Andrew

Here's Andrew's swing from our pre-season get together!

via GIPHY

Andrew's stride towards the ball is great! He steps a little bit "in the bucket", but he opens his front foot close to 45 degrees, which is ideal. He also unweights his back foot, which is excellent too!

 The first opportunity we have to help Andrew improve his swing his to help him learn to keep his bat up and back as he strides forward. Ideally when his front heel hits the ground, his bat would still be vertical (at 45 degrees). As a hitter strides forward, his upper body should still be coiling:

You might also notice the amount of separation between Andrew's hands and bat and his shoulder:

 Ideally, after his stride, a hitter will begin rotating his hips and will keep his hands closer to his body, and the bat barrel much closer to his shoulder, like Barry Bonds:

Andrew also exhibits a good bit of "bat drag", which is leading the swing with his back arm.  In the picture below, you can see the see his back (left) elbow beginning to work its way under his upper (right) arm, and leading this swing:

In summary, Andrew has lots of potential to have a great swing! 

We'll work to improve his swing by:

• using slow motion "dry swings" to help him learn to stride and load correctly
• using the "noodle" drill to decrease the separation of his hands from his shoulder
• eliminating his bat drag by doing one arm swings on the tee

Good luck, Andrew!