Balancing different swing patterns

Bobby Tewksbary described three types of swings were one is a pull pattern connected to rotation, the second one is a push pattern using arm extension, lead shoulder abduction and a well timed release of a lot of lag and third basically a turn the barrel pattern were the barrel is turned around the hands and rear forearm using a kind of „hand swivel“.

Here is Tewks describing the barrel turning action:

Tewks described his favored swing as elite swing. Each type of swing has its own advantages as disadvantages. The push pattern provides a good lag and thus good staying inside of the ball as well as good direction to both sides of the plate and good whip in the end. However it also forces you to hit the ball out front costing you some time making deep contact hard and it can make it harder to generate power with your body due to a top down sequence.

The pull pattern provides good use of the body and power but can lack direction to outside pitches.

The turn the barrel/handle pattern is best at getting on plane early and generating early batspeed and depth but over exaggerated it could lead to casting and bad use of the body.

I think ideally you want a mix out of the rotational and the turn the barrel pattern but sometimes even adding a small element of push can help a subset of batters who have bat drag which essentially ist he swing lagging behind rotation. The can sometimes be curated with some active turning of the barrel around the hands but sometimes it might help to have a bit of push to get inside of the rotation with the hands.

So it might actually make sense to have kids doing a drill were you first do a pure rotational swing, then a push swing with lag-push oft he knob and then an extreme turn the barrel swing where the hands stay complete back and you just turn the handle around the hands. This can help kids to find a happy medium. The modern teaching is good but the new teaching of pure rotational or lately the „turn the barrel on plane early“ can sometimes create ist own sets of problem compared tot he first generation of „rotational hitters“ in the early 00s which had a base of 4-5 years of being taught the lag-push pattern. Because of this I think it is good for kids to get to know all three patterns and then find their happy medium vs a too extreme pattern.

I’m not a proponent of feel over reality (because obviously some MLB hitters do succeed with a wrong sense of reality and preaching a push pattern) and I like literal cues but experimenting with different styles to find the „goldylocks zone“ (credit to Joey Myers) isn’t always the worst thing. Generally I do like working on both ends of the extreme in some cases and then work from there towards the middle. This kind of teaching you can for example use with a big load (including hand drop and tip) and a small load or also with getting on plane very early vs direct too the ball.

I’m not saying those new cues are bad as I use them all the time but sometimes some of the traditional cues as a contrary feel are not bad to then find a happy medium. This doesn’t mean you should lump different patterns together, just provide the body with a range of feels as it can be easier to adjust when you are in the middle of a feel range vs shifted towards one extreme.

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