Hitting- Proper Foot Plant and Foot Plant Drill

[PLite14]

Albert Pujols, Jose Bautista, Brandon Phillips, Ken Griffey Jr... Watch video of their swings, none of them do/did this! They land with an open front foot, and as their hips rotate, their front leg stiffens. This not only allows them to hit against a solid front side, but also allows maximum hip flexibility.

[PLite14]

This video could not be more wrong. No matter what type of hip flexibility a hitter has, striding with a closed foot will only lock the hips up and prevent them from generating the maximum torque. It will not 'keep their energy stored longer' or 'make them stay square' (whatever these are supposed to mean). I believe this developed from the coaching point that hitters should hit with a solid front side. Hitters can still hit against a solid front side while striding with an open foot.

[TMCoachsCompanion]

Guys, before you judge this video which is talking about the action of "foot plant" (landing softly on the ball of the foot and then engaging the front heal into the ground to initiate a swing). You need to hear the whole hitting talk to fully understand the parts. He mentions that some hitters have to stride slightly open. This is not recommended. Some must because they dont have hip flexibility. Ideally a hitter should stride closed to stay square and keep their energy stored longer.

[jeffbunnell]

Barry Bonds played the first 13 yrs of his career steroid free. During that time, he won the NL MVP award 3 times. Disregarding his earlier stats is foolish...

[Chloefelts]

@wogdoggy

This is a great teaching tool for kids. Where do you come off thinking Bonds can teach anything other than how to take steroids to improve performance? Don't be an idiot.

[wogdoggy]

@Chloefelts lol..go ahead and teach your kid this..lol.he shifts his weight then swings...put all your weight on your front foot and swing..you can expect that type of batspeed with this drill....the power is backside driven not front side..if you dont coil your body and cock your hands you'll end up pulling or pushing the bat NOT whipping it

[slkbaseball]

@Chloefelts What does steriods have to do with hitting a baseball? If anyone would check theirs facts before opening their mouth, they would find out that after Barry left the Giants he went back to Arizona to work out. As the unofficial hitting coach for ASU, they had a team batting avg. of .400+... Teach me Barry!!

This drill is for the front foot plant.... Not transfer of weight or even the swing itself... Great message that staying square gives you an advantage!!