How do you keep your shoulder from dropping while swinging a baseball bat?
When I swing a baseball bat, at the last sencond I drop my shoulder and swing under the ball. =(
10 Responses to “How do you keep your shoulder from dropping while swinging a baseball bat?”
Keven Lambourne Said:
Many reps off the tee. You have to be conscious of staying on top of the ball.
Sharon Hallsworth Said:
hold the bat up higher.
Brandy Head Said:
this will help if you get it. it’s a stationary ball that sticks to the fence, and you keep hitting it as you work on your form. it was really helpful, as in the batting cage balls came at different directions and speeds and stuff so my form was still crappy. they have one for soft ball which is the one i used. pretty much you have to keep swinging away to the point when you feel your shoulder dropping it will be uncomfortable and you won’t do it. when you’re practicing your swing (before you aim at balls, just your warm up), try in the beginning to hold the bat in front of you with your arms all the way out, don’t even bend your elbow, and then move the bat with your wrists. this will help with your inclination to drop your shoulder. once you’ve done that for bit, bend your elbow a bit and do the same thing, swing the bat in front of you and just move your wrists. note that you shouldn’t be moving your waist or feet yet, this is just arm movements. once you’ve done that for a bit move into your proper form (bent elbow, knees, having the ball to the side not direct in front of you etc) and when you swing think about following straight through the ball
Ellie Rawsthorne Said:
I would suggest keeping your hands in and driving the ball with your legs. Most of your power comes from the lower half of your body. Be sure to concentrate on hitting the ball square on the barrel. You can also adjust your position in the batters box until you feel comfortable. The best way to practice this would be to either hit balls off the tee for a while as well as head to the batting cages for some extra reps.
Brynn Mansell Said:
Well it’s not the shoulder you should be worried about….it’s your spine. You are tilting your spine which (since it is all connected) is causing your shoulder to drop. Imagine you have a stiff rod down your back and keep that spine straight up and down. Then start with your chin on your front shoulder (head stays still through the swing) end with your chin on your back shoulder. This should correct the problem pretty quickly. Good Luck.
Cedric Weeks Said:
Practice concentrating on your swinging form either swinging at an imaginary ball or while swinging at a real ball. Do not worry whether you hit the ball as long as you while practicing keeping your shoulder straight. Do not worry about where you hit the ball while practicing while keeping your shoulder straight. Concentrate on your form and your shoulder as obviously your form has a lot more to do than with your shoulder as it is a bad habit to drop your hands, etc…
A prior answer said practice hitting a ball on a tee which is an excellent answer as you want to practice your form rather than impress your coach during practice or a game.
If you modify your stance, say like Stan Musial who played with the St. Louis Cardinals for well over 20 years with a life time batting average of .333 while winning batting championships, MVP awards, and probably a home run title or two, this almost automatically prevents from dropping the shoulder during a swing. Musial modified his stance to where his shoulder facing the pitcher was turned in toward the plate while never moving the shoulder as the ball approached the plate until he swung at the ball which prevented the shoulder to move. Musial’s stance was unusual in that he looked like a coiled cobra while standing in the batters box.
If you can find some old Ted Williams instructional video tapes or books, Ted Williams who hit over 500 MLB home runs in a career which included missing 5 full seasons during World War II and the Korean War as a fighter pilot and managed to hit something ridiculous as .388 in his second to the last year in MLB when he was well over 40 years old which is one of the top if not the top regular season batting average in MLB in the last 50 years. Ted Williams is the classical hitter with the classical batting stance and techniques in the batters box as Williams made his living primarily as a batting instructor after he retired. Ted Williams is the last MLB player to hit over .400 for an entire regular season and often considered the batter with the best hitting techniques in the history of baseball.
I know Ted Williams published several books, at least, on hitting along with video about hitting.
Books and videos by the late Ted Williams can explain how to become a better hitter with better control over your shoulder than I can.
Jazmine Talbot Said:
what you should do is try to bring your hands straight to the ball. if you drop your shoulder, that means you have a long swing and you are circling the ball, which takes away a lot of power. but when you swing, you need to keep your hands close to your chest
Erik Prince Said:
There are various reasons why your shoulder drops in you swing, but one of the most common comes from over striding
Especially in the JR levels
Lillian Bermingham Said:
I used to have the same problem as you, so my coach gave me a great drill that fixed it. Place a tee on a crate or box, or just make the tee just about shoulder level. Then, just practice and practice hitting balls off it from that height. What this does is because the tee is so high, u literally can’t drop your back shoulder. The more u swing like this, your muscles will develop muscle memory and won’t drop when u lower the tee or swing in a game.
Jeffery Eden Said:
i belive it helps me when i put the bat back further over your shoulder because by the time u get half way threw your swing your arms are straight by the time u hit the ball ,but if you put the bat not to far back as you swing ur shoulders are droping when u hit the ball and not enoughf time for ur arms to straighten out for full contact
Many reps off the tee. You have to be conscious of staying on top of the ball.
hold the bat up higher.
this will help if you get it. it’s a stationary ball that sticks to the fence, and you keep hitting it as you work on your form. it was really helpful, as in the batting cage balls came at different directions and speeds and stuff so my form was still crappy. they have one for soft ball which is the one i used. pretty much you have to keep swinging away to the point when you feel your shoulder dropping it will be uncomfortable and you won’t do it. when you’re practicing your swing (before you aim at balls, just your warm up), try in the beginning to hold the bat in front of you with your arms all the way out, don’t even bend your elbow, and then move the bat with your wrists. this will help with your inclination to drop your shoulder. once you’ve done that for bit, bend your elbow a bit and do the same thing, swing the bat in front of you and just move your wrists. note that you shouldn’t be moving your waist or feet yet, this is just arm movements. once you’ve done that for a bit move into your proper form (bent elbow, knees, having the ball to the side not direct in front of you etc) and when you swing think about following straight through the ball
I would suggest keeping your hands in and driving the ball with your legs. Most of your power comes from the lower half of your body. Be sure to concentrate on hitting the ball square on the barrel. You can also adjust your position in the batters box until you feel comfortable. The best way to practice this would be to either hit balls off the tee for a while as well as head to the batting cages for some extra reps.
Well it’s not the shoulder you should be worried about….it’s your spine. You are tilting your spine which (since it is all connected) is causing your shoulder to drop. Imagine you have a stiff rod down your back and keep that spine straight up and down. Then start with your chin on your front shoulder (head stays still through the swing) end with your chin on your back shoulder. This should correct the problem pretty quickly. Good Luck.
Practice concentrating on your swinging form either swinging at an imaginary ball or while swinging at a real ball. Do not worry whether you hit the ball as long as you while practicing keeping your shoulder straight. Do not worry about where you hit the ball while practicing while keeping your shoulder straight. Concentrate on your form and your shoulder as obviously your form has a lot more to do than with your shoulder as it is a bad habit to drop your hands, etc…
A prior answer said practice hitting a ball on a tee which is an excellent answer as you want to practice your form rather than impress your coach during practice or a game.
If you modify your stance, say like Stan Musial who played with the St. Louis Cardinals for well over 20 years with a life time batting average of .333 while winning batting championships, MVP awards, and probably a home run title or two, this almost automatically prevents from dropping the shoulder during a swing. Musial modified his stance to where his shoulder facing the pitcher was turned in toward the plate while never moving the shoulder as the ball approached the plate until he swung at the ball which prevented the shoulder to move. Musial’s stance was unusual in that he looked like a coiled cobra while standing in the batters box.
If you can find some old Ted Williams instructional video tapes or books, Ted Williams who hit over 500 MLB home runs in a career which included missing 5 full seasons during World War II and the Korean War as a fighter pilot and managed to hit something ridiculous as .388 in his second to the last year in MLB when he was well over 40 years old which is one of the top if not the top regular season batting average in MLB in the last 50 years. Ted Williams is the classical hitter with the classical batting stance and techniques in the batters box as Williams made his living primarily as a batting instructor after he retired. Ted Williams is the last MLB player to hit over .400 for an entire regular season and often considered the batter with the best hitting techniques in the history of baseball.
I know Ted Williams published several books, at least, on hitting along with video about hitting.
Books and videos by the late Ted Williams can explain how to become a better hitter with better control over your shoulder than I can.
what you should do is try to bring your hands straight to the ball. if you drop your shoulder, that means you have a long swing and you are circling the ball, which takes away a lot of power. but when you swing, you need to keep your hands close to your chest
There are various reasons why your shoulder drops in you swing, but one of the most common comes from over striding
Especially in the JR levels
I used to have the same problem as you, so my coach gave me a great drill that fixed it. Place a tee on a crate or box, or just make the tee just about shoulder level. Then, just practice and practice hitting balls off it from that height. What this does is because the tee is so high, u literally can’t drop your back shoulder. The more u swing like this, your muscles will develop muscle memory and won’t drop when u lower the tee or swing in a game.
i belive it helps me when i put the bat back further over your shoulder because by the time u get half way threw your swing your arms are straight by the time u hit the ball ,but if you put the bat not to far back as you swing ur shoulders are droping when u hit the ball and not enoughf time for ur arms to straighten out for full contact