Baseball Swing Techniques and Mechanics

Like building anything else you must first start with a strong foundation to have a good baseball swing. Though there are many different stances based on comfort, there's only one way to strike the ball effectively so that you hit the ball square with all of your weight behind it. Having that solid base is the beginning of achieving success at the plate.

Like I said before the initial stance can vary and is not as important as some make it out to be. It is something that is unique to the individual and should be something that is comfortable based on your own strengths and weaknesses. Many coaches believe in a 50/50 or 60/40 weight distribution in both the resting stance and especially when you go to attack the ball. That shouldn't be confused with your weight distribution at the point of contact and at that time you want your weight to have transfered forward then back with most of it on your back foot, meaning that you stayed "behind the ball".

Your stride which is your "timing mechanism" should be one that is comfortable just like your stance but more importantly one that works for you. Your weight should feel like it goes back as you load and torque your body from a resting stance, then forward to attack the baseball without lunging and back again keeping your weight behind the ball. As long as your stride puts you in a position "in time" where you are balanced and can either swing or take the pitch, you are using the proper mechanics.

Your feet should then end up at about shoulder's width or wider as you approach the ball and they should be firmly planted. Your back foot should be slightly turned and on the "ball" of your foot. If your front side has remained "in" the way it's supposed to, then you have just torqued your hips. You should actually feel the torque and pressure on your front side ready to unwind or "uncork". Try this, if you stand in an athletic position with both feet pointing forward, turn your back foot inward just a little and you will feel the pressure of your front side wanting to twist. If you were to remain in that position after contact nobody should be able to push you off balance, that's how you know you have a solid base to your baseball swing.

I feel the most important part of your swing mechanics is having "strong hands". Everybody has heard a coach say "keep your hands back" and that can't be emphasized enough. What exactly does that mean? No matter what else happens during your swing, your hands must remain in a position to aggresively hit the ball.

During many players' stride or "timing device" they will draw their hands up, in, and back to load for power. It is critical that your hands stay there and do not come forward to soon or especially drop below the hitting plane of the ball. Basically you are allowing gravity to do much of the work. It's much easier to swing down than up.

While drawing your hands back you have to be careful of what is called a "bat wrap". Many players allow the head of the baseball bat to go beyond their head creating a very long swing. That is bad because it is that much further that the barrel of the bat has to travel before being able to make contact. Ideally, you want your swing to be as short and compact as possible going from point "A" to "B". By hitting down on the ball you actually create a back spin on the ball causing it to rise when it is a line-drive in the air. You do not want to have a dip in your swing, which is a common misconception in lower levels of play as something that should be done. I guess players and sometimes coaches think that if contact is made on the upside of the "dip" it will force the ball upward but that is not true. Or, you won't hit the ball "up" in the way that you want the ball to be hit into the air. Pop-ups are the worst thing to hit into play because you will almost always be out, nobody misses pop-ups. At least a groundball has a chance of sqeaking through. A dip in your swing can also cause a "top spin" which will typically result in a ground ball that is weakly hit.

As your hands are loading they should actually create a circular motion known as "rotational force" which will torque the bat when your hands are drawn up,in, and back slightly. Your bottom hand will lead when you go to swing at the ball while your top hand will go back slightly, aiming the bat head back. It is a that point the bat is torqued and your hands are leading through the hitting zone creating a "whip" like effect. Keep in mind that your top hand should stay "strong" as it goes back slightly by not letting it drop lower than your bottom hand or at all. Your hands should be driven straight at the ball and they should stay inside the ball throughout your swing, which is very important to hit the ball with authority the "other way" and being able to go "with the pitch" to all parts of the outfield.

As your arms become extended (not fully) your hands are still loaded because the bat head is back and above your hands. As you reach the point of contact, your arms will almost come to a full extension and your hands will "slap" towards the ball bringing the bat head through the zone, then finishing with a strong follow through and extension after contact.

Your head and front shoulder should always stay on the ball. Obviously you can't make solid contact or even hit the ball unless you get a good look at the pitch. By keeping your front shoulder locked in as you swing you will prevent your head from coming out and your front side from bailing on the pitch. This will give you the best chance at hitting the ball square and you will see the ball all the way until the point of contact. Of course your front shoulder will come forward as you swing through the ball. By staying in on the ball you will be much better at hitting off-speed pitches and going the "other way". Pulling your head out results in misses or a serious problem of only being able to "pull" the ball.
Your back shoulder should almost replace your front shoulder during your follow through and for the most part remain level. Some hitters drop their back shoulders slightly which is okay. As long as it is not extreme because then you are more likely to allow the front shoulder to come up and "off" the ball. Picture your shoulders as an airplane landing level, no pilot lands a plane with one wing up and the other down because it will crash. You will get the same poor result from your swing if you drop your back shoulder too much.

You have to be relaxed and loose at the plate. Most of your relaxation will come from the confidence in yourself. You have to know that you will make solid contact at the correct time as the ball enters into the hitting zone and it won't get by you. That confidence will come from the practice and hard work that you put in to understanding and executing the proper mechanics and fundamentals of a solid swing.

Your swing should be the same everytime with minor adjustments to where the pitch is in the strike zone. Just "sit and rip". All the practice outside of the baselines will allow you to keep it simple when you dig into the batter's box between baselines. You simply "see the ball, hit the ball". Being relaxed is also a very important factor of generating good bat-speed. Being tense will make you slow and you will lose that "whip" like effect when you swing. You certainly don't want to try and muscle the ball. You want to be loose and fluent with your motions so it's just a matter of waiting for "your pitch" then reacting.

I said before you want to be relaxed and confident at the plate. Alot of that comes from being mentally prepared as you step to the plate. You should always be aware of the situation you are stepping into because that is what baseball is all about. It is a situational game. Always be aware of how many outs, how many men on base and who, infielder shifts, strength in outfielders arms, and how a pitcher throws out of the "whind up" verses the "stretch".

If you are familiar with or have studied the pitcher than you should definetly have an idea as to what his arsenal of pitches consists of and when he usually throws what. There are "pitcher's counts" and then there are "hitter's counts". You always want to be looking fastball and adjusting to everything else. When your mechanics have been fine-tuned you will be able to make easy adjustments to off-speed pitches by keeping your power loaded until the right time to release your body and hands. Remember "controlled rage".

Hitting off of a tee is the best practice for your swing and it doesn't require anybody else but you. The ball is always placed at the ideal point of contact in the hitting zone for an inside, down the middle, and outside pitch. There is no doubt this will train your muscles to remember the correct swing for those various points of contact because it can be and should be done over and over again. You will develop an excellent, but more important a consistent swing. Being set up in a position to hit the ball squarely will be automatic.

The tee should be set up slightly in front of and on the inside portion of the plate to simulate an inside pitch and slightly toward the back and outside portion of the plate to simulate an outside pitch, hitting the ball to their respective fields. Remember, when practicing to hit the ball to opposite fields, you want to let the pitch travel deeper into the hitting zone before making contact. That is why you place the tee on the back portion of the plate. Place the tee right over the plate to simulate a pitch down the middle and practice hitting the ball straight up the middle "through the box".

As far as the height of the tee goes, you should change it back and forth from high to low, allowing your body and hands to feel the various points of correct contact. Primarily, you want to raise the tee as high as possible in your strike zone because it will train you to keep hands up and "strong" throughout your swing. It can help to eliminate any unnecessary dropping of the hands and back shoulder. Picture your shoulders as an "airplane" trying to land. You would want the wings of the plane to remain level as you hit the runway and it is the same for your shoulders when hitting a baseball. If you find yourself hitting the tee at all or popping the ball up off the tee, it is an indicator that you are dropping your hands or shoulder or both.

"Soft Toss" should be done daily after "tee work". "Soft Toss" will develop hand-eye coordination and is good practice for keeping your weight back to maintain power during your swing.

The player tossing the ball should kneel about 45 degrees from the batter using a steady, smooth arm motion that can be "timed" by the batter. As the player tossing the ball lowers his arm, the batter should be "loading" up keeping his weight stored on his back foot. As the player raises his arm to toss the ball the batter should be just getting into a position to strike the ball.

Really focus on keeping your weight back, head and shoulder in, and your hands "inside the ball" when you swing. When I say hands inside the ball I mean that they should travel between you and the ball. This drill has an outstanding effect on helping to hit the ball square with authority.

The "Fence Drill" will help you to drive your hands directly at the ball and will literally prevent you from swinging "around the ball" because you will hit the fence every time you do that. Swinging around the ball creates a bad "pull" swing that is too "long to the ball" with increased difficulty hitting to opposite fields, and will usually result in weakly hit ground balls. First, start off by standing square to a fence fully extending your back arm and hand. This is the distance you want to be when you take your swing. Remember to keep your hands inside the path of the imaginary ball by staying "short to the ball" and whipping your hands through the hitting zone. You should not make contact with the fence if you are swinging properly. This will train your arms and hands not to extend to early during your swing. Do this repeatedly to make the proper mechanics become muscle memory. There is a baseball bat swinging device which guides your swing through the proper slope and will also prevent you from extending to early. It is basically a tee with two rails that extend backwards with a connection that bends towards you. If you hit the "U" where the bars are connected, then you know it is time to change something.

Selecting a baseball bat is very important. Of course, you want to use a baseball bat that is comfortable and can be swung with ease. With so many bats out there it can be a long test of "trial and error" before you find the bat that works for you. There is a basic model for selecting a length and weight depending on your body size. Like everything else there are unique and exceptional cases such as having very long arms or maybe extraordinary forearm strength and bat speed which will be a determining factor in choosing the right bat for you.