The Joe Mauer Quick Swing Training Blog has free baseball coaching and training tips for baseball players, coaches and parents. Our daily posts provide you with free baseball articles, baseball videos, and baseball batting drills.
The Quickswing is the HOTTEST training aid on the market! Endorsed by Hall of Fame inductee - Paul Molitor, and proven by Minnesota Twins catcher - Joe Mauer, the Quickswing is designed to improve bat speed, hand-eye coordination, reflexes, and muscle memory. It is a very simple concept that allows you to train BY YOURSELF, while hitting a moving ball! Some other benefits are: Right or left handed hitters can operate individually or with a partner, can be used INDOORS or OUTDOORS, accomodates ANY regulation size ball; baseballs, softballs or plastic golf balls, adjustable end-dial allows you to increase or decrease level of difficulty, is adjustable to different heights and can be folded for easy transport & storage. This new automated model will take up to 12 baseballs (or 8 softballs) and cycle them out every 5-6 seconds.
Jake Mauer II has come a long way with a product that he invented to help his three sons learn to hit a baseball more consistently. With the weather conditions in Minnesota, Mauer felt that his boys weren’t getting enough swings during the weather-shortened baseball season. “We had to come up with a tool that could be used indoors. With the Quickswing, weather is no longer a factor in getting your cuts in,” Mauer points out. He had no idea that his original “contraption” made out of PVC pipe, a coffee can, and cement would someday revolutionize conventional baseball training aids, and become the fastest growing training aid on the market today. Many high schools, colleges, youth associations, and thousands of individual players across the country use the Quickswing in their daily training regimens. They all have one common goal in mind – to become better hitters!! The Quickswing is a very simple idea with a very unique twist. It allows you to take batting practice by yourself, while hitting a moving ball.
In case you are wondering if Jake’s sons ever did become better hitters:
Joe Mauer was the #1 overall player selected by the Minnesota Twins in the 2001 Major League Baseball draft. He was drafted out of Cretin-Derham High School where his batting average was .605 and where he only struck out one time in his entire high school career.
Jake Mauer was drafted by the Minnesota Twins in the 23rd round of the Major League Baseball’s 2001 draft. He led the University of St. Thomas to the NCAA Division III National Championship in 2001 and runner-up in 1999 & 2000. He batted .449 with a school record 84 hits and a team best 58 RBI’s in 2001, which earned him MIAC Player of the Year and MVP.
Billy Mauer is currently a pitcher at Concordia University in St. Paul, MN where he is almost certain to be drafted after the 2003 season. Pro Scouts have clocked his fastball at over 90 mph (Somebody had to throw batting practice).
Features
•Ideal for hitters of all ages and abilities. Baseball or Softball players! •New Auto-feed design allows you to load up to 12 baseballs (or 8 softalls) and cycles them out in 5 second intervals. •Delivers a moving ball downward, forcing you to wait to see the ball and react quickly. Adjusts to varying degrees of difficulty. •Adjusts to varying heights. Portable and durable •FREE instructional DVD by 2006 A.L. Batting Champion, Joe Mauer, and Hall of Fame inductee, Paul Molitor.
TOP 5 Hitting Drills Every Serious Ballplayer Needs By guest author: Joey Myers
There are so many hitting drills out there; it can leave you wondering where to start. This article will reveal Swing Smarter's greatest baseball drill hits! These drills are the cream of the crop when it comes to hitting success. You won't:
Need an expensive hitting contraption, Require a hitting partner (one exception), or Waste anymore time with hitting drills doing absolutely nothing to help your swing. Future reference: these drills go into more depth under the Smart Hitting Tips tab on the navigation bar.
Also, the hitting drills included here are arranged in of importance. The rotational lower half drills are mentioned first because they need to be mastered before moving onto the linear upper body drills.
Before we get started, there are two issues before starting any baseball drill work to keep in mind...
A less is more approach, AND Making smaller circles. Taking a less is more approach means to slow the hitting drills down at first until muscle memory can be created, and even then, move into a 60-70% game speed swing. Swinging under control transfers power generated in the hips and core without tense muscles into the upper body.
Making smaller circles means to break each movement down into digestible parts. The first drill we talk about does just that...
1. Balance & Reach For a right handed hitter, stand sideways on a small 3 inch platform, feet together with bat in hands (we're NOT swinging, just holding it in a starting position).
Lift the left foot slightly off the ground, then raise the left knee up to hip level; you should be in a solid balance position.
Now, balancing on the right leg, have the hitter reach out with a closed left foot like they're striding towards the pitcher, then have them tap the ground softly (about 2-3 feet out) like they're striding on eggshells, and slowly return to the starting position. Reverse directions for a lefty.
The goal of the drill is for the player to get what it feels like to really load up the backside with a majority of their weight. And, tapping the ground lightly simulates what a correct stride should be. So, in short, they learn:
Maximum load of the back leg, and How to be light with the stride foot.
Building into the next hitting drill... 2. Bat Behind the Back Drill We start with the bat behind our lower back gripping it like in a karate punch stance.
Step 1 is to transfer our weight to the back leg (70/30), Step 2, keeping our weight back, we stride with the front foot 1-3 inches (a separation occurs between our front foot and weight shift), and Step 3 we squish the bug, or rotate the back foot, so the toe finishes pointing at the pitcher. The latter two hitting drills help train the central nervous and muscular systems with the right rotational energy transfer, while the next few drills will train the upper body to harness that power and transfer it into the baseball.
Remember, less is more with the following...
3. Top/Bottom Hand Drills Off the Tee First, when doing this drill, we want to choke up to the top of the bat grip tape, so we have more control. Take the off hand and lay it across the stomach, and don't let it flop around while swinging.
Two things to focus on with the TOP hand (besides the footwork we've been working on with hitting drills 1 & 2 above), is to:
Take the knob DOWN to the incoming baseball (imagine it's incoming off the tee), and Take the barrel through three imaginary baseballs hovering an inch apart past the contact point.
The TOP hand is our push and power hand ALWAYS, no matter what side you're hitting on...
would you rather PUSH a big giant heavy dresser or PULL it, to move it? We impress the girls (or boys) with the power in our TOP hand NOT our bottom hand.
Two things to focus on with the BOTTOM hand:
Take the knob DOWN to the incoming baseball, and Keep the front elbow DOWN. The bottom hand guides the hands DOWN, it's like the rudder on a boat, steering the barrel as short as possible into the swing plane. The bottom hand starts to work first, then the top hand takes over like the thruster on a rocket ship, pushing through the ball.
4. Two Tee Drill This is the best drill for practicing the DOWN part of Down & Through, shaving down to a shorter swing.
You set up 2 tees, one behind the other, with about 2-3 feet distance between a ball sitting on top of each. The back ball should stand about 6 inches higher than the ball on the front tee.
Once we're all setup, then we take our stance...the object of the drill is to NOT hit the back baseball, only the front one. If we hit the back one, then our swing is too long and we need to shorten it. The best key to shorten it is to tell ourselves to take the knob DOWN to the incoming baseball.
Last but certainly NOT least... 5. Hitting Through 3 Baseballs This part of these hitting drills requires an extra pair of eyes or a video camera, in the beginning, to give the hitter proper feedback.
You're going to set 3 baseballs an inch or so apart on the ground spanning a straight line from the contact point of the tee. As you hit the ball, try to extend the TOP hand out, palm up, through the three baseballs (imagine the baseballs you set on the ground in front of the tee are floating in mid-air after the contact point).
Martial Artist do this all the time when breaking boards...they envision a spot well past their striking point because they know a broken hand would result if they didn't, so they strike THROUGH the board 3-4 feet past.
This drill should be done in slow motion at first to get a feel for how the top stays palm up well past the contact point. This is one of the hardest things for young hitters to do because they've gotten in the bad habit of rolling over too early.
If you're hitting the ball on the ground too much, then use the TOP hand to push through more...AND, if you're hitting the ball in the air too much, then take the knob down more to the incoming baseball.
I didn't get this concept until after my college career had ended, from a Rod Delmonico book. I had a hard time keeping my barrel in the hitting plane, which meant I was rolling over too soon.
If you like this, then please check out the two Part Series that cuts through swing flaws like a hot knife through butter...
Also, rolling over too soon causes a bump in the pitched ball path...do a swing in slow motion while rolling too soon and see for yourself.
SHORT to it, LONG through is the only way to create the vital backspin, helping us to swing smarter NOT harder!
My name is Joey Myers, and I played 18 total years of baseball finishing my career after my fourth year of college (2000-2003) as a Fresno State Bulldog (the 2008 College World Series Champions). I'm very grateful for the success I had at Bullard High School, and getting a scholarship to play at a Division I university, Fresno State, where I started 110 out of the 178 games I played, in the outfield. Now I devote most of my life to baseball swing coaching and personal fitness training. My website are http://www.swing-smarter-baseball-hitting-drills.com/ and http://www.corecreationsonline.com/
How To Improve Your Baseball Vision And Hand-Eye Coordination (Part 1) BaseballVision http://www.baseballvisionprogram.com/ -- Chris McKnight and Harvey Ratner teamed up to produce a DVD which helps baseball hitters improve their hand eye coordination through unique sports vision training drills. Chris and Harvey's techniques will help you improve your baseball vision and hand eye coordination using simple drills which have increased the batting averages of players from high school all the way to the pros.
Chris is the manager of the 2009 independent professional baseball Texarkana Gunslingers team, and he has also authored numerous articles that have appeared in "Scholastic Coach" "Coach and Athletic Director" and the American Baseball Coaches Association "Coaching Digest".
Go to the website to find out more about how Chris' information can help you improve your vision for sports
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Joe Mauer's Quick Swing Baseball Batting Training Aid estrategy This commercial features Minnesota Twins catcher and American League Batting Champion Joe Mauer, and Hall of Fame hitter Paul Molitor demonstrating the Quickswing batting training aid. This hitting training equipment was invented by Joe Mauer's father to help his kids get their practice swings indoors during Minnesota's long winter months. It helped Joe Mauer develop that short, compact, quick swing.
You did not find this video by accident. It was optimized for search and marketed online by David Erickson, who blogs at his eStrategy Internet Marketing Blog (http://e-StrategyBlog.com ); you can follow David on Twitter at http:twitter.com/derickson or subscribe to his YouTube channel: http://youtube.com/davideerickson
Quick Swing Trainer - Joe Mauer's Baseball Swing Trainer Coach2winVideos The Joe Mauer Quick Swing Batting Trainer is one of the best batting trainers in baseball. This portable, lightweight, and inexpensie baseball batting trainer makes the perfect backyard batting station or team batting pratice drill. For more info visit http://www.QuickSwingTrainer.com Product available with shipping within one business day at http://www.baseball2u.com/joemaquswba...
