Advanced Hitting Programming (Team)
“Immersing ourselves in the learning process will give us a much better understanding of the opportunities technologies bring to our students” — Innovators Mindset
“Technology should personalize, not standardize” — Innovators Mindset
Before I dive into this it is important to understand my current situation. I do not currently coach a team nor have I coached a college team in the past. I am an aspiring D1 softball coach that is currently leveraging every resource and opportunity to assure that I am prepared when I do get an opportunity. I am very thankful for where I am today and look forward to making an impact very soon. What you see below is my take on how to use technology to create a program for your hitters. At the D1 level coaches have very limited time to spend with players so it is important that their programming allows them to become their own best coach.
Also, this is very vague and does not highlight my overarching approach to being a coach. Obviously there are many factors that play into becoming the coach your players need; Trust, Communication, Transparency, and deep understanding of your philosophy. Below is step 1, gathering data to better assist your players and decrease the learning curve. I see WAY to many coaches that implement their drills on EVERY hitter in their program. What if that player naturally does something well? Gathering data and video allows us to skip steps and take the limited time we have and maximize player development.
Before you begin to gather data it is key to define what is important to your team.
Here are my goals:
#1 — Increase the amount of times we hit it hard. Exit Velocity is the number one predictor of success in the MLB.
#2 — Make sure when we do get our best swings off and hit it with high exit velocity that we impact the game (Launch Angle). If a pitcher makes a mistake and we barrel it, it needs to go in the gap, not at the SS.
#3 — Be more consistent. Consistency is king! At this point in your players careers you may be able to add a couple MPH of bat speed, this will not yield a HUGE spike in performance. Change occurs in lowering our standard deviations AKA less volatility. First thing I would recommend is breaking down players weaknesses, watch film from previous year and find out why. If player A has LOW exit velocity in quadrant 1, what does the video show. Inject your hitting philosophy.
- Sample of goals. For sake of article I will stop there.
Once you have established team goals you now know what is important as a coach. It is the coaches job to not overwhelm players with big words and data. This is why the goals are important. If you just strap a Blast motion on the knob and track EVERY metric your development will slowed due to focus in too many areas. Track the data that will impact the goals you wish to improve.
Here we go:
#1 — Exit Velocity needs to be tracked by quadrant, location, and batted ball area (LF,CF,RF). Make sure to eliminate the top and bottom 20 when logging due to mishits etc. (Use Rapsodo and Video)
#2 — Second goal was to hit the ball in the air when we hit it hard. Attack Angle will have huge impact on that. Attack Angle should be tracked by quadrant and by contact point (Out front etc.) (Use blast)
#3 — Launch Angle should be tracked by quadrant and contact point. Not going to go into detail but the LA will typically be around +10 of the AA. If you are getting LA all over the board you are getting inconsistent contact, indicator of poor path. (Use Rapsodo)
#4 — Per the latest studies by Dr. Alan Nathan and D.K. Willardson we are more aware of the effect of spin. For every swing your player takes the spin will need to be logged using Rapsodo. Will address spin in later post.
Notes:
- All data should be captured off of machine or something that simulates game speed.
- By capturing quadrant(s) you can determine where your player struggles and focus there.
- Contact point is critical as we know due to variables players will make contact in various portions of their swing.
Once you have collected the data the staff should put together an individualized program for each hitter. Below is a program I put together for a college player that I saw over break.
Next Post: Post Data Collection: Building a Fall Program
