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Josh Lusby + Allie Skaggs

@swingyourswing.az

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▪️Mastering Hitting vs. GAME Pitching
▪️Velocity, Spin, and Mix of Speed Training
▪️Swing YOUR Swing 🥎⚾️
📍Phoenix, AZ

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Another opportunity to come and train with the Hitting Homies group! This Sunday, September 6th!

13 and under: 3-5pm
14 and over: 5-7pm

DM or text Josh at 218-556-0527 to sign up! by @swingyourswing.az

Everyone likes to tell you what you’re doing wrong.

But very few have actually been in the box at the highest levels, understand what’s really happening, and what actually matters.

A 65mph pitch is moving 95 feet / second.

You have an optimal contact window of about 1 foot, in which the ball can actually be hit off the best part of the barrel.

2 inches too soon, and you’re off the end.
2 inches too late, and you’re jammed.
1/4 inch too low and you pop up.
1/4 inch too high and you groundout.

You have a 10 MILLISECOND window of error to hit the ball flush…

And if you’re off by more than that, you get to hear the unsolicited advice from those in the stands about how you didn’t “stay in your back hip” 😅👍🏼

Have fun. Swing hard. Be on time. 🥳💣 by @swingyourswing.az

A glimpse into our training sessions with Pro Softball Player @skxggs !!

If you’re a softball player in the Phoenix area and want to get some swings in with Skaggs, just let us know!

And make sure to check out the bonus content at the end 😂 by @swingyourswing.az

Great hitters don’t get jammed often.

Because they hit the ball when it’s the *right* distance it needs to be from them to get the barrel on it.

The pitcher has one of two goals on every pitch:
1. Get the ball too close to the hitter
2. Get the ball too far from the hitter

Soft, away, and down pitches are designed to get too far away from the hitters hands, and be hit off the end of the bat. So trying to let those pitches get deeper / closer makes sense..

BUT

Teaching hitters to “stay connected” or “see the ball deep” is not at all helpful for the fast, in, or high pitches designed to get too close to the hitter.

The majority of amateur / youth hitters tend to let the ball get far too deep, and miss late + under the ball on the majority of their misses. Especially on high-velocity pitching.

Many coaches keep telling young players to let the ball get deep and avoid “getting beat out front”, yet the best players on the planet are the only ones consistently making contact out front against elite pitchers..

🤷🏻‍♀️🤷🏻‍♂️ by @swingyourswing.az

Throw the barrel, hope for the best.

You’re never going to perfectly square up every pitch you swing at. It’s humanly impossible.

You have two objects (bat and ball) flying in opposite directions at over 100 feet per second each, and you need them to collide on the right 1/16th of an inch.

1/16th too high, and you ground out.

1/16th too low, and you fly out.

Not to mention the ball spins in different ways, at different rates, with different air pressures and resistances, making the ball move slightly different every day, every time.

You can’t react fast enough to adjust, the only thing you can do is try to control the miss.

Throw the bat too high on the rise-ball. Throw it too low on the drop. Throw it too early on the velo.

Just throw the barrel, and hope for the best. by @swingyourswing.az

Another opportunity to get better!

Excited to host another Golden Girls clinic with Coach Allie this Friday, Sept. 11! Message us if interested in signing up. by @swingyourswing.az

Hitting is an athletic skill, NOT a robotic move.

These are some of the very best on the planet at getting the barrel to the right place, at the right time.

They all stand different, they all move different.

But most importantly they are all incredibly adjustable, athletic, and free in their swings. Because you have to be when you don’t know what pitch is coming.

“Hands up”
“Don’t lunge”
“Stay short”
“See it deep”
“Crowd the plate”

The list of phrases and buzzwords we hear from the stands and the dugout goes on and on..

But it doesn’t mean that’s actually what’s happening, or that it’s a problem.

WATCH what’s actually happening with the best.
WATCH the barrel.
WATCH the timing.
WATCH the contact.

And swing YOUR swing.

(Yes, these are all homer swings 💣) by @swingyourswing.az

“Swinging” vs. “Hitting”

Many players, coaches, and parents get these confused, and they attack the wrong problems.

If you can hit the ball squarely off the tee 90%+ off the tee, you don’t have a “swing” or “mechanical” issue.

You have a TIMING and PITCH TRACKING issue.

When you know when and where the ball is (the tee, front toss, BP, etc.), you smash it.

But in the game every single pitch has a different when and where. And the more you think / worry about “swing mechanics”, the less focused you are on when and where THE BALL is, and more importantly, where it’s GOING.

You miss under the rise-ball because you swing where it is, but not where it’s going.

You ground out on the drop ball because you swing where it is, but not where it’s going.

You get jammed because the ball got to you faster than you were ready for.

You hit it off the end because the ball got to you slower than you thought it would.

Those are not “swing issues”

And they won’t be fixed by yelling out mechanical tweaks from the stands.

Timing.
Pitch tracking.
Barrel height.

That’s the difference between elite hitters, and everyone else. Not “swing mechanics”. by @swingyourswing.az

Another Hitting Homies opportunity on 10/3!

5:00-6:30pm for ages 13u
6:30-8pm for ages 14+

Text Josh at 218-556-0527 to signup 👍🏼 by @swingyourswing.az

Everybody’s a swing “expert”..

But VERY few can actually hit. 🤔

Because hitting isn’t about the swing mechanics.

It’s about your ABILITY to throw the barrel to the right place at the right time, against someone who desperately doesn’t want that to happen.

Compete against the ball, not the mirror. by @swingyourswing.az

‼️ Youth Coaches (and Players)‼️

Stop yelling at players for chasing.
Stop giving take signs.
Stop looking to walk.
Stop letting the umpire dictate what you “should” swing at.

Let the kids SWING! Teach them how to HIT THE BALL!

We get that everyone wants to win games. And *not* swinging the bat against amateur pitchers can be an effective way to score runs at times..

BUT

Nobody gets recruited for walking.
Nobody learns how to hit elite pitching by bunting / taking.
And we promise that when you see college / pro pitching, you will end up chasing more than you’d like.

If you want to play at the next level, you have to be able to HIT THE BALL HARD.

You have to be able to ADJUST, when you’re off balance, off-time, chasing, etc.

If you’re truly on time for a 65+ mph pitch, you’re going to be fooled at times.

You’re going to have to dig balls out of the dirt.

You’re going to have to hit the rise-balls at your shoulders.

And if you can’t do those things, because you were never allowed to try, you won’t hit at the next level.

You’re going to get fooled. You’re going to chase.

You might as well train and prepare to still hit the ball hard when you do.

📸: @d.j.b._photography by @swingyourswing.az

Swing your swing.

Practice returning elite pitches. by @swingyourswing.az