Ruined!
As a result of my experience working with college, minor, and
major league baseball players, I have come to believe that
many, if not most, college programs and major league organizations are unintentionally, but systematically,
ruining their best young hitters.
Teams
are recruiting, signing, and drafting hitters because they can hit the ball well. Then, as soon as they get those hitters in their
system, they change their swings and hitting mechanics
and then act surprised when those hitters stop
being able to hit well.
While it may
surprise people that this could be going on, I know for a fact
that this is happening. This scenario describes the experiences
of most of my clients at the college, minor, and major league
levels.
There are a number of
reasons why hitters are being ruined by their teams and coaches.
Low Priority Position
I have had many people tell me that part of the problem is
how some minor league hitting instructors are selected in major
league organizations.
Many minor league hitting
instructors tend to be former speed guys. Because of their
speed, more often then not they were taught to swing down on the
ball, just put it in play, and try to beat out the throw. As is
common in life, these instructors now teach what they themselves were
taught, so the cycle perpetuates itself.
Of course, you have to question how good the hitting instruction
they received really was if they are coaching rather than
playing.
As an aside, you see the same cycle
perpetuating itself in the world of youth hitting instruction. I
have never understood why some parents are so eager to take the
hitting advice of a former minor leaguer who washed out due to
his inability to hit and who now teaches the same stuff that
likely ruined his swing.
Incorrect Use of Video
Some organizations don't use video at all, and most of the rest do
not use video correctly.
In my
experience, most evaluation of hitters is done with the naked
eye, which simply isn't up to the task. What really matters in
the swing is the moment between the planting of the front heel
and the Point Of Contact. The problem is that that happens too fast for the
human eye to get more than a basic sense of what's going on.
When video is used, it is often used to review a hitter's
approach and not their mechanics. While that is a valid use of
video, the problem is that too often that video is used during
the game itself, which can lead to thinking and analysis
paralysis.
The Conventional Wisdom is Wrong
My contention that hitting instructors aren't using video at
all, or correctly, is born out by the persistence of the
conventional wisdom about hitting. If hitting instructors spent
even a few minutes, much less hours, looking at video of the
best hitters in the world, there is no way that they could
continue to believe the things they do.
Most major league hitting
instructors seem to teach the same basic stuff -- which I roll
up under the umbrella of the
A to C Swing -- most of which
doesn't match up with reality. It's as if everyone has read the
same, terrible book about hitting. That includes very prominent
people like...
You can see the same swing being taught at other levels...
All of these guys, and most people at the college, minor, major league level,
teach the same linear, extended, downward-chopping, level swing at the Point Of
Contact.
What Kevin Long Teaches
Unfortunately, what you see in the picture above doesn't match up with
how the best hitters actually swing the bat.
Alex Rodriguez's Actual Swing
The Opportunity
Of course, this creates a huge, Moneyball-esque opportunity.
Some smart major league baseball organization is going to start
mining the piles of discarded former top picks and find some
very cheap diamonds in the rough. Yes, they will have to sort
out the guys who flamed out because of their inability to hit a
good curveball, a lack of plate discipline, or another
fundamental reason, but that can be done very cheaply.
Why Do I Know This?
My experience
with Andres Torres makes me sure that this opportunity
exists. Andres was exactly the kind of person that I am talking
about; someone who is extremely gifted but whose swing was
ruined by well-intentioned, but ill-informed, hitting
instructors. Before we met, he had never been taught what good
hitters do. Once he learned how good hitters actually swing the
bat, his career took off.
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