5 ways to Increase Bat speed
Lets take a look at how to increase your bat speed.
1. The Barrel Turn
(Barry Bonds, Hank Aaron, Ted Williams, Babe Ruth)
If you've read any of the content on this site, you know that there is a clear correlation in all of the great hitters, they turn the barrel.
The barrel tips forward, then gets turned backwards and around into the baseball. This barrel turn has many advantages, most importantly, it's the most efficient way to get the barrel to move fast.
It's not your body that needs to go fast, it's THE BARREL. Notice how far the barrel moves before any rotation takes place. This early bat speed allows a hitter a running start. The barrel gets up to speed behind them, allowing them to simply carry that bat speed into the baseball.
To really understand this concept, you have to be able to do it.
If every hitter was trying to duplicate this bat path, we would have a generation of players who are legitimately maximizing their capabilities.
Tipping the bat allows a player to use momentum to his advantage, this does not require some super human level of forearm strength. Using momentum to your advantage actually requires less strength and effort.
2. Leave the Hands Back
So many hitters are trying to push their hands away from their back shoulder and through the baseball. There are several problems with that. By pushing the hands forward, the bat does not get behind the baseball early, this creates a small margin for error.
Secondly, by pushing the hands forward, the smaller muscles of the upper body work ahead of the lower body. This makes the flow of energy work from the top first.
When the hands stay at the shoulder, the kinetic chain is allowed to work.
Creating energy that spirals from the ground, up, The hands and bat should be the very last thing to come forward.
This puts the bigger muscles of the legs ahead. The lower body pulls the upper body thru the swing.
Back leg, then hands.
By keeping the hands at the shoulder through the swing, you have more control of the bat. Try holding any object away from your body, it instantly becomes heavier and harder to control. By keeping the hands at the shoulder and tilting the shoulders to the baseball, everything can stay tight and powerful. Once the ball is hit, the hands can continue on a path towards the pitcher.