter, including Jason Heyward, and find faults in their stance, grip, stride, slotting, barrel turn, hand path, etc., but first, we must evaluate the speed of their load.

Learn a consistent load rhythm and tempo, and you will be amazed at how many of the problems found in the kinetic chain of the swing stay in sync.

(photo credit: baseball-cards-and-collectibles.com)

Plate Discipline

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In 2012, 2013 and 2014, Bryce Harper had the following stats:

Year      PA      BBs   BB rate
2012      597        56      9.3%    
2013      497        61     12.2 %    
2014      395        38       9.6%  
2015      195        40     20.5%

Not surprisingly, Bryce Harper leads MLB with a 1.193 OPS, 42 RBI and a 4.1 WAR.

Certainly, pitchers are more careful with hitters who show consistent power, but 10% more careful?

Bryce Harper has become more selective. He is swinging at fewer pitches that aren't what he is looking for. He has improved his plate discipline.

Having great plate discipline means hitters swing at pitches they are on time for and take pitches that they cannot hit in that timing. No hitter can cover the entire plate and the entire depth of the hitting zone up and down, even if every pitch is a fastball.

When a hitter is looking to pull the baseball, the outside corner should be a take. Who cares if it's strike one or two. Putting the ball in play simply because it's a strike is a terrific way to induce an easy out at the collegiate level and above. Hitters simply reacting to a coach's 35-40 mph BP fastball and swinging "as long as it's a strike" are creating poor visualization and reactionary habits. They are teaching themselves to react to pitch tunnels and swing at pitches that they will not be able to cover once the pitcher is throwing 85+ mph.

I believe coaches can teach, preach and empower plate discipline in hitters. It is a skill, not a talent. The hitters who lead the league in walks are certainly talented, but they have acutely honed the skill of plate discipline. Seek and ye shall find.

Keeping track of batting practice is an outstanding way to measure plate discipline. Throughout the fall, we will measure:

1.) Strikes swung at
2.) Strikes taken
3.) Balls swung at
4.) Balls taken

It is not a batting practice pitchers job to throw every pitch in the strike zone. Conversely, it is not a hitters job to swing at every pitch thrown, so as to "keep BP moving." What do we really care about?

A timely BP or the development of our hitters? A great way to empower this is to take shorter rounds. Instead of 8 or 10 swings, try 4 or 5. Taking many swings is good for acquiring feel, but only if their is time between the swings to make adjustments, and energy with which to take the best hacks at each pitch.

Hitters who swing at 70% so that they can take 8-10 swings in a round are developing a feel for the barrel while moving slowly. Sprinters don't jog. Sprinters sprint. We, too, must train our hitters at full speed.

Now, what to do with this information we have acquired? Formulate percentages. Hitters who take too the highest number of strikes are not aggressive enough and operate in a mindset that each pitch must be too perfect. Hitters that swing at too many balls are reckless and lack discipline.

Many coaches may make the excuse that you can't make a kid more aggressive, but you can calm his aggressiveness. Noted. Let's start in batting practice. What we measure, they will value.

Plate discipline is simple. Hunt a pitch, be on time and take pitches that you aren't in rhythm with.

What is the Mental Game? Mental Game VIP Interview, Part 1

The following is part of an interview I recently did with @MentalGameVIP. Check him out on twitter. I will be releasing different parts of our conversation over the course of the next few weeks. 

What is the mental game? How important is the mental game in college baseball?

First of all, the mental game is whatever a player needs to do for himself to put himself in

the most confident place. Tom House, Brian Cain, Ken Ravizza and certainly Harvey Dorfman as well, talk about 'the zone’, what that is and what that means. Everyone wants to be 'in the zone' and it's tough to get into. So a lot of them have created systems or given hitters or athletes nuggets on how to get closer to that zone more frequently. To me, in hitting or in any sport, the mental game is how to get to be consistent enough that you can be in a committed and confident place even when your most recent opportunities have had more failure than success. That's first of all what we seek to teach in the mental game, to get people to believe in themselves even when their most recent opportunity was not successful. That necessitates practice and a lot of trials and tribulations for different people, because it's difficult to put your hands on something that is not so tangible when we're talking about the mind.

It's as important as they want it to be. The easy answer would be that it's extraordinarily important, but every player is going to buy in at their own level. If we're trying to sell everybody at the 10 out of 10 level, we turn some kids off. Some kids just aren't ready for that. I don't think we're doing them a service by making everybody get to a certain level, dismissing their intentions or their attitudes if they're not wanting to get there. Kids are at different places in their lives. They've had different experiences. They've had different opportunities to trust individuals. The way we teach and communicate about the mental game is what you’re trying to build to become a confident athlete. You're trying to trust yourself and your preparation.

Wooden said, “When opportunity comes, it's too late to prepare.” Certainly, we have to work hard before we get those opportunities, but everybody's got a different mind and a different path and learns in a different way. We try to reach them with different energy levels. Some guys may only be ready for a little nugget here and there. Some guys may be ready to dive all in. You give them what they desire.

If you're trying to give everybody everything, you may only catch the elite group that's ready for that, and you may turn some of the others off.

Front Toss...from A to Z

Many of our hitters make important improvements to their mechanics and approach when they properly utilize front toss. We station our typical front toss cages 15-17 feet away from home plate. When the pitcher gives a firm underhand toss (23-25 mph- use your stalker gun to get a feel), the batter must do much of the same that are required of him in a game.

A batter must use the mechanics of the pitcher, similarly to in-game, to judge when he should initiate his load sequence and prepare to attack the baseball. A batter must judge speed and location of the pitch, as well.

When we work normal front toss, our goals are to 1.) Be on time 2.) Attack the center of the baseball.

Next we add off-speed pitches. All pitches are either a fastball or a change-up.

Primarily, in 'advanced' front-toss, we are working on timing and/or approach. Secondarily, our objective is to work on our mental game. Adding a wrinkle to the front toss can easily get a hitter off-balance, even from fifteen feet. With expectations of perfection extremely high due to the slow nature of typical front toss, hitters frustration levels can often be elevated.

In evaluating the results of a front toss swing, it is important for hitters to understand that a ball perfectly squares, and with backspin, should hit the back of a 90-foot cage at relatively the same height that it began (assuming we are talking about high school skill level and above).

Hitting a ball that lands near the bottom of the net, though fairly well struck, is likely to be a two-hop ground ball. Balls that result in line drive singles and extra base hits usually have a 10-20 degree upward angle. Squaring a ball up perfectly into the back of a net is teaching the body to make contact with the ball in an effort to hit a one-hopper to the back of the infield. 

While occasionally we manage front toss on game days, I prefer for our players to front toss during practices. We also communicate with them daily about being a good front tosser and managing the time between pitches properly.

Players frequently pitch to each other too quickly, creating a tempo that is too fast to allow hitters to physically and mentally reset. Hitters lose the realism and flow that a normal at bat would have. Players also can frequently throw too many strikes and hitters fall into ‘swing mode’ where they are no longer processing information- they have predetermined their swing.

Many hitters like to ‘get loose’ on front toss. I am against this. We encourage our hitters (vehemently), to do tee work prior to front toss. As the baseball is not moving at them on the tee, they naturally feel less of a need to compete, and will take swings that more resemble those of ‘getting loose.’

Front toss is a great opportunity for video work while also working on approach (aggressive off-speed, 2 strike, situational, etc.). When we want to do more detailed video analysis and review, I use our Casio Exilim HD camera, which sees their swings at 240 frames per second in HD (the human eye normally sees around 20 frames per second). When we want the players to get quick feedback, I use my iPhone or iPad. There is a terrific App called "Coach's Eye," that allows you to view video forward and backward, and also allows you to mark or draw directly on the video with different colors and tools. 

Another form of front toss we frequently have is 'separation’ front toss where we begin the swing with lower body commitment and a scapular load. This allows hitters to feel the stretch that creates bat speed and concentrate on loading with their scapula (think shoulder blade) rather than their hands, allowing their rear elbow to 'slot' near the rib cage more quickly and the barrel to become flatter in the zone earlier.

We also have an ‘everything’ front-toss where we challenge our hitters to swing at everything. They must be on time for the fastball and work to retain separation while hitting every pitch near the zone. The goal here is barrel control and manipulation.

Teaches and Non-teaches From a Big-League Swing

Here is a great Jose Bautista video with many takeaways.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=z0AlTsey6MI

Bautista speaks mostly about approach in this video. Notice that his mechanics are elaborate and must take thousands of hours of repetition and honing. There is, no doubt, something both awesome and sexy about his swing; he has something that makes young hitters emulate him.

So what can we take away, mechanically, from Baustista?

Things that “Joey Bats” does that we should teach young hitters:

1.)    Start the swing slow and early. Tempo is best under control. Only the swing, beginning at front heel plant, should be fast.

2.)    Maintain tension in the legs and resist drifting forward as long as possible (see Uncle Charlie)

3.)    Slot the back elbow, immediately after heel plant, flattening the barrel prior to hitting zone

Things that “Joey Bats”does that we should avoid teaching young hitters:

1.)    Allowing the rear knee to align over the back ankle, creating huge momentum.

2.)    Start with your hands above your ear, requiring more movement pre-slotting.

3.)    Have a leg kick that transfers large amounts of energy.

None of these mechanics are hindrances to a swing IF a hitter maintains proper sequencing, or in other words, maintains proper balance, positioning and tempo. “Well that’s a lot,” you say? Exactly. This is a professional athlete: statically and functionally strong, flexible and dynamic. 

When youthful hitters mimic these mechanics, they quickly and consistently can come out of sequence. They lack the strength and low center of gravity to maintain proper sequencing in the swing. At heel plant, most young hitters are already spinning on their back leg or trying to stay standing up because of a loss of a low center of gravity.

On the contrary, each of these items could help create improved timing and tempo IF the hitter is athletic and disciplined (Bryce Harper, Gary Sheffield, Juan Gonzalez, Andres Galarraga, Prince Fielder, Carlos Gonzalez, Adrian Gonzalez, etc.).