Squishing The Bug

[TNSoftballDad]

Bear with me, please, as I am still trying to educate myself on the proper fundamentals of the swing.

I understand that "squishing the bug" is bad advice. What I have not been able to find in my online searching is why it is incorrect. Anyone care to help me understand that?

[jofus]

There are lots of peeps here that know a lot more than I do and can explain it better, but basically, in a rotational swing, you don't want your weight sitting back on your back foot, you want your weight back, but back in that you are pushing back with your front foot.....hmmm, that's not worded well.

The swing should start with a linear movement towards the pitcher, through toe touch to heel plant, at which point the linear movement stops and the rotational starts. This results in the front leg bearing most (if not all of the weight) as the hips and torso turn...

Heck, that sucks too. No wonder my kids and I fight when I am working on their hitting

Here's a pic or 2 that may help...

[ssarge]

I understand that "squishing the bug" is bad advice. What I have not been able to find in my online searching is why it is incorrect. Anyone care to help me understand that?

TNSD:

Happy to give it a shot. (BTW, great pics by Jofus).

A hitter "squishing the bug" is grinding the dirt under the front half of the rear foot. Perfect analogy for that action, easily grasped, easy to do.

And that's unfortunate, because this is not an action performed by elite hitters, male or female. Instead, elite hitters roll up onto the toes of their rear foot, almost ballet-like.

And obviously, they would not be able to do this if there was much weight remaining on the rear foot. But there isn't. The hitter creates forward momentum, the mass transfers to the front side, and the player rotates the hips / core / torso to key the swing. THIS IS CRUCIAL. Absent this rotation, the weight will continue to move forward, get outside the front leg, and the hitter will lunge. DEFINITELY want to avoid that.

(An important side note is that even as the lower body mass is shifting forward, the upper body does stay slightly back. And is subsequently pulled into rotation by the core. A line drawn through the center of a hitter's body AT CONTACT might look something like this: \ - see the big picture of Pujols above. I would say that the upper body position of the SMALLER picture - more vertical than in the other - is a slight anonaly based on his individual mechanics, and the fact that the pitch was very high - well above the MLB strike zone, in fact. Not the norm.)

A hitter "squishing the bug" still has weight on the rear side. That is the first problem. Probably not the biggest problem, however. I would say the biggest problem is that the hitter is GENERALLY doing nothing to rotate the hips when she squishes the bug. And this is easy to demonstrate. Stand opposite your hitter (with or without a bat). Have her get into a loaded position. Now, grasp both of her shoulders, firmly, and ask her to rotate her hips and start the lower body swing. Don;t release her shoulders. 95% + of the time, the hitter will grind / squish with her rear foot, and the rear knee will rotate inward. The hips will do nothing. Obviously, the hitter is not creating any force with her hips / core. The result will be a very arms-dependent swing. Less consistent, much less powerful, ESPECIALLY for a female hitter, This is almost always something I do within the first 15 minutes of working with a hitter. Great health-check. After a while, you can tell with the naked eye, but occasionally, I get fooled. Can't recall getting fooled in a positive way - hitter rotating hips / core more powerfully than it appears. Almost always, I find the opposite - hitter looks as if she is creating rotational force with the core, but isn't.

(This simple check also illustrates another reality of the swing - how the shoulders are pulled into rotation by the core. Think of it like a roller coaster. The front cars of the train are the hips / torso, the last car is the shoulders. Ride in the last car, and you'll feel the whip as it gets pulled over the first hill by the already accelerating front of the train. Slight separation creating instant acceleration of the last car - or shoulders.)

I wouldn't get hung up on a player getting all the way up on the toes of her rear foot immediately. It will take some time. It really isn't something I key on. As the swing gets healthy, it just happens. The roll-up onto the rear toes is an EFFECT, not a causal action. Assuming the mass has moved forward, the front side has firmed up, and core-based rotation is occurring, the back foot kind of just does what it does. The forces in play cause it to roll up as the rear hip finishes rotation. If it didn't, it would be a slight anchor to that rotation.

Just after contact, many hitters find their mass / weight flowing back to the rear side, and the rear foot toes will return to the ground. (Other step slightly towards or across the plate with the rear foot). Either is fine.

Hope that helps.

Regards,

Scott

[ssarge]

The swing should start with a linear movement towards the pitcher, through toe touch to heel plant, at which point the linear movement stops and the rotational starts.

I think this is basically right, but with really elite hitters, you'll see some rotation INTO footplant. Slight, but definitely perceptible.

Important, I think, only to point out that the core is controlling the action.

I also think it is important to point out that people who look at the movement pattern Jofus describes, and then conclude that the swing is a blend of linear and rotational technique, are simply buying into someone's marketing hype. Like that of RightView Pro, for example. This linear movement (stride) has always existed, obviously. Including in the most rotational of swings as defined by Ted Williams, and demonstrated by virtually every elite hitter. It is movement that is considered "pre-launch." POST-launch, virtually all movement of elite hitters is circular. And certainly, the path of the hands and bat is. And that is what the term "rotational" has historically described.

In short, this forward striding action has nothing to do with whether a swing is linear or rotational. And so a phrase such as the RVP mantra "a linear start to a rotational finish" is at best marketing pap designed to appeal to people who are confused or in either / both camps. At worst, it is flat out disingenuous, based on how the terms have historically been used to describe two distinctly different swing patterns, BEGINNING with the launch of the swing (not movement before it launches).

Best,

Scott

[TNSoftballDad]

Awesome, thanks for the replies.

ssarge, the lunging you mentioned...we've got a lot of kids doing that exact thing. Makes sense now because in an attempt to get them to rotate more, I think our coach is using the "squish the bug" cue. The result could be that the kids are trying to but just end up lunging instead.

OK, now to another part of this...I'm kind of irritated with myself because my DD did that naturally (came up on her toes) and I tried to get her to stop a few months ago before I knew better. Luckily we didn't get too far with that and her lower body action remains pretty good. I think. Where we are struggling at the moment is her upper body.

It seems to me that she actually has a small lunge...her head seems to be out over her front leg, and looking at the larger photo of Pujols it appears his head is over his back leg.

It's hard to describe...it just doesn't look right to me. I'll try to get a video clip up...no digital camera at the moment.

Maybe that's a result of her lower body action not being as good as I think it is?

[jofus]

I was thinking about this while I was supposed to be working, and to me, squishing the bug means you are rotating "around" your back leg, instead of rotating "around" your front leg like you should be?

Ssarge, I agree with you on the linear to rotational transition. A purely rotational swing is more of a "sit and spin" swing, imho, and probably won't have as much power either. I've seen people try to say "see, even rotational "gurus" have a linear movement in their teaching". Well, yeah, kinda, but like you said, that's actually the pre-swing, the actual swing hasn't even been triggered yet at that point. The actualy swing starts when the linear movement becomes rotational. That doesn't mean everyone who starts with a stride is a hybrid swinger, that is what good rotational hitters do.

As for Pujol's body tilt in the smaller pic, I noticed that too, and posted it anyway, since that is another argument that I see occasionally, about the tilt or lack of depending on the location of the pitch

Like I mentioned, I'm still trying to learn this stuff myself, I'm glad that Ssarge posted, he's one of the best I've seen on various message boards at discussing/debating this stuff in a rational manner.

[ssarge]

Maybe that's a result of her lower body action not being as good as I think it is?

Yeah, maybe. Given her age, it would be unusual if she had mastered that. Unusual fior ANYBODY, actually.

A clip would help.

One thing I realized - the devil is always in the details - is virtually everything I described above would be accurate of an elite golfer, as well as a hitter. And yet, visualize the shape of the rear leg at impact of an elite golfer. Different right? (then say Pujols above). For one, lots more bend in the rear knee for Pujols.

Like any other complex activity, hitting is best learned through an ongoing process of instruction, trial-and-error, repetition, repeat the cycle. You may want to tap into some of that. If you want to undertake the journey yourself - great experience - start with some good fundamentals from one of the leading providers of instructional materials. I recommend Englishbey, and have had most success there (in the interests of full disclosure, he is a friend and I am a moderator at his web site). There are other choices as well.

Happy to look at a clip, as I'm sure are others.

Best regards,

Scott


http://www.englishbeyhitting.com

[ssarge]

Like I mentioned, I'm still trying to learn this stuff myself, I'm glad that Ssarge posted, he's one of the best I've seen on various message boards at discussing/debating this stuff in a rational manner.

Thank you.

Seems to me you are doing pretty darned well in learning this stuff.

Best,

Scott

[ssarge]

Jofus:

Look at the position of Pujol's bottom (left) hand on the bat in the profile (large) picture. This is an extreme, but representative of a pretty normal action by elite hitters. Almost like capping the bat in a game of "who's up first," where one guy tosses the bat to the other, and they alternatively move up the bat until one "caps" it. I believe this movement gradually occurs late in the swing, basically a frame or two before contact.

I have some thoughts - still pondering - but wonder your impressions. What do you make of this?

Regards,

Scott

[TNSoftballDad]

Happy to look at a clip, as I'm sure are others.

I appreciate that. Like I said, no digital video camera at the moment but I am going to try to get a hold of one and get a clip on YouTube.

I've been studying all the free stuff I can get my hands on for the last 3-4 months when my DD decided she wanted to play travel ball. It's been an adventure already. My sport was always basketball and that is a much easier sport to teach fundamentals for than this is. Fewer moving parts. Or maybe I just know how to keep basketball fundamentals simple

As far as the upper body is concerned...is it proper to say that you want your head above your back thigh at impact? That's what I see in the photo of Pujols and I am looking for a verbal feel-related cue to work on...I want to try to teach her how to feel things happening instead of creating a robot. Like her father, she has a tendency to get too mechanical and over-analytical even at her age and I don't want that hindering her like it did me back in my younger days.