Biggest problem of our hitters/hitting instruction...

[RougeDawg]

Front arm. Holy f*cking shit, who's teaching that high away from body front elbow. Hitters are lucky to make contact with that shit, let alone drove the ball. We used to call it the chicken wing and pitchers would bust the guy in. Just like we got busted inside tonight.

Best swing and most power occurs when hitter keeps front elbow as close to torso as possible prior to swing. Once the elbow and/or hands get separated from body, you lose all power. F*ck this shit is difficult to observe.

[I seen it dawg]

You are straight up Smitty. We get your skill posts. Same as always. It don't change

[CadaverDawg]

http://replygif.net/i/123.gif

[engie]

Can we get this guy a Tom Emansky title pls...

[CadaverDawg]

https://s-media-cache-ak0.pinimg.com/236x/99/36/16/993616a295ae3926f56e19e372776489.jpg

[State82]

https://s-media-cache-ak0.pinimg.com/236x/99/36/16/993616a295ae3926f56e19e372776489.jpg

Nice

[Dawg61]

Front arm. Holy f*cking shit, who's teaching that high away from body front elbow. Hitters are lucky to make contact with that shit, let alone drove the ball. We used to call it the chicken wing and pitchers would bust the guy in. Just like we got busted inside tonight.

Best swing and most power occurs when hitter keeps front elbow as close to torso as possible prior to swing. Once the elbow and/or hands get separated from body, you lose all power. F*ck this shit is difficult to observe.

Cohenball teaches the use of the labia majora and minora during the swing to get the least amount of power as possible.

[Really Clark?]

http://assets.sbnation.com/imported_assets/6865/slideshow_579447_braves.0420-13.jpg?_ga=1.35010342.629662928.1416928235

Is this what you are talking about? Chipper had good power. I will say that pitch location makes a big difference in what you will see as far as the front elbow. Now the bisep will be more closely connected to the torso but the front elbow has a good bit more play.

[RougeDawg]

http://assets.sbnation.com/imported_assets/6865/slideshow_579447_braves.0420-13.jpg?_ga=1.35010342.629662928.1416928235

Is this what you are talking about? Chipper had good power. I will say that pitch location makes a big difference in what you will see as far as the front elbow. Now the bisep will be more closely connected to the torso but the front elbow has a good bit more play.

No that's not what I'm talking about any why talking below the surface baseball is so difficult on here. And no chipper did not have a chicken wing swing. His elbow was pointed toward the plate, although not completely downward. It is physically impossible to point your elbow down at the plate when you start your hands as far back as he did. Here's Chipper, no chicken arm. Your picture of chipper does show another aspect of hitting I've talked about before, keeping the hands inside the baseball and getting out front of the plate before contact, creating a whip effect.
1106

Look at the difference in our hitters front elbow prior to swing and other good hitting teams. Watching Mizzou TN game now and a small guy just went oppo because he kept his front elbow close to body entire time. Most of Our hitters either have their elbows "chicken winged" out away from their bodies almost parallel to the ground or hands too close to head with bat wrapped. This causes arm bar and forces the hitter to swing around the body. Also causes reverse C swings and a difficult time getting around on inside pitched.

Here are some pictures of what I'm talking about and you tell me which ones have the greatest and least difference in their batting average and slugging percentage. All current players so you clowns can watch them and start seeing these things for yourselves. Then below are the actual stats that show the hand/elbow position prior to swing have a dramatic impact on the power production. I've been attempting to explain how hand position and front arm have a huge impact on a hitters overall production. This is the first day I've had to sit and watch SEC baseball with nothing else to do, and you can tell if a guy has pop in his bat just from watching his stance.

State Game isn't on today here so I looked up Seth Heck's Juco video. There's a reason his slugging percentage differential is not very high. Look at the position of the front elbow pre swing. The positioning of his hands also take away a ton of power. If he wants to start his hands that close to his head, he needs to drop the elbow into chest to add power. If he pushes hands back over the back shoulder he can also add power. Instead he wraps bat with elbow chickened and loses a ton of power. Two of our hitters with better stances and swings and their stats are Brown and Vickerson so they've been included for comparison.
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Team Player Bat Avg Hits Ext Base HR Slug. Delta
State S. Heck 0.313 42 4 0 0.343 0.030
State Brown 0.340 24 13 3 0.480 0.140
State Vickerson 0.364 28 7 1 0.494 0.130


Now lets look at the Mizzou Guys, their swings and the resulting stats. See if you can guess which guy has a .140+ Slugging increase and the one who only has the 80 point increase from batting average to slugging. Which one looks like the majority of our guys who are lacking pop, but were expected to have it coming out of high school according to some on here? It is very rare to have shitty mechanics at this level and be a successful all around hitter. That's why you have to have a "new age baseball" hitting coach on the staff to teach the updated mechanics. Mizzou hired a former player as their hitting coach this year. Their batting average this year is a little lower than last year but their slugging has increased a good bit, and if you observe their hands pre pitch, you can see the reason why, plain as day. They still have a couple guys that don't have the elbow tucked close to body.
110111051108

Team Player Bat Avg Hits Ext Base HR Slug. Delta Elbow Position
Mizzou 14 0.252 33 10 3 0.397 0.145 Elbow Down
Mizzou 21 0.15 12 6 0 0.288 0.138 Elbow Down
Mizzou 12 0.294 10 5 0 0.441 0.147 Elbow Down
Mizzou 25 0.275 36 14 2 0.42 0.145 Hands far back
Mizzou 8 0.279 36 11 0 0.395 0.116 Elbow Out
Mizzou 17 0.27 34 9 2 0.373 0.103 Elbow Out
Mizzou 6 0.267 27 5 1 0.347 0.08 Chicken Wing


The main point is this, a good hitting coach can teach hitters proper mechanics to obtain more power in their swings, no matter how big the hitter is. When your elbow gets away from the body and the hands get too high and close to the head, the amount of possible power produced is dramatically decreased. That's why I always talk about hand positions. Just watching the Vandy guys, just about every one of their hitters have the elbow tucked close their hands positioned somewhere around their back shoulders. Also if a guy's hands are too high they will pop the ball up a lot and vice versa. Starting the hands too low will cause a hitter to top the ball. A good hitting coach will quickly recognize all of these things and tell the hitter to move the hands up a couple inches, down a couple inches, or back a few inches. This isn't something that can only be used in fall practice. Good hitting coaches are making these recommendations every day at practice and in games. I don't see us making many of these in game adjustments with our current staff.

[RougeDawg]

We can also look at the Bears hitters and see the effects of hand position on difference in slugging and batting average. Orvis and Bortles have their hands in just about the perfect position for a powerful swing. And then you have Golsan's no power swing.
11091110111111121113

Team Player Bat Avg Hits Ext Base HR Slug. Delta
Bears Orvis 0.221 27 15 7 0.459 0.238 Perfect Hand Position
Bears Bortles 0.269 29 7 4 0.407 0.138 Perfect Hand Position
Bears Golsan 0.286 28 7 0 0.357 0.071 Chicken Wing

[Really Clark?]

Rouge you didn't clarify it was preswing or during the swing. Since you were talking about contact I assumed you meant during the swing which you can have your front elbow bent and leading. Although I don't advocate it, what happens pre-swing may change dramatically during load and launch. It's not an absolute. It would be good to see the entire sequence so we can discuss it appropriately because you may be right but if they change at load and launch then how they start pre-swing doesn't matter nearly as much.

ETA. I much prefer a neutral beginning as well and that is the start point. But if the player has already ingrained a style that at load and launch they are at the same position I will let it go. You can allow for differing style at preswing but immediately at initiation the player needs to be in proper position.

[shoeless joe]

Watching the braves game and Freddie Freeman's pre pitch stance disagrees with you. And if I recall correctly so does justin upton, Matt kemp, and David wright.

Point being, the pre load hand position doesn't matter much at all. Once the hands are in the launch position a determination can be made on the necessary adjustments.