A Hitting Lesson with Edgar Martinez

[@TheAlaskaalex]

So many people teach you growing up that the back foot is the anchor and it should never move, only rotate. But the best Right handed hitter and DH of all time just blew all that dogma away. Balance and feel and transfer of power to the front foot let's the back foot move and keep the hips strong to hit for power to all fields. Edgar is a genius.

[@armychowmein8021]

Trevor Story has the same kind of back foot slide as the Gar. But he's a pure pull hitter. I think it has more to do with the Gar's approach to hitting overall and the sliding foot merely gives him more "bat in the zone" time. I also recall Kyle Seager talking about how the Gar was coaching him to always think oppo against the FB which therefore allows for off speed pitches to still be met by the bat within "the zone" CtheZ.

[@unclestinky6388]

You can see Henry Aaron slide his back foot a little on the video for #715. Mike Schmidt and Gorman Thomas are two other old skool power hitters who also did something similar. I remember briefly trying it when I was a kid after I saw Schmidt do it. I should have stuck with it.

[@cheddarbob7540]

Squash the bug though, right? Lol. The beauty of hitting - or teaching the art of hitting - is that there really isn't just one way to do it. It truly depends on the athlete. Of course you can change up routines or implement new drills or try to change body patterns/sequencing or build new muscle memory, among other things. All of that can be true. But the truth is - not all successful hitters move their bodies in the same way during their swing. You can certainly point to specific core principals that all successful hitters have in common, but that doesn't necessarily mean they all arrived at the point of contact in the same way.

[@RickDesotell]

@@unclestinky6388 watch the 1971 all-star game and you will see several examples of hitting off front foot.

[@krakenmetzger]

Altuve's back foot flies all over the place too.

[@alanlee67]

I remember watching in the 90s when Seattle would have a rod, Griffey, and Edgar. That's quite a lineup. Randy Johnson...in the Kingdome. The 90s were the best

[@Jack3dBrett]

what a time we live in. so much knowledge at our fingertips.

[@DonBienveRosario15]

Crazy right?

[@MIKExVICKx7]

?

[@r.a.tackey3230]

research hebrew cosmology

[@jlopez1017d]

A lot of bad hitting coaches out there too trying to revolutionize the wheel. Uppercut swings are trash stay in the zone as long as you can

[@seandafny]

Yes

[@andrewwest7360]

One of my absolute favorite players growing up...Definite Hall of Fame player

[@antoniojimenezjr57]

When I was little he was playing winter league in Puerto Rico and before a game he was signing autographs, they made us get in a single line and only one autograph per kid, I had 5 baseball cards so I got in line 3 times and before Signing my 3rd one he laughed and said “ this is your 3rd time in line how many you baseball cards you got? I said 5 he signed the rest of them so I didn’t have to keep trying to get in line again, one of my favorite players of all time, so happy he finally got the call

[@westonstevens3239]

As a Mariner fan, I always thought that Edgar was the greatest student of hitting I've ever seen, while Griffey was the greatest natural hitter I've ever seen.

[@johnjohnsonjohn]

Edgar absolutely raked

[@br2024]

The all time greatest DH. The damn award is NAMED after him!!! Get Edgar in the HOF!!!!

[@abrahangomez6816]

🤡🤡🤡🤡 big papi

[@brody2087]

@@abrahangomez6816 1. Ortiz wouldn’t have had a career if it weren’t for Edgar 2. Edgar is still a better hitter than him

[@abrahangomez6816]

@@brody2087 what?

[@A3Hoops]

@@abrahangomez6816 it’s true Ortiz was actually a Mariners prospect too lol

[@davidarcelay9924]

Edgar way better hitter than David Ortiz, if you know about the sport, then shouldn’t be no doubts…..

[@courtneyvaldez7903]

One of the greatest right handed hitters of all time, finally got his due from Cooperstown. It's incredible to thing what his numbers would've looked like if he'd gotten playing time before his late 20s. Maybe 450 hrs, 3000 hits, close to 2000 walks, as many RBIs as David Ortiz, and, just maybe, the record for doubles. The dude was born to hit. I despise the DH, but Edgar was just so damn good at the hardest thing to do in American sports, how can he be denied?

[@GlennTheSadMarinersFan]

dude is handicapped as well. I think its ok to bring it up since it involves his eyes. incredible what he could do.

[@kfeder76]

Cooperstown came a calling! Congrats Edgar!

[@swordMechA]

Growing up I watched the Angels, but i always tried to catch the Marines strictly to see this guy bat. Massively underrated hitter of our time.

[@drizzle452]

That’s absolutely fascinating and contrary to pretty much everything I’ve ever learned, but he’s got a point-that swing path does seem to stay in the strike zone longer and flatter with the back foot moving back. Like Byrnes pointed out, that is really difficult to duplicate for a lot of people. It just goes to show you that there is no “one size fits all” methodology to hitting.

[@RickDesotell]

elbow in and palm up is the key with the back arm

[@chrislewis5069]

I think the thing I noticed with the back leg moving is it’s used on balls your more likely to roll over on like outside pitches and breaking balls.

[@lunchb0x_x119]

One of the Greatest Right hander hitter of all time.

[@positively_broad_st3780]

Edgar is the freakin' man!

[@Aves0225]

I am amazed by this unique but worked so well for him

[@wadeboshiverson]

It’s a damn shame he’s not in Cooperstown yet

[@hr1meg]

Soon. Very soon.

[@floresaza253]

No more shame he's in baby!

[@ianblake1980]

it is now wooooo!

[@ALTAIR2]

He is now

[@timdavisfitness]

wadeboshiverson now he is

[@hm2ls869]

MLB network where is the 1-hour long hitting instruction series?!? This needs to be a permanent fixture on the net work and needs to have great majorly hitters from history breaking down how they did what they did. Please make this happen.

[@kingtrav]

So jealous of kids who have these videos to watch to improve their game. Wish I had stuff like this when I was growing up!

[@justincarbone8715]

I was just thinking the exact same thing. You can basically have coaching from All-Stars and Hall of Famer just one click away. Amazing.

[@cbanks1980]

Man!

[@wbdrugstrat]

If the NFL can have punters and kickers in the hall, the MLB should have DHs. Edgar was a hitting machine.

[@EchoesDistant]

Also in the MLB case, Closers and other relief pitchers.

[@preston0808]

Loved watching the mariners growing up with Edgar, Griffey, and all the others. But I've never actually heard Edgar speak until now. I know his last name is Martinez, but he looks like an American long haul trucker. It made me laugh to hear his Puerto Rican accent.

[@Yanikleko]

pzcanada was born in New York, but grew up in Dorado, Puerto Rico.

[@preston0808]

Yanikleko makes sense

[@sea4our]

had the lucky pleasure of watching this man spend his entire career in my city/my gf little brother knows his son. i'm not quite sure if people realize how much of a hitting machine Edgar really was. the dude used to do this hitting drill where he'd write numbers on the ball and he wouldn't hit it unless he could read the correct number

[@matthewandrews3883]

How would he be able to read a number on a ball that was spinning?

[@thomaslemon3971]

⁠​⁠​⁠@@matthewandrews3883 They described it a bit off. Edgar’s right eye wanders, so as a strengthening exercise, they would launch tennis balls through a pitching machine. The balls had numbers written on them, and he’d track them as far as he could until it was out of his peripheral, trying to identify the numbers. They were written in multiple spots on the ball. The funny thing is, other people attempted his drill, and had trouble reading the numbers even when the machine was set to 20mph. He’d take it up to 130mph sometimes! Absolutely incredible, his dedication. Before him, the DH was a way for an older player to hang on a couple more years. He took the position to the extreme. I am a BIG fan if you can’t tell 🙃

[@roronoakora4861]

Hands down the most beloved Mariner of all time.

[@angierivera7305]

Edgar was a pure hitter.

[@userloco99]

if u want to pull the ball don't move the back foot, if u want to spray the ball to all fields move the back foot. Thanks Edgar, that help me a lot on my swing and it works.

[@senatorlainez]

Edgar, by far one of my most favorite players ever. And this is coming from a Dodger fan too. That M's team with Junior, Olerud, Tino, Edgar, The Unit was just insane.

[@blackspokane4497]

Edgar needs to be in the Hall of Fame - MLB has an award named after him

[@CSXBRO]

Edgar my man

[@lb2779]

What a genius this man is, in his second language expertly conveys to the youth how to perfect the most minute detail of swinging a bat.

[@MantrostTonyRojas2012]

When he was an active player i spent hours looking at his swing and i was surprised in his sweet swing. I wondered how easy look to hit the ball for him. Sweet, elegant, and effective batting swing!! i got frustraded i could´nt get to that!!

[@davidscott7626]

Edgar Martinez is one of the greatest hitters of the modern era, if not all time. The fact that they don't wanna put him in the HOF because he was primarily a DH is simply laughable.

[@GlennTheSadMarinersFan]

imagine if he didn't have the eye problems. crazy

[@matthewandrews3883]

@@GlennTheSadMarinersFan and imagine if he played in his early 20s as well like JR and AROD did.

[@teddyramaphala1284]

I've been an avid fan of Edgar since early '04.. Never actually heard him speak before...

[@bengaltiger96]

All that fuckin time and I never noticed that backstep. Crazy. I love these masterclasses.

[@eddiejansen3771]

Best hitting video I've watched

[@armychowmein8021]

This doesn't explain why Trevor Story, who has the same movement with his back foot, is a pure pull hitter... I think it has more to do with the Gar's overall work ethic and approach to hitting.

[@MrCplChicken]

It doesn't mean you're going to automatically spray the ball all over the park just because you do this movement. Obviously there are many mechanics involved in a swing. The point is, it puts your body in a better position to do so.

[@jamescurth701]

Story isn’t, normally he leads the league in home runs on low outside sliders.

[@Garrett1240]

That’s because Edgar hit just as much with his back foot not jutting out as he did when it did. Story pretty much always just his back foot out

[@zoznack]

What a stick Edgar was. And he seems like quite the gentleman, too.

[@commomcents]

That back leg movement makes perfect sense,but you have to know your abilities to,give that a try.What seperated Edgars elite hitting ability was his visual,acuity and ability to lay off of bad pitches.Dude was a stud bc he strayed in his hitting zone with that barrel longer than most and squared up balls more often than not and hammered those hanging off speed pitches as well...One of the best ever,period!.

[@stevevandien310]

Edgar was superb. If he didn't have the most beautiful right-handed swing of all time, it was damn close. And this great hitter knew his craft up, down and sideways. Knew how to work a pitcher until he got a good ball to hit, while fouling others off. Knew when to hit straightaway, when to go after a dinger by pulling. Had eye trouble for many years. Countered it with strenuous eye exercises and bunting against a tennis-ball machine, which sent the spheres at WAAY over 100 mph. 150ish --

[@Jesusisyhwh]

As a Mariners fan, I can ask "Who doesn't love Edgar?"

[@geobrah1957]

Most elite hitters release the pressure on the back foot and end up on their front foot, with their back heel up, toe in the dirt- some slide the back foot forward in the “weightless part of their swing. To actually move that back foot in the way Edgar did is very unusual, and a real eye opener!

[@Rabbit14A]

You definitely should do one with Ichiro

[@worldofwisdom617]

This dude is awesome

[@somerandomguy84]

There were literally people who were skeptical of him being in the hall bc he was a DH. Dumb!

[@babc4323]

EEEEEEEEDDDDDDDD-GGGAAARRRRR!!! Long live the Mariners!

[@TheGammingPie]

Edgar has one of the most purest swing in the history of baseball! i swear he could hit home runs in his sleep...

[@TheSolver-PR]

Now I'm learning this after giving up on hitting!

[@Shinobi33]

I'd love to see him manage one day. Edgar is a true old school Hispanic baseball gentleman

[@dape8993]

Great material. Destroys that "squish the bug" garbage taught by amateur coaches. One piece of advice: Eric Byrnes should talk less and allow the guest to talk more!

[@Northeastbaseball]

S"Squash the Bug" never worked for me. Once I hit about 12 I figured out that that phrase actually hurt my swing more than help it.

[@Always_Curious_Joe]

dape True. You dont really even HAVE to step into a ball to hit it well. Just make solid contact and transfer your weight from the back foot to the front foot, right before you make contact. I actually never even realized before I saw this video, but this movement with the back foot that Edgar is demonstrating here, I naturally do this movement with my back foot too! Sweet!

[@knucleballfreedom]

Well Dusty Baker came out with that book, squish the bug, wish I never read it.

[@gouda2177]

I agree about Byrnes, but he can't help himself , hes hyperactive

[@palomagarcia4721]

el mejor en la caja de bateo

[@richie.edwards]

A legend

[@eddierivera8556]

the best DH!

[@NPRThatBlueCrayon]

The core stretch with this swing reminds me of how slapshots are preformed in hockey!

[@keeganramjit8111]

mike trout does this too

[@MidwayGuy]

Makes it sound so simple

[@JW-dy8ru]

The back leg stepping back, I just noticed Ronald Acuna Jr doing the same thing.

The back step is mental help. The best way is transfer the dynamics of the vectors to achieve contact in the final convergence. Example, T. Gwyn, D. Jeter also E. Martinez. in fact Edgar's step back is not as pronounced as that of Altuve and Cabrera. This technique is not the perfect foundation but a practice that makes these players have adopted as mental reinforcement.

[@Garrett1240]

I've noticed that those who move their back foot away from the plate during their swing have noticeably less open hips at the point of contact. I believe this is largely responsible for why they appear to hit less home runs than say a Mike Trout, Cody Bellinger or Freddie Freeman. These three exemplify the hitting style that predominates today and which I think is best suited to hitting homers, generally speaking, and perhaps deep line-drives too. These three , when at the point of contact all display rather open hips, little-to-no bend in the front knee/leg, and a slight back lean of the torso to get their hips out in front so that the sort-of 'unloading' process can be realized realized. The physics behind this type of hitting approach is much like a top when made to spin by our hand. To make a top spin fast enough to stay upright is impossible without first 'cocking' our wrist in one direction before unloading it back in the other, thus creating the conditions for the top to be spun with great enough velocity to remain upright for some period of time. When the pitcher is in his throwing motion the batters gather potential energy by slightly positioning their backs and to a lesser extent hips/glutes towards the pitcher creating the necessary displacement for a violent uncoiling. Foot, then hips begin to swing open followed by the torso which will naturally want to lean back to compensate for the lower half quickly accelerating out and away from one's center of gravity. This symphony of efficient movement creates the necessary force and acceleration to barrel the ball. Flaring out the back foot is usually a way to mitigate a number of shortcomings such as short stature (Altuve), loss of quick twitch speed due to age (Cabrera), or simply a batter just feels more capable of making contact by choosing not to maximize power through the hitting mechanics described above. A back foot sliding out and making some contact with the ground will act like a rod in a wheel's spokes by obstructing the body's ability to uncoil and 'swing-open' the midsection ever-so, hampering the power one can generate in theory.

[@TheBoodog1]

Well also look at his front foot and where it lands when he’s driving the ball the other way. 1992 American League batting champ

[@jboyo58]

Everyone: nobody can hit a homerun that’s in the wall Edgar: hold my beer

[@AztecWarrior595]

Javy baez does it too

[@Garrett1240]

not well

[@Thesdlefty1]

Masters class!

[@golfmaniac007]

when edgar talks about batting, you listen. edgar had such great bat control. jarred kelenic should takes some lessons from him. jarred is pulling everything.

[@lb2779]

I thought about how Barry never moved his back leg. I think little implements like this determine the makeup of the hitter. This man took personally being in batting title contention, meanwhile a slugger usually will want to be a bit more short and a sense of balance. Many different ways to be great in baseball, play to your advantages.

[@LancerJak]

Sweetest right handed swing ever.

[@jaydee5447]

Introduce him with some respect....the HOF Edgar Martinez

[@jimtroclus]

It is time to rebuild the Mariner in Franchise mode

[@bartfox9187]

Scooter Gennett does this too . but his foot goes toward the catcher.

[@Polymath29]

Exactly on what he was saying on the back foot moving forward. So many players are taught to stay back, and that's not going to work

[@stoneshire645]

There is lots of old footage of Henry Aaron using this exact same hitting technique.

[@joaquinayala9665]

Que paso con edgar martinez el periodista de univision

[@baileysmith4744]

to think the Mariners had Ichiro, Vogelbach, Cruz, Haniger, Segura, and Gordon, yet they cant even make post season. Marlins x2

[@birdchatterbaseball2024]

not the back foot. Its the front foots step over when he lands that causes that making it very hard to fly open.

[@yunghanhuang8188]

this is crazy, another Ichiro

[@user-ck5hp1cy8o]

Kids are lucky nowadays

[@joseberrios5970]

Are players in the MLB who have the ability to hit the ball in different Ways to the opposite of the field. But went you talk about a baseball player with all ability and discipline. than everybody knows who's his name.# 11 edgar Martinez .

[@jamesy4003]

The best hitter that never owned a mitt

[@seattlewa8500]

Not true. In 1990, 1991 and 1992 he played 3rd base for the Mariners. In 1994 he was moved to DH because of injuries and he remained the DH the rest of his career.

[@jason64bit19]

Jack Clark used to do this 30 years ago

[@MajorChipHazard16]

My dad used to get PISSED when me or my brothers would move our back foot when we were batting

[@max66bhs77]

Listen to Edgar, "I approach middle of the field." That means you don't pull every pitch. The back foot comes off the ground at contact. Shocking, but not really.

[@daveerhardt1879]

4 minutes before Edgar talks, typical MLB.

[@nephi30]

People over complicate the athletic mechanics of power. Load and release. In Baseball there is throwing and hitting. When a pitcher throws the ball, their back driving leg is off the ground at the point of release. In hitting the back leg is either spinning or comes off the ground for a moment depending on where the pitch is they are trying to hit. This results in maximum force. You can just twist at the trunk if you want, but the power will be diminished. NOTE: This is simple...but not easy to master as it takes thousands of swings and pitches to develop and train the brain and the body to maximize force under control.

[@ihavesoul4real]

Unfortunately Mike Zunino has never hit over .230 in any season during his career

[@pdple9476]

Yuli Gurriel just won a batting tittle with the same approach at the plate.

[@joshuapatrick682]

Miguel Cabrera is great, one of the best. He’s still no Martinez though. Still HOF for sure.

[@peterwyattmiddleton]

Hank Aaron did that back foot thing a lot

[@lochnessmonster5149]

There's nothing revolutionary about any of this. Edgar didn't do anything different than hitters before him.

[@seattlewa8500]

He was just a better hitter than most of them.

[@the_stewbear]

That looks a lot like Roger Federer's backhand footwork

[@bmcjr42]

This is Roberto Clemente style

[@theoweller2662]

The dude closest to the screen looks like old josh donaldson

[@rovinsingh4698]

Edgar with the bat in his hands here looks a lot like the Babe

[@reinubeton]

Ask mariano rivera about this gentleman

[@mrwoody1413]

Non baseball people don’t understand how hard it is to hit a baseball

[@smilesolutions4all]

😍

[@balkee42]

Dude on right looks like marty mcflys dad

[@hectorrivera7686]

Eso quiere q altuve y cabrera le robaron la movida a martienz y todavia dicen q ortiz fue mejor q el ustedes esta bn loco ,ese tipo es una bestia edgar es edgar el mejor siempre sera el papa

[@davestephanieanderson9503]

Sup

[@maxstevenson5183]

Hey

[@staciemohler4624]

113th comment

[@alecmcjarison999]

Where is the mlb network headquarters?

[@Northeastbaseball]

New jersey

[@adrianrodriguez4201]

Secacus

[@maikelrodriguez1142]

Marcel osuna,Bruce harper do the same thing

[@alneri9041]

Everyone from NY voted thumbs down

[@TSNAnnotator]

Guy in the blue suit needs to realize he's not 20 years old and that hair doesn't suit him.

[@telephonic]

He should also wear brown shoes with a any kind of blue suit...Terrible hair and shoes.

[@chacmool2581]

That dude with the blue suit and bad haircut talks too much.

[@diego7447]

who cut their hair?