How to stay on top of the Baseball when hitting

Coach Steve got asked a great question the other day. It says, "I hear the word staying on top of the ball with hitting so much, but what does that actually mean? And how do I get that across to my 14 year olds without making them feel like they need to hit down on the ball." Can you talk a little bit about that?
Yeah, I think, coach, that's a good question because what we like to say here is real versus feel. What are you really doing in your swing versus what do you feel like you're doing in your swing? I think a lot of the times hitters get into a habit of collapsing back here too early or their barrel drags through the zone. I hear a lot of coaches, especially back in the day when I played, a lot of guys would say, "Think top half of the ball. Think down on the ball." For me, that helped because I would get into the habit of getting long with my swing. I would be late and my bat would be dragging through the zone. For me, even though I might've been thinking or feeling like I was swinging down on the ball, my swing path was never downhill. We don't ever want to teach hitters to actually swing downhill.
All right, coach, just to give you a couple of examples of what we were just talking about. Swinging down on the ball versus flat ... if you get into practice and your hitters are swinging super downhill, we're just going to keep chopping that ball straight into the ground. We're never really matching the plane to the pitch. Other guys, you might see swinging super uphill. They might get to this position and swinging and really popping that ball up that way. That adjustment or that verbal of thinking top half of the ball might clean up one of those hitters that is getting super loopy and long with their swing.
Again, we want to try to match the plane of the pitch, so that ball's coming downhill slightly. We're just demonstrate here on side toss, but we want our barrel to match the plane of the pitch for as long as we can. Even though I might be thinking down, I'm really a lot flatter, and I'm hitting backspin line drives through the middle of the field. Again, just know who you're working with, know what the player's flaws are before you just tell everybody think down or think top half.Let us help you Dominate the Diamond on and off the field with our drills, skills, downloads, and educational conversations. We will help you put many tools in your baseball or softball toolbox.
-
Follow our coaching journey as we help you #dominatethediamond here:
www.dominateth...
►Check out our partners at Zoned Sports channel here:
/ zonedsportsacademy
-
Dominate the Diamond® is an educational series devoted to coaching youth athletes. Coaches Duke Baxter and Steve Nikorak along with guest coaches share their love of baseball and coaching combined with their expertise as former professional baseball players to develop the ultimate curriculum!
-
Follow us Online Here:
Instagram: / dominatethediamond
Facebook: / domin8thediamond
Linkedin: / dukebaxter
Website: dominatethediam...
Twitter: / domin8thedimnd
Let us help you DOMINATE your baseball coaching experience with the best youth baseball training videos, performance drills and detailed instructional explanations. If you are new to coaching baseball or a seasoned baseball coach, this is the place for you.
-
👉Get FREE access to ALL our online training material for 3-days
www.dominateth....
-
👉Get FREE access on How to Run the Perfect Baseball Practice
www.dominateth....
-
👉Check out our Baseball Coach Training Courses ***
www.dominateth....
-
⚾️Join the elite group of youth baseball coaches
www.dominateth....
-
📚Learn More about Dominate the Diamond
www.dominatethediamond.com
-
🗣Follow us Online Here:
Instagram: / dominatethe. .
Facebook: / domin8thedia. .
Linked in: / dukebaxter
Website: www.dominateth...
Twitter: / domin8thedimnd
-
Check out our Zoned training facility in Bridgewater, NJ
/ zonedsportsaca. .

[@carguygriff9416]

The Barry bonds drill when you swing down and try to hit the plate with the ball, cleans up a long dragging swing, help create that back spin, also

[@RJ.08]

Wrong hit tanks

[@mrmike1296]

thanx coaches !