Why You Need To Use Video To Analyze Your Hitting Mechanics

If you're not using some sort of digital video recording device to analyze your hitting mechanics, it's time to jump in the game.  A couple years ago I picked up a FLIP brand video camera from Amazon in order to capture hitters on video in an effective way.  I chose a small digital video camera from Flip for a couple reasons:

1.  There is no video tape!  This means that I don't have to go through the long and frustrating process of putting the film on my computer to look at.

2.  All the software to make the thing work is in the video recording device itself.  You just plug it in with the USB stick that "flips" out of the side and you're ready to go.

3.  You can run the video camera even if you're technology challanged.  You literally only have one button to push to begin recording. 

There are multiple reasons I think you seriously need to consider using video to analyze hitting mechanics, or other mechanics for that matter. 

At a young age it's so important to work with kids on proper hitting mechanics to establish a solid foundation.  I have found that there are often a couple major barriers for parents and coaches when working with younger hitters.  First, many lack information on the correct fundamentals of hitting mechanics.  There are multiple places you can go online that can help you learn more on this. 

http://www.natebarnett.tumblr.com - My blog that has some hitting mechanics and mental game of baseball videos and information.

http://www.batspeed.com - This site has some good quality information.  The discussion board has some informative dialogue.

http://www.chrisoleary.com/ - Chris puts out some high quality frame by frame analysis of hitters.  If you want to see what MLB swings look like when they are broken down, you'll want to visit this site.

Once you've gone through the above sites thoroughly, you'll have a better understanding of how to teach hitting mechanics to your son or team.  You'll also have a more firm grasp on what the common hitting mechanics mistakes look like.  You can then use your digital video recorder to film and analyze. 

A second major reason to use video while observing and working on hitting mechanics is that unless you have quite a bit of experience working with athletes and solving their mechanics problems, you'll need to slow the speed down quite a bit while you break things down. Simple video editing software options like Windows Movie Maker are easy to use with a little bit of time invested on the front end.  These programs allow you to slow the clip down into slow motion giving you a better take on what hitting mechanics need to be modified.

Lastly, today's generation is highly visual.  Kids today learn so much from visual images.  It's important that athletes see what they look like when their mechanics are funky and learn to correct things based on what needs to be fixed.  At older ages players will then begin analyzing their own hitting mechanics and errors in video format. 

Baseball has been a bit slow to utilize the digital age to the extent I'd like to see, though digital video (because of it's ease, applicability, and cost) will transform how we learn and study hitting mechanics in the years to come.