Baseball Tip

Get Back to Get Forward?

Weight-Transfer – A body’s relative mass or quantity of matter moving from one place to another.

Linear and rotational are two terms that are used heavily in the topic of hitting.  Both of these terms work hand in hand as, they are both evident in any good swing.  Most young hitters in today’s game focus more on the rotational piece due to two reasons. Key words used by most of their coaches like: “squish the bug” or “Turn your hips” and the lack of strength in their lower half.  When rotation is the movement that is stressed hitter’s tend to sit on their backside and “spin.”

Spinning is a common problem in most young hitters, as they try to create power by using the backside of their bodies, which results in their shoulders & hands dropping causing lots of fly balls and ground balls, because they never get to a centered position.  Getting centered is something that is not stressed enough to young hitters, because coaches are hesitant to teach weight-transfer for fear of a player lunging.

Charley Lau the author of “The Art of Hitting .300” states, "you have to get back to get forward”.  By teaching weight transfer you force a hitter to move getting off his backside to a balanced position where he can better use his hands attacking the ball out in front.

At C5T Baseball Academy, which is now working with Nike Baseball Camps, we teach our athletes through various baseball drills to get back first, then get to an athletic position creating a clear path for their hands to get through with their head down. Learn more tips at one of the summer baseball camps in Virginia!