Youth Hitters and top hand ARM...You Must Get This Right

Top Hand Arm...You Must Get This Right
Youth hitters do not understand the purpose of the top hand arm. Its the most important mechanism for the upper half..when you understand how its used you gain more power and the ability to make adjustments in the zone.
This is a great video with a drill to tackle the common approach problem associated with drag in kids swings:
• Why Kids Have Bat Drag...
/ lonestarforce

[@RonSullivanHitting]

Finally, a program designed for kids learning to hit: www.lsfhitting.com/

[@xxMisterxTxx]

My absolute favorite hitting video on KZbin. I’m out of college ball and now playing in an adult league and I even still use this advice. Understanding this makes a HUGE difference at the plate. Thanks, Ron!

[@RonSullivanHitting]

Appreciate you watching Taylor! Thanks for your kind words sir

[@JediFight]

Absolutely the most common mistake I see in kids. And, I believe you are correct, it’s because they don’t have the strength yet, so they just rely on rotation of the body alone to pull the bat through.

[@ronsmith1349]

Thank you very much for the explanation of the Top Hand responsibility in the swing. That piece of information "Get the Top Hand Behind the Ball" is fantastic. It so far has worked wonders with my son....its just clicking for him. We've gone from struggling to have consistency doing top hand drills off a tee, to squaring up balls on Top Hand front toss drills in a few short days. Also, it has in many ways eliminated the ripping on the front side, instead staying through the baseball. Again, Thank you!!

[@RonSullivanHitting]

Great to hear it! Nice work dad!

[@TroutisMe123]

Nice video. Great explanation of the typical youth swing. I think saying "Get behind the ball" is like saying "get on top of the ball" or "hit the inside of the ball" etc. It means something to the individual saying it but maybe not to the person listening. Your channel is one of my favorite for hitting information. Thanks.

[@RonSullivanHitting]

Thanks James! Yes, some cues can make a difference with some players, others will just hear words :)

[@peterkovacs7578]

I had the same feeling. Could you please be more specific what exactly means " get the top hand arm behind the ball ?

[@JB-tiger]

@@RonSullivanHitting top hand behind the ball isn’t clear to me either. Does that mean inside the ball??

[@RonSullivanHitting]

@@JB-tiger Sorry for the confusion. Kids use the top hand to steer the bat around the ball. I was trying to point out the direction difference, but ultimately yes they need to learn to stay inside.

[@donaldhunt4]

This sure is some great information and giving me some promise with my 7 year old who has that bat drag issue. I love it!

[@mlb_zity1276]

That top it’s. So importantly and you did a great job breaking down!!!

[@daleshrock5664]

Excellent video again,You are not over simplifying.You just really understand what your talking about. “ If you can’t explain something simply ,you don’t understand it well enough”Einstein.

[@primeazie]

Great video. Watch Barry, he's flawless with getting short and throwing that barrel

[@TheRoadLessChosen]

Everyone has this different definition for getting short to the ball. Gotta be a better way to define this.

[@primeazie]

Getting short = swing length. Swing length is basically the length that the barrel of the bat has to travel to get to the ball. The shorter the distance, the shorter the swing, longer distance means a longer swing.

[@TheRoadLessChosen]

@@primeazie thank you.

[@coachroger4929]

Hey coach I understand completely. Only one thing, I just started 8u - 12u winterball program. For the kids that are not strong enough to handle the bat with one arm. My concern is when they go to swing they will pull thier front shoulder open to fast and gain a habit of pulling out.

[@bennettmusser1214]

To get the top hand behind the ball, would you emphasize a strong top hand grip and a loose bottom hand grip?

[@kendaladams3640]

You ever seen a hitter whos hips turn late, in normal speed it's hard to see so most coaches think their swing looks good, but if you slow it down you see their front knee locks way after contact or their hips rotates where you can see the strip on their outside leg way after contact. Any drills to fix this issue?

[@donaguirre4381]

Hey coach. Great video. But for the life of me I don't understand/can't visualize what you mean by getting the top hand "behind the ball." Can you clarify a bit more?

[@Palmetto7070]

Ron...I agree with Don on this. Great video as usual!!!!

[@donaguirre4381]

Hey Coach. Sorry this conversation took an unfortunate turn. For what it's worth, thank you for taking the time to share your knowledge of the game. This is outstanding content that you are providing for FREE to help a dad like me provide better instruction to my son. I have practically memorized every one of your videos. Have a great day.

[@RonSullivanHitting]

Thanks Don!!! Appreciate the support

[@TheRoadLessChosen]

@@donaguirre4381 so? What did he mean?

[@TheRoadLessChosen]

@@donaguirre4381 we still have no answer 🤷🏻‍♂️

[@ryan65607]

Ron Thank you for your great posts...I am 32 and started playing just for fun about one year ago... I was reviewing my hitting video and realized that I am suffering from this exact problem..I started searching in youtube and finally got here. looks like this(elbow drag, body turning the hands) is the exact problem i have... but It is really hard to fix this problem even with knowing what the problem is...I keep doing the same thing again and again with live pitching.. WHAT(DRILLS, TIPS, THINKING..ETC) WOULD YOU RECOMMEND THE MOST to fix this problem? Again thank you for your great tips and teachings, I've really gained a lot from your channel. If you'd like to see my swing(which i would greatly appreciate) I will send you my video...

[@RonSullivanHitting]

Yes if you would like to work on it you can send me a swing [e-mail]

[@bryanrmcnair01]

Mine stays with hands in close and slices the ball worse than golfer! And it all started "tryn" hit with some power as tiny 6th grader in middle school ball with 7th and 8th graders...field went from 60 ft bases to 80!

[@sterlinghousewashpressurew9594]

Fantastic video

[@zacharyward3123]

“Behind the ball” means? Trying to help my 8 yo but I never had a coach as a kid.

[@fly4doe2]

Good point. That phrase needs to be defined, isolated and demonstrated. So many "coaching points" are lost in poorly defined terms. We had a tennis team coach who used to tell our doubles partners "You need to get more into the point..." all the time. Never got a description of what that meant, but it also didn't occur to any of us to ask. Years later all I can think it means is "Don't suck. Don't lose the point so soon.." maybe? Or maybe he thought we were going for a winner too soon and that we needed to develop a setup for said winner. Either way, we did suck and there was no getting to that set up because for many of the players the fundamentals of just keeping the ball in play weren't there yet. Coaching money wasted....

[@luke2589]

What’s a good cue to think to prevent top hand palm facing up when Turing?

[@michellejohn695]

Hello Ron, me and my dad watch some of your videos. I am a 9 year old girl who plays softball.This past fall marked one year of playing time in 8U. Last summer I made the all star team and in 39 at bats,i was on base 33 times,had 31 hits,scored 20 runs with 21 rbi's. On base % was .795,batting average was .795 and slugging % was .1295. Regular season games was with live pitching while the All Star games were against coach pitching which explains very high numbers. My dad coaches me on everything right now and films me in some at bats and in practice at home.Iam not a big girl,but,at 4'8" and 75 pounds,I hit the ball very hard at times,but,I have a bat drag problem that we are working on. Tomorrow,we will start the top hand drill in this video. How many times during the week should we do this?Should we also do this drill on one knee? I told my dad to leave out the stats,but,he didn't.The other words are from me.Parents.....:-(

[@Ephesians28n9]

Tell Dad to watch Steve springer

[@lawrencethomass816]

His hand is out front pushing the ball at contact he hasn’t unlagged the bat ! Big problem with one hand swings. If you watch the Merrifield swing his top hand wrist releases to extension.

[@RonSullivanHitting]

In a one-handed drill, I promote feeling the palm staying up through contact for as long as possible. What you are calling a push is clearly an exaggeration as we compensate for players that roll over and don't stay through contact

[@lawrencethomass816]

All good but it would help if you mention that it is an exaggeration.my son struggles with unflagging the bat . Many of his contact points look like the contact point you demonstrate . Many coaches promote the pushing the hands forward. Can be confusing for those who don’t have the knowledge. Thanks for your work and for the reply!

[@RonSullivanHitting]

@@lawrencethomass816 So the focus in the video is for players that have drag tendencies which would be the opposite of a player that is releasing the barrel late. Sorry for the confusion and thanks for commenting.

[@richlovell-thebaseballbarn1008]

Hey! Great video as always, kid. Let's talk some hitting and golf soon. It's been a while. Just played some decent golf in Scottsdale a couple of weeks ago. 104 degrees...but it was a dry heat! Oh, and apparently YT cut you off at 15 minutes...screen went black

[@joshuajanniere3968]

Thanks Youu!!!!

[@bennettmusser1214]

First!