Balance as a Baseball Player
Balance as a Baseball Player
If you read my last article you already know my beliefs on balance as an athlete and how the feet and the head are key balance points. As well as my belief that balance is maintaining complete control of the body relative to gravity pulling you down. So lets talk about balance as a baseball player.
I will talk briefly about pitching balance but I will let Coach Juan write about it more in detail in the future. He is the mastermind when it comes to balance while pitching. The easiest position to find balance is when you have both feet on the ground. Balance gets more difficult to maintain as soon as we lift our front leg to get ready to throw. That is why our coaches will say, “find your balance point.” If you are balanced while loading up on your back leg you will have much more athletic control when the front foot lands and the arm throws the ball. If we lose our balance even a little bit while we are on one foot it can throw off your rhythm, direction, and acceleration. So basically, if you’re not in control of your body there is no way you can have control of the ball.
Balance as a hitter is very similar to balance as a pitcher. Actually the entire lower half is very similar in pitching and hitting. Load up, land, and go. So when we talk about balance in hitting we have to make sure we maintain balance throughout the entire swing. The most common cause of bad mechanics is loss of balance. Anytime you lose your balance as a hitter you have to compensate somewhere in your body in order to regain balance. The reason we compensate is because it’s natural human reaction. If you’re standing on a balance beam and you start to lose your balance what’s the first thing you do? You extend your arms. The problem with this is that the farther away your hands are from your body, the less powerful they are. I will get into this concept more at a later date but the point I want you to get now is that loss of balance makes your body compensate power in order to regain balance.
When I work with young hitters the first thing I work on with them is their load and their land. Unless their stance is way out of whack I let them stand in the box how they feel comfortable. I also let them grip the bat how they feel comfortable. These aspects I start correcting once they have good explosive balance.
There is a right way and a wrong way to load your weight to your backside but there is more than one way to do it right or to do it wrong. I’m sorry if that is confusing but I don’t know a better way to say it when every single human being I have ever come across is different in one way or the other. What you have to focus on is what part of the back foot is baring the most weight. Most young hitters will rock back not load back. If you rock back then all your weight goes to the outside part of your back foot while your front foot is off the ground. I don’t care who you are if your weight is on the outside part of your foot you are off balance and sacrificing power to hold yourself upright. While loading, all the weight should be shifted in the lower body, not the upper body.
Once the proper load is taken with good balance a hitter needs to focus on the landing of the stride. If you land your front foot before you pull the trigger then you will be more balanced while swinging. (Pulling the trigger is when the hands start to accelerate towards the ball) If you have ever shot a gun then you would understand you don’t want to pull the trigger while one foot is off the ground. If you do pull the trigger with only one foot on the ground you lose power and accuracy.
In order to have balance throughout your swing you need to load properly and land the front foot before you pull the trigger. There are many other factors that go into the balanced swing that I will be talking about consistently in the future. Like I said before, the head has a major factor on balance, also more movement of the head will really throw off a hitter’s balance. So I will be talking about how balancing the eyes will help balancing the body.
Please feel free to comment or ask questions about this article or any other article, I would be happy to start a conversation on anything you hear or read from me....
-Caleb Allen
If you read my last article you already know my beliefs on balance as an athlete and how the feet and the head are key balance points. As well as my belief that balance is maintaining complete control of the body relative to gravity pulling you down. So lets talk about balance as a baseball player.
I will talk briefly about pitching balance but I will let Coach Juan write about it more in detail in the future. He is the mastermind when it comes to balance while pitching. The easiest position to find balance is when you have both feet on the ground. Balance gets more difficult to maintain as soon as we lift our front leg to get ready to throw. That is why our coaches will say, “find your balance point.” If you are balanced while loading up on your back leg you will have much more athletic control when the front foot lands and the arm throws the ball. If we lose our balance even a little bit while we are on one foot it can throw off your rhythm, direction, and acceleration. So basically, if you’re not in control of your body there is no way you can have control of the ball.
Balance as a hitter is very similar to balance as a pitcher. Actually the entire lower half is very similar in pitching and hitting. Load up, land, and go. So when we talk about balance in hitting we have to make sure we maintain balance throughout the entire swing. The most common cause of bad mechanics is loss of balance. Anytime you lose your balance as a hitter you have to compensate somewhere in your body in order to regain balance. The reason we compensate is because it’s natural human reaction. If you’re standing on a balance beam and you start to lose your balance what’s the first thing you do? You extend your arms. The problem with this is that the farther away your hands are from your body, the less powerful they are. I will get into this concept more at a later date but the point I want you to get now is that loss of balance makes your body compensate power in order to regain balance.
When I work with young hitters the first thing I work on with them is their load and their land. Unless their stance is way out of whack I let them stand in the box how they feel comfortable. I also let them grip the bat how they feel comfortable. These aspects I start correcting once they have good explosive balance.
There is a right way and a wrong way to load your weight to your backside but there is more than one way to do it right or to do it wrong. I’m sorry if that is confusing but I don’t know a better way to say it when every single human being I have ever come across is different in one way or the other. What you have to focus on is what part of the back foot is baring the most weight. Most young hitters will rock back not load back. If you rock back then all your weight goes to the outside part of your back foot while your front foot is off the ground. I don’t care who you are if your weight is on the outside part of your foot you are off balance and sacrificing power to hold yourself upright. While loading, all the weight should be shifted in the lower body, not the upper body.
Once the proper load is taken with good balance a hitter needs to focus on the landing of the stride. If you land your front foot before you pull the trigger then you will be more balanced while swinging. (Pulling the trigger is when the hands start to accelerate towards the ball) If you have ever shot a gun then you would understand you don’t want to pull the trigger while one foot is off the ground. If you do pull the trigger with only one foot on the ground you lose power and accuracy.
In order to have balance throughout your swing you need to load properly and land the front foot before you pull the trigger. There are many other factors that go into the balanced swing that I will be talking about consistently in the future. Like I said before, the head has a major factor on balance, also more movement of the head will really throw off a hitter’s balance. So I will be talking about how balancing the eyes will help balancing the body.
Please feel free to comment or ask questions about this article or any other article, I would be happy to start a conversation on anything you hear or read from me....
-Caleb Allen
Comment
BaseballASAP Camps
* = Advanced Camp Offered
Fall Break Camps
Winter Break Camps
BaseballASAP Mobile Updates
© 2010 Created by Jared Eichelberger.
You need to be a member of BaseballASAP to add comments!
Join BaseballASAP