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Explosive Rotational Hitting Drill Sheet

Daily Drill Worksheet for the “Explosive Rotational Hitting” Program

In a perfect world, we would do the drills twice a day minimum plus as a warmup before actual practice. As mentioned in the video, the drills are brief. Success is better achieved and technique learned more efficiently by doing shorter durations of the exercise, more frequently. This is vastly superior to neglecting the drills for 3 or 4 days and then trying to do them for 30 minutes. You develop the muscle memory better with daily repetition…short and sweet.

Just get into the habit of making them part of the daily routine…besides they are fun to do and a good way to warmup for other sports.

To be frank, many of the students see good results with only doing the drills once a day. That said, the ones with the best gains are usually doing the drills twice a day. You can practice the baBOOM drill anywhere and just a few reps thru the day really helps reinforce the mechancis.

1. 2 part ba-BOOM to isolate each element and make sure each step is correct. We do 5 Reps with a short pause between the ba and BOOM
2. baBOOM this time we do it just as shown in the DVD. Do it in one motion and vary the speed from imaginary slower pitches to blazing fastballs. Do 3 sets of 5 reps with no rest. Just get reset in the stance and do the drill again as we outlined in the video.
3. Hip Swing Drill on Rope…..just set up your rope and grab the bat across the hip points. Do the baBOOM with the hips and make sure the body angle is correct so the bat head rides along the top of the rope. Do as explosively as you can. Do 3 sets of 5 reps.
4. Hip Swing off Tee Drill…set up the tee at hip level. Have a back screen, backstop, or even a rug hanging on a wall to hit the ball against. Make sure to baBOOM the hips and drive the bat head as if it were riding the rope or path of the pitch. Drive the ball at the same angle the rope had been..or the same angle the ball flight would be. Do 3 sets of 5...quick and explosive making sure to say baBOOM out loud.
5. With the rope stretched across the plate…at the same path as the pitch would be…do the 6 step swing drill. Ba, hips, knob, snap, full extension and finish. Do it twice then take the steps off the end until its just baBOOM and you are using the hip thrust to drive the hands, snap of the wrists and finally whip bat head along the top of the rope. The bat head should “sing” as you snap it along the top of the rope, driven off the thrust of the hips... thru the imaginary ball to finish.

   5b) SOON many of our hitters progress past the 6 step drill outlined above. They soon just develop the focus of using the hips, upper body and hands to explode the bat head along the top of the rope..feeling the bat head snap around as it is pushed by the hips and pulled by the upper body...

Its very important for the hitters to feel the bat head roll over as it driven or pushed along the top of the rope. This ensures that the wrists are actively participating in the swing and are not "frozen" or locked in one position. Its a complicated process of teaching the wrists snap but they will learn to "feel" the wrists working if they push the bat head along the rope and feel the bat head turn over as the arms continue to full extension. IF the wrists do not turn over, the bat path traveling down the rope will be shorter and cut off prematurely. Don't overanalyze this...just feel the bat head turn over as the bat head is driven along the rope to full extension and this will help the swing perform correctly and naturally. The wrists are still in basically a palm up, palm down position on contact, but they should have started to snap the bat head from lagged back to contact and if one looks closely, on a good swing the wrist position is in the process of changing and after snapping has just started to roll over..which happens after contact. Its a subtle thing and good swings like Bonds, Piazza, Williams, Ruth, Aaron and Gehrig...all used a great wrist snap.

DO NOT forget the importance of the lead shoulder pulling open as the hips push the upper body open. While most hitters do this naturally, it can be an effective drill you might wish to add. Simply take a smaller size bat and hold in the lower hand (left if right handed and right, if left handed.) Simply do the baBOOM but concentrate on the front shoulder pulling, following the opening of the hips and upper body. This ensures that the bat is guided properly as the hips and top hand push open hard. There is a pull with this push and while it comes natural for most..its a drill that can help keep the rotation tight. AS the upper body rotates open and the front shoulder and arm pull the knob of the bat towards the ball...slightly turn the wrist, so if there was a watch on the wrist, it would go from facing straight up in the sky to facing towards the pitcher or shortstop area...this shows that the wrist has turned some and you will notice the palm is still facing mostly down but this slight change in position will let the bat snap around rather than just be dragged with only a sideways flex, that locks out the wrist. Its a bit of an over turn of the wrist that helps guide this properly.

AS hitters progress, the hips rotating open and the top hand pushing forward are actions that become automatic. So to be sure that the rotation of the upper body is as tight as the lower body...hitters may start to focus on using the pull of the upper body and lead arm..to pull the knob of the bat as fast as possible towards the center of the ball...remember do not swing up or the knob will face the sky..just pull as fast as you can and keep aiming the hands and knob of the bat towards the center of the ball. AS they do this, they should feel at the same time...the lower body and hips twisting open to help rotate the body open. The top hand and rear hip will push automatically as well...because of the drill work the hitter has done. Many good hitters develop a focus of pulling with the lead arm and twisting open the hips at the same time, which provides a good push of the top hand and rear hip. One can pretend there is a nail sticking out of the knob of the bat and the ball is a balloon that you want to pop.. Pull with the upper body and twist and push with the hips and top hand to drive the nail thru the balloon or ball. You will find that when the lead arm can go no further, the bat will snap or whip around automatically and power thru the ball.

Drill number 5 can be cut down to simply doing the baBOOM over the top of the rope. By this we mean that hitters that show that they can perform the swing, sometimes benefit from simply using the rope as a guide as they simply BOOM or push the bat head thru the ball in the same path as the pitch. The progression of the drills will eventually let hitters concentrate on again just explosively using the hips, wrists and hands to push/drive the bat head thru the ball, along the rope or path of the pitch.

Then do 3 sets of 5, by just saying baBOOM and swinging fully across the top of the rope. Develop the simple feel of what the swing is by doing this last portion. Hips and hands push the bat head thru the ball to finish.

If you have a tee and net, do the wrist snap drill. Just do the ba..and then really focus on extending the arms and snapping the wrists as you BOOM and whip the bat head from lagging back thru contact with the ball. Do 3 sets of 5.

This is a great way to fully do the drills. You can use a bat action or hit2win trainer if you do not have a tee. Do the rope drill. Even if the kids are in the kitchen or their room..they can do the baBOOM drills. By grabbing a broom handle, cardboard roll or a whiffle bat, the hip swing drill can be performed even with no guide rope. Also using a whiffle bat, the 6 step swing drill can also be done..again, even without a guide rope. All this stuff can be creatively done by kids who love to hit and enjoy doing the drills. It all helps improve the hitters technique and power.

As your hitter improves, videotape the swing and look for certain flaws that may be slowing progress. To summarize..Use the ba as a timing tool during the pitchers windup. Some programs like a lift of the foot and shift back during the ba vs. a short stride. Either can be effective.

Try to drive the bat head right thru the center of the ball..in the same path as the pitch

Make sure the hitters are not swinging down or upper cutting

Tell them to cut or push thru the ball with the bat head

Remember to feel the bat head roll, as the hands( top hand in particular) push the bat head thru the ball.

Use the upper body and lead arm to pull the knob of the bat towards the ball and to keep the upper body rotating open as fast as the hips.

Live pitching is done very nicely in groups of three. Give each hitter 4 swings, then break the concentration by bringing a new hitter in. Let them swing until each has 3 sets of 4. Because we did short distance pitching, this should be enough swings. It is not a good idea to let them sit in the cage or box for 15-20 pitches. You do not get this opportunity in a game, so why allow it here. Always break the concentration, so they have to reFOCUS.

You will find your own versions and improve on portions of this program to help fix flaws you see develop. Be consistent and success will follow shortly!
Best of luck, Coach Ken and staff