Timing, More Timing
In our last post, we defined what being "on time" actually means in baseball (Front Foot - Being on Time). We discussed how being late is worse, but being too early has it's own set of issues. Go back and read that post before going through this one. In summary, the post was about how getting your front foot "down" (this is defined in the post) too early can lead to a breakdown in other parts of the swing. We also defined our load and swing to be "one continuous thing" as opposed to being two separate parts. With this post we are going to explore another component of timing.
Timing is the hardest part of hitting. Your timing and hand-eye coordination are the two most important factors in hitting the ball on the barrel. As someone who grew up watching the Giants, I have heard Mike Krukow say, "hitting is timing and pitching is upsetting a hitter's timing" countless times. Understand this is not an easy concept. As a hitter, you don't have control over location or speed of the pitch, two massively important things when it comes to timing.
In this post, I want to focus on players that have a bigger issue with being late. At the youth and high school levels you are rarely seeing a fastball over 85 mph (or equivalent from a shorter distance). If you're a pretty decent player your bat speed is probably sufficient to hit a pitch this speed. You can also probably process the pitch data you're getting efficiently as the ball comes in. So if you can do both of these things, what causes you to be late and what can we do to standardize our timing to make our swing more adjustable?
Starting The Load and Gather
Different pitchers rarely throw with the exact same tempos. Some will lift their legs longer than others. Some will hold their rock step longer. You'll also notice uniqueness in what they do with their hands. Some guys will bring the glove over their head on a wind up and some may keep them at the belt. However, there is one thing that almost all pitchers do exactly the same in their delivery sequence: separate their hands. This video below wasn't made to emphasize this point but it does demonstrate it:
https://www.instagram.com/reel/CxHS7ytL8F5/?igshid=MTc4MmM1YmI2Ng==
You can see in the video that all the guys have different tendencies with their motion before throwing. But when they get to the part of their sequence of throwing the ball, they all separate their hands from their gloves at the same time. This makes for a great base point to start the load and gather of our swing. Start your base load and gather when the pitcher separates his hands. This does not mean this timing will be perfect for every pitcher you face. It will be too early sometimes and too late others. But if we have a good base point to start on, we can more easily adjust.
Don't Be Afraid to Start Too Early
This may seem contradicting the last post, where we said try not to be too early, but I promise it's not. Starting too early, and finishing our gather process too early are completely separate. When we say "starting early" we are talking about our hands moving to our hitting slot and our stride timing up the pitcher (if we have one). Here are a few Major League hitters. Notice how early they start their moves relative to the point of the pitcher's sequence in his windup.
Bryce Harper - Home Run - 85mph Slider - 2-1 Count
This was one of Bryce Harper's homers last night against Bryce Elder. Fast forward to the 0:30 point of the video. He starts to pick his front heel up right before Elder separates his hands. Notice how deliberate his feet are throughout the load and gather of his swing. Here are screenshots of the exact moment he BEGINS to pick his foot up.
The image in the left is the moment Harper picks his heal up. He starts with his heal on the ground which you can confirm by watching the video. The image on the right is the frame in which Elder separates his hands. Harper has already started his load and gather.
Corey Seager - Home Run - 84mph Changeup - 1-1 Count
Corey Seager would win AL MVP this year if Shohei didn't pitch and hit homers. He's one of the best hitters in the game and when he gets hot, he gets HOT. This home run is from last night too. Look how early he starts his gather with his front foot. Corey uses a unique foot tap for his timing. His heel actually comes up when Kremer picks his leg up. That is part of his gather step! It is not a pre-gather movement.
Summary
As you can see here, two of the better hitters in the league start their gather movements very early. Then to follow up from our last post, their feet are completely down right before they swing the bat. If you are a hitter that struggles with late timing, try starting your load and gather movements earlier. Pick the hand separation to start and then adjust to a different point as necessary. It may end up being before or after the hand separation, but remember this is just a great base point to start.
For most players, starting the load and gather early, but making it more deliberate (slower tempo) really help give them some fluidity throughout their swing. Try this out next time you get in the cage!
