Barring the Lead Arm or Casting

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Barring refers to the straightening out of the lead or bottom arm, i.e. making it a bar or straight. While it does lead to getting good separation with your hands past your back shoulder, it puts your body in a position to pull the bat through with your upper body, rather than utilizing your hands and arms. Your arms extend away from your body (casting), leading to getting jammed on inside pitches or slicing the pitches to the opposite field.

Your lead arm or bottom arm, should guide your hands to the proper bat plane (matching the plane of the pitch with the path with your hands). This is done with a push with your hands, not a pull with your shoulders. A hitting coach should get hitters to lead with their hands and feel the push rather than the pull.

Quick Fix Drills

1. Inside out tee drill: Place ball just inside front foot on inner half of plate. Drive ball up the middle-opposite field.
2. Front toss: Instruct hitter to hit the ball up the middle-opposite field and throw pitches to middle/inner half of the plate.
3. Net drill: Instruct hitter to be a bat length away (from belly) with bat and swing the bat without hitting the net.

Everything I have talked about previously concern pre-swing movement, things you can control. If you can control the above seven points, you will have a much better opportunity to take a great swing. I will now progress into more complicated actions, the swing itself.