Unlocking More Power In Hitting Is Important

By PERRY HUSBAND
Special To Collegiate Baseball
(Final Of A 2-Part Series)

PALMDALE, Calif. — Settling for less than maximum exit velocity in hitting is criminal. 

If you are a high school or collegiate hitter in the 70’s or 80’s in tee exit velocity, you have some immediate testing to do. It takes about 90 mph to leave the yard, and that has to be the very beginning level that you seek.

During my training days with amateur hitters before discovering effective velocity, we routinely had high school hitters in the mid 90’s and always some at 100 mph.

Many of those reached that level with a wood bat, off the tee.

Exit velocity is a precise formula of efficient movements. 

Not every player will reach the mid-90’s, but I believe that every good athlete should be at least at 90 mph off the tee as an upper level high school athlete. 

You won’t do it by using an ice skater and a boxer as an example of how to swing a bat at a ball. We experimented with a junior college team for three weeks. 

We started with one hitter at 100 mph and ended with 10 hitters in that club. 

This speaks to making better movements, not getting stronger in three weeks. 

If the ice skater science actually applied to the swing, wouldn’t we want to swing about a six inch bat? If bringing everything in closer to the body speeds things up so much, the shorter the bat, the faster the bat.

According to experts, bat speed is everything. I, however, disagree. It is one thing of many that creates the very complex movement that is a baseball swing.  

Bryce Harper’s lead arm is completely locked out at impact and well before. All the rubber bands have released the energy at or close to max levels. 

That’s why all the hardest hit balls include these type of stretching movements. Bryce consistently has the lead arm locked with great bat lag angle well before impact. This engages the big muscles that pull the bat into maximum bat speed.

Pushing the bat will never create the same exit velocity.

Try this simple experiment to understand the difference between pulling the bat into action and pushing it. 

Put your hand flat on a hard surface. With your index finger, lift it up and slam it down.

Now using your other hand, lift the middle finger off the table until you feel the tension of pulling it backwards, then release it quickly. 

The slam of the middle finger should show you how completely obvious the difference is. 

Pulling the middle finger back and releasing it is the same as stretching the lead arm and abs and then releasing them, like a rubber band.

This is why the only real comparison to the baseball swing is the golf swing, with the obvious differences. 

To read more of this in-depth article, order the 2019 College Preview Issue of Collegiate Baseball (Jan. 4, 2019) or subscribe by CLICKING HERE.

Perry Husband explains heavy ball training, why 100 percent swing mechanics are rare, his live batting practice test and what tee test data shows, plus much more.