Feel vs Real in Hitting
You feel on time but you’re late. You feel on the ball but you’re under it. The AHD fix: go the opposite. Under? Swing over.
READ ARTICLE →Backspin Blog — Free Instruction / The Early Days of AHD
From the 2015 archive
This is historical coaching writing originally published under Krush Athletics. The wording reflects its original period. For current guidance, use AHD lessons and SwingChecker.
"What is a good athletic position?" I ask that to every kid and coach in every clinic I put on? The most common answer is ridiculous!!! But wait... we don't know what we don't know... so how can the hitters or coaches answer the question correctly if they don't know the REAL answer? Rhetorical question? Maybe, maybe not. Let's address the problem baseball and softball, along with other "industries" have and don't deal with it well enough. We TEACH WHAT WE KNOW without sometimes stepping back and analyzing it and CONFIRMING what we teach is good stuff? Sometimes when I say this in a coaches clinic, I get the look a dog gives you when it gets curious about something... a turn and lean of the head implying, "What are you talking about?" OK, answer this as an example of possibly teaching something without thinking it MAY be not really a good technique to teach... 1. Hitters should squish the bug... I SAID IT FOR YEARS!!!! Dead wrong. One MLB hitter out of more than at least 2,000 hitters from 1900 through current players does it. AND IT KILLS HIM! He is arguably a top 10 athlete in MLB but struggles mightily given his abilities. 2. What is a good athletic position? Feet shoulder width...WRONG!!!! Try and guard someone in basketball, field a ground ball, take on a running back in football, etc, etc, etc. If your feet are shoulder width, you will struggle. It is much wider than shoulder width. Watch MLB hitters do their business if you don't believe me. 3. You should land on your front toe softly and keep your wait back when you land. Now, this isn't as serious an offense as 1 & 2 but it destroys a lot of hitters. It can cause so many problems, I could write a 1000 word article on the perils of landing softly on the toe. Some good hitters do this but not too many. Land on your whole foot in a controlled manner is an easy way of doing it efficiently. Those were 3 things I LEARNED and TAUGHT early in my coaching career. Problem is is they were flat out wrong and I flat out did not do my job to the kids that were under my tutelage. Our Krush Athletics Baseball and Softball camps are based on facts. It is simple...do what the best hitters in the world do...Copy them!!!! I challenge you if you are a coach of any sort to re evaluate what you teach... maybe your are the Yoda of hitting and know everything and doing it correctly or maybe you are like I was...just trying to do a good job... but you CAN BE BETTER! Here is the thing...the kids get a short shot at maximizing their potential which, if they move in that direction, will only enhance the entire athletic experience... but if the young hitters don't get true, quality information, they will NEVER maximize their ability. So if you were like me, you will have to get a needle and pop that ego and go learn!!!! The kids you teach will benefit and so will their families... the ride home after an 0-4 is not a fun one for anyone... 3-4 with a couple dubbs... Dairy Queen Baby!!!
Krush Hitting Camps
Quick answers
What hitting myths do coaches still teach?
Squishing the bug, a shoulder-width athletic position and landing softly on the front toe. Elite hitters rarely do any of them.
What is a good athletic position for hitting?
Much wider than shoulder width, like guarding in basketball or fielding a ground ball.
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