Making a Backward Turn
Making a Backward Turn

Baseball/Softball: Correcting the Dead Stop Hitter

Dick Moss, Editor

A common error among beginning batters is the Dead Stop Hitting syndrome. Such batters take no backward movement to initiate their swing, preferring instead to swing from a dead stop with no pre-swing movement at all.

Why a Backward Pre-Swing Movement?
There are two advantages to making a slight backward movement before swinging at the pitch.
• Better Power
The backward movement helps to pre-stretch the powerful torso muscles, not unlike stretching a
rubber band before allowing it to snap back. The result is greater swing power.
• Better Timing
The backward pre-swing allows for faster initial
movement towards the ball because the torso muscles are pre-stretched and ready to fire—this improves the ability to react to faster pitches. The backward movement also acts as a timing mechanism. Batters can vary the length and speed of the backward movement according to the speed of the incoming pitch.

Teaching the Backward Turn
Batters should make this movement with a backward shift of the front half of the body: the front knee, hip or shoulder—or a combination of all three—so the hands move backwards a maximum of about three inches

A coaching cue to produce this backward movement is to tell your batters to show the pitcher their back pocket as the pitcher is winding up.

References
1. Dusty Baker, Jeff Mercer & Marv Bittinger, You Can Teach Hitting, Masters Press, 1993.
2. Troy Silva, 9 Innings of Hitting, Dog Ear Publishing, 2013.



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