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Bat DragBat Drag is one of the most common and problematic swing flaws, affecting both baseball and fast pitch softball hitters, usually starting in middle school when pitchers start throwing a bit harder.

Bat Drag is the main reason why good grade school hitters stop hitting and start swinging through everything and striking out.

Bat Drag

Bat Drag

The key characteristic of Bat Drag is that the back elbow gets ahead of the hips in the swing; sometimes WELL ahead of the hips, as it did in the case of my older son.

Which is how I came to learn so much about Bat Drag.

Bat Drag

Bat Drag

The tricky thing about Bat Drag is that it can result in a swing that is VERY powerful, but is too LONG to catch up to a good fastball. In the best case, that means hits, and power, are always to the opposite field.

Bat Drag

Bat Drag

I've distilled the lessons I've learned about Bat Drag, and how to fix it, into Fixing Bat Drag, a webbook that explain what Bat Drag is, why it happens, how to prevent it, and how to fix it.

Fixing Bat Drag costs just $29 and is GUARANTEED to work. If you don't solve the problem, you don't pay anything.

Fixing Bat Drag is also available, for FREE, as part of my hitting & pitching bundles.

To get to work on saving your hitter's swing and love of the game, just click the Buy Now button, above.

Bat Drag

For a number of reasons, starting with my following the conventional wisdom about hitting, and how to PREVENT Bat Drag, both of my boys DEVELOPED problems with Bat Drag. That meant I had to quickly become an expert in the topic.

This piece, and my related piece on Fixing Bat Drag, document my journey in trying to help my boys and their friends.

Cause

While some label Bat Drag a sequence problem, it is more fundamentally a power source problem; it is the result of the hitter trying to power their swing...

  • Top-down with their ARMS

...rather than...

  • Middle-up with their CORE

...via the Rotation of their hips.

Bat Drag is caused by the hitter trying to power their swing with their hands and arms — usually their dominant, back arm — rather than their hips and core.

While that DOES work, and can create a POWERFUL swing, such a swing is too LONG to catch up to a good fastball.

That's why hitters with Bat Drag often go from being the best hitter on a team to the worst.

Often within a season or two.

Symptoms

Symptoms of Bat Drag include...

  • Increasing numbers of swinging strikeouts.
  • Pounding the ball into the ground between the plate and the pitcher.
  • Often LOTS of power but increasingly, and then only, to the opposite field or foul.
  • Hitting for average, with superior power, until 5th grade or so, and then not hitting.
  • An increasing, and eventually excessive, uppercut.

What's going on is that, as the hitter's back elbow leaks forward due to Bat Drag, the barrel drops and gets stuck behind the rear elbow.

Bat Drag

Bat Drag

That causes the swing to take too long to develop, and to Whip too far out front, for the hitter to be able to catch up to a good fastball.

Bat Drag

Bat Drag

What's tricky about Bat Drag is that the extra distance and time it takes the swing to unfold WILL give the barrel more time to get up to speed and WILL result in a higher Exit Velocity and more power.

Sometimes, a LOT of power.

At the cost of foul balls, often to the opposite field.

And strike-outs.

And, increasingly so.

Bat Drag

Bat Drag

While in rare cases — such as Mark Reynolds and Mike Olt — hitters with Bat Drag don't stop hitting until they reach a high level of the game, they will stop hitting.

At least for average.

Characteristics

The most common characteristics of a problem with Bat Drag include...

Power That Doesn't Scale

One frequent tip-off that a hitter has a problem with Bat Drag is that they start out their career with tons of multi-field power in tee-ball, coach pitch, and/or machine pitch. However, as they start to move up through the levels of kid pitch — and especially around 5th or 6th grade, when pitchers start throwing harder — their batting average falls through the floor.

Only Pushing The Ball

Because Bat Drag affects when and where the barrel whips, and lengthens the swing as a result, hitters with a problem with Bat Drag will often develop a tendency to push the ball (e.g. hit the ball to the opposite field).

Bat Drag

Bat Drag

This often won't cause an obvious immediate problem. In the case of a right-handed batter, it may simply result in lots of doubles and triples into the right field corner. However, in most cases the hitter will reach the point where most of their balls will land foul down the right field line (left field line in the case of a left-handed batter) and their strikeouts will skyrocket.

Pounding the Ball into the Ground Between the Plate and the Pitcher

In many cases, a problem with Bat Drag can cause the hitter to pound balls — and especially balls up in the strike zone — down into the ground between the plate and the pitcher.

Excessive Uppercut

While some uppercut is good, too much of an uppercut can be just as problematic as chopping down on the ball.

Bat Drag

Bat Drag

An excessive uppercut will tend to reduce the overlap of the pitch plane and the swing plane.

Lots Of Swinging Strikes

One symptom of a swing that is being affected by Bat Drag is an increasing number of swinging strikes. The problem is that Bat Drag is lengthening the swing and making the bat late through the hitting zone.

Great Hitter During Batting Practice, Poor Hitter In Games

Another indicator that a hitter may have a problem with Bat Drag is that they absolutely kill the ball in batting practice, and in particular when hitting off of a batting tee or during soft-toss drills, but constantly strike out when going up against good, live pitching. Bat Drag isn't an issue, and is often an asset, when the ball is either standing still or moving very slowly. Instead, Bat Drag is only an issue when the pitcher is able to bring it with decent velocity.

Needing the Tee Well Forward
in the Stance

In retrospect, one indicator of my younger son's Bat Drag was that he was literally unable to hit off of a batting tee if the tee was placed closer than the toe of his front foot. He had to push the tee forward, or back up, in order to be able to hit the ball. Of course, that was because his back elbow was leaking forward and was causing his swing to unfold farther out front than was typical (or optimal).

Telltales

In hitters with Bat Drag, on video you will see a back elbow that...

  1. Leaks, slides, or races forward of their back hip.
  2. Ends up under their front elbow.

...such that...

  1. Their elbows are close together.
  2. Their forearms are almost parallel.
  3. Forming a tight, horizontal V shape.

...as the barrel is about to release into the Point Of Contact.

Bat Drag

Bat Drag

Bat Drag causes problems by...

  1. Causing the barrel to drop and loop, creating an excessive uppercut in the swing.
  2. Moving the point of contact forward, reducing the hitter's adjustability and ability to hit off-speed pitching.

In the best case, that means power to the opposite field.

For a while.

Bat Drag

Bat Drag

However, due to the way Bat Drag causes the barrel to drag behind, rather than whip around, the hands at the Point Of Contact, it eventually means lots of foul balls to the opposite field, balls pounded into the ground in front of the pitcher and, eventually, lots of strikeouts.

Bat Drag

Bat Drag

The reason you don't see (much) Bat Drag in high school hitters isn't because it doesn't happen to them. Rather, it's because most hitters with Bat Drag simply can't hit high school pitching.

Or, too often, middle school pitching.

Based on the large number of young hitters I have seen or worked with, I would estimate that upwards of 80 percent of young hitters have some degree of Bat Drag in their swings.

The Signature of Bat Drag

What happens during Bat Drag is that, fairly early on in the swing, the hitter's back elbow gets ahead of their top hand.

Mark Reynolds' Swing and Bat Drag

Bat Drag

As a result, at contact, the hitter will exhibit the telltale stacked elbows, Sideways V position...

Bat Drag

Bat Drag

...with the back elbow under the front elbow and the forearms parallel, horizontal, and level to the ground into and at contact.

Bat Drag

Bat Drag

Bat Drag

Bat Drag

In the worst cases of Bat Drag, the hitter's back elbow will slide well forward of their top hand, causing the barrel to drop.

Bat Drag

Bat Drag

Bat Drag

Bat Drag

As a result, at the Point Of Contact the hitter's back elbow will be well forward of their back hip, their back upper arm will be more horizontal than vertical, and their swing will unfold well out in front of them.

Why Bat Drag is Problematic

Bat Drag creates a swing that is sometimes very powerful but that is always very long; typically too long to catch up to a good fastball or to adjust between a fastball and a quality off-speed pitch.

Bat Drag changes where, when, and how the bat head starts to whip. As in the case of Mark Reynolds, that forces the hitter to make contact with the ball farther out front than is optimal, which hurts their ability to read the pitch and adjust to the ball.

Mark Reynolds' Swing and Bat Drag

Mark Reynolds

Mark Reynolds' Swing and Bat Drag

Mark Reynolds

In Mike Olt's case, his back elbow slid well forward of his back hip, causing him to consistently hit the ball well out front.

Mike Olt's Swing and Bat Drag

Mike Olt

Mike Olt's Swing and Bat Drag

Mike Olt

As players get older — usually older than 11 or so — the result of a swing with Bat Drag is occasionally lots of powerfully hit foul balls and/or hits to the opposite field, and sometimes doubles and home runs, but typically lots of swinging strikes.

Grand Slam Home Run and Bat Drag

Grand Slam Home Run

I have seen Bat Drag turn 5th grade, .500-average power hitters into 6th graders who struggle to get one weak hit per game (or season).

Home Run and Bat Drag

Home Run

Bat Drag vs. Bat Lag

Many people use the terms Bat Drag and Bat Lag interchangeably when, in truth, they are opposites.

As I explain in my piece on Bat Drag vs. Bat Lag, Bat Drag is the sign of a serious, but common, problem with the swing while Bat Lag is a normal and necessary component of a swing and the sign of a powerful swing.

My Experience

A while back I was cleaning up my web site and stumbled across the video below of my older son playing Home Run Derby in our side yard in May 2006. This video was taken back before I knew much about hitting. I hadn't had to put much thought or time into his swing because he had hit quite well up until that point, hitting for both power and average.

The thing that is really prominent in this video is significant Bat Drag, which explains why he started to struggle that year.

Bat Drag

Bat Drag

Notice how, as he starts his swing, his front arm bars and his back elbow slides forward of his back hip. This lengthens his swing and moves the Point Of Contact forward.

Bat Drag

Bat Drag
Frame 5

Bat Drag

Bat Drag
Frame 6

In Frame 6, notice how his back elbow has slid well forward of his back hip and is under, and is almost touching, his front elbow.

Bat Drag

Bat Drag
Frame 7

The existence of Bat Drag in my older son's swing makes sense, given his difficulties at the time.

Over the years, his batting average declined as the pitchers got better and he started seeing more than just glorified batting practice fastballs. He also became increasingly likely to hit the ball hard to right field or just foul down the right field line, both of which are signs of a swing that is being slowed down and lengthened by Bat Drag.

My younger son also had a problem with Bat Drag. In the clip below, notice how his back elbow slides forward. That makes the barrel dump and causes him to swing with too steep of an uppercut.

Bat Drag

Bat Drag

That frequently caused him to top the ball and pound it into the ground.

Bat Drag

Bat Drag

His problem with Bat Drag also caused him to make contact farther forward than good hitters do, which made him vulnerable to any pitch that wasn't thrown at the speed he was used to.

What Doesn't Work

As I discuss at length in the public portion of my Fixing Bat Drag eBook, when working with my older son on his Bat Drag, I tried literally every (supposed) fix, including all of the fixes for Bat Drag that are touted on YouTube and that come up below this article. However, when I looked at the resulting swings on 120fps video, nothing had changed for the better.

What's more, in many cases, the "fix" made his problem with Bat Drag worse.

As a result, I was forced me to develop my own approach to fixing Bat Drag, and did so over the course of five years of work with my younger son and his team.

Before and After

As a result of years of experience working with my sons and hundreds of young hitters in our youth baseball and softball program, I have developed an approach to fixing Bat Drag that is easy to implement and that can quickly yield dramatic results.

Bat Drag

Before

In the case of my younger son, we were able to transform his swing from the one above, which was heavily affected by Bat Drag and rarely led to solid contact, to the one below that produces consistent, hard-hit line drive singles, doubles, and home runs and has made him the 3-hole hitter on every team he has played for since fourth grade.

Ian O'Leary and Bat Drag

2 Years Later

Ian O'Leary and Bat Drag

2 Years Later

Cure for Bat Drag

I have distilled the lessons I have learned about fixing Bat Drag of my sons and their friends into Fixing Bat Drag, a webbook and eBook that explain why Bat Drag happens, how to prevent it, and how to fix it.

Fixing Bat Drag costs just $29 and is GUARANTEED to work. If you don't solve the problem, you don't pay anything.

Fixing Bat Drag is also available, for FREE, as part of my hitting & pitching bundles.

To get to work on saving your hitter's swing and love of the game, just click the Buy Now button.

Chris,
Just a follow up from the previous email.
My daughter started at CF for the JV team. After 20 at bats, her hitting average is .400.
She has since been moved to the varsity team and plans to start in LF tonight for the varsity.... totally amazing.
Your bat drag program is a bargain for $29, it is worth much more.  I would encourage anyone struggling with bat drag to get this information. By far it is the BEST info on the web and it's not even close!
Thanks again,
Bryan R.
March 2020
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