Swingtraining.net Blog: Recent Comments

Comment on SHAPING BASEBALL SKILLS IN CHILDREN

JAlbert — Tue, 06 Jan 2009 00:01:22 GMT

Barry,
looks like step #4, when they stop indicating to use the "mini-swing" or go through the process additional times while adding components to the swing until you reach a full swing. But I bet you don't want the player taking a full cut at you when you're 10 feet away, even if he's 8. I've never heard of anyone actually doing this - would be interested to hear if anyone has tried something similar.

Comment on SHAPING BASEBALL SKILLS IN CHILDREN

Barry McKee — Tue, 30 Dec 2008 16:38:53 GMT

Great article on teaching swing in steps. One question. At what step do you introduce full swing or for these drills is it always half swing?

Comment on "Off-season"

JAlbert — Fri, 17 Oct 2008 20:26:22 GMT

Hi Alex,

I heard the news about Francoeur during the season, but I really haven't seen any of his swings or AB's from this year.

Either way, I won't be doing any analysis of MLB hitters as I've done in the past. It wouldn't be appropriate for me at this time. I'll try to bring in points of interest from several different areas though.

Comment on "Off-season"

Alex C — Fri, 17 Oct 2008 20:10:09 GMT

Hey Jeff,

This was a welcome site to see back in my RSS feed. If you are taking requests, I was wondering if you might do a follow up to your Jeff Francoeur article a while back? This season has been about the worst case scenario for the young man.

Comment on Playing my way out...

JAlbert — Thu, 31 Jan 2008 00:26:31 GMT

All in all it was a pretty good game to watch. Our pitcher was a former 40-man roster guy with Oakland who I think came up around the time of the 'big 3' (mulder-zito-hudson). The Pelican that got him (2 hr's) was a former Oriole and had a very good swing.

Of course, there was the mysterious home run call where the ball landed on the warning track and disappeared behind one of the advertising signs and ended up being called a hr. That was interesting.

But I want that tape just so I can hear the commentators when I came up. I heard it was something to the effect of how an intern/'video guy' wound up in the lineup making his first start in the last game.

Oh, and how could I forget...I was the "cutest player of the game"! This was a promo that Pensacola does each game where they pick an opposing player and designate him as the "cutest". Each time the player comes up, they play the song "I'm too sexy" over the PA and encourage all the ladies to cheer/heckle - if the "cutest player" strikes out, there is a special price on margaritas for all of the ladies. How original.

Anyways, I've heard of Dr. Yeager, read and viewed some of his material.

Good luck to you and Joe with the lessons and the upcoming season.

Comment on Playing my way out...

Jerry Palmer — Wed, 30 Jan 2008 19:16:08 GMT

Jeff, I was channel surfing and came across the Pensacola game. When I saw you were playing, I decided to watch. I hope you had a good year at Louisiana Tech. By the way, my son, Joe, is taking hitting lessons from a fellow by the name of Chris Yeager, who has a phd in kinesiology and is located in Covington,Louisiana. He seems to have a thriving business. Regards, Jerry Palmer (New Orleans)

Comment on Jeff Francoeur and the "X" Factor

Ron Spragg — Sat, 19 Jan 2008 20:19:44 GMT

Great site. This is the stuff our kids need to see and understand. Coaches can also benefit if they are open to change.

Thanks

Comment on Mailbag #2 - A couple of comments

JAlbert — Tue, 01 Jan 2008 20:43:12 GMT

Eric -

I tried to provide a brief explanation of Zumaya's arm action/velocity with this image:

http://swingtraining.net/clips/pitcher1.gif

The tradeoff is that should abduction (raising your arm to the side) and internal rotation CAN cause shoulder impingement.

Of the three you mentioned, Prior is the one with shoulder problems and he was diagnosed with "laxity" of the ligaments in his shoulder, suggesting that he stability problems in the shoulder. Whether or not that was a result of how he throws, I have no way of knowing.

Comment on Opinions

JAlbert — Tue, 01 Jan 2008 20:35:56 GMT

Good points, Jay. Of course many coaches have been successful teaching what they "think" happens. I don't think this should be discounted...I think it should be considered along with the objective information that exists in order to create a more effective player development process.

Comment on Mailbag #2 - A couple of comments

Eric — Tue, 01 Jan 2008 03:29:46 GMT

First of all let me say I am a big fan of the work you have done. Every piece you have done has been right on in my opinion, except for one thing. In your Zoomlander article, you seemed to like the fact that Zumaya raises his pitching elbow above the plane of his shoulders. From what I have seen, this both increases velocity and often leads to arm problems. Examples of pitchers who raises their pitching elbow above the plane of the shoulders and are currently on the DL are Mark Prior, Kerry Wood, and Fransisco Liriano. At least for starters, it seems like the risk outweighs the possible reward.

Looking froward to your response.