Posted by: daw () on Wed May 19 13:16:51 2010

> My 12 yr old seems to have developed a habit where he drops his hands while he is rotating hips. It really causes a shorter, less powerful swing, and upper-cutting. Any quick fixes?


If they are in the correct position, as described on this site, it doesn't matter if the hands have "dropped" before getting back up there. Ted Williams carried his hands very low and dropped a bit before coming back up to the correct launch position. So did Barry Bonds.


But dropping the hands and lauching from down low is sometimes a sign of being too linear, the hands semi-consciously drop in a "cocking" motion to develop acceleration "straight" through the ball. If that's what's happening, your child will have to focus on rotational action from the trigger/launch position, keeping the hands back and turning the front shoulder into the ball.

Focusing on "rotating the hips" doesn't eliminate linear hand action, but focusing on "rotating the shoulder" comes close, as long as the hands stay back.

My 2 cents.