Base Revolution

As a hitter begins to prepare his energy for hitting a baseball, it’s important that he load some of his weight in two ways:

1. The weight shift backwards from a balanced stance to roughly about 60% of the body weight on the back leg is valuable for creating energy. This allows the hitter to rotate and direct that stored up energy into the baseball swing.

2. The hands also load. If a hitter chooses to stride, the hands will move in the opposite directions of the stride. When the front foot lands, the hands should be finished moving backwards.

Here is a video clip on the all important loading of the hands process. In the example, note that the instructor is not fully extending his bottom arm so that his elbow is straight. A straight elbow with the bottom arm will cause a slow sweeping swing through the strike zone. Watch the short video clip and make sure your baseball drills focus on a good solid load of the hands without fully straightening the elbow of the bottom arm.