What the heck does that mean? You hear it on TV, coaches tell you or your kids it needs to happen when swinging, what gives? The converse of it is “coming around the ball” while batting and what the heck does that mean?
To me staying inside the ball means keeping your hands at the proper distance from your body while swinging. Too far away means you are coming around the ball.
What’s the proper distance? At the point of contact your backarm’s elbow should be tucked at your side, either touching it or an inch or two away from it at the most. The back arm should form an “L” at this point of contact. The forward arm should be angled with the elbow slightly up, though this can vary in terms of degree. This position is also referred to as the “power V” because if you took a picture of a swing at the batter’s side the forearms would form a “V” at the point of contact. Not the full arms as they are both slightly bent, but the forearms.
If your hands are too far away from your body, you lose power. If your hands (notice I didn’t say elbow) are too close you sacrifice flexibility and a little power as well.
The best analogy of why keeping the hands in is important is that of a figure skater. If you have ever seen a skater spin, they keep their arms in to rotate at a high rate of speed and spread the arms out to slow them down.
It is kind of hard to envision from my text but this picture should help:
Tags: ball, baseball, batting, hands, inside, power, Pujols, tips, V
April 20, 2009 at 11:33 pm |
Good article, but i have a question. In the picture you can see pujols up on his toe of the back foot. Do you think that this really gives you more power?
April 24, 2009 at 12:28 pm |
Jon,
It isn’t that being on the back toe gives him more power. This comes from proper swing mechanics, specifically hip rotation and weight shift. The back foot doesn’t push off, it is allowed to roam free.