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Hitting

I emphasize bio-mechanics that maximize the transfer of the player’s energy and force into the ball.  My hitting approach is balance, head stillness, and a compact, level swing that is quick and compact to the ball, and long through it.  The result:  line-drives.  The NCAA did a study of Division 1 baseball teams.  They tracked balls hit for fly balls, ground balls and line-drives. The findings:  only 23% of fly balls went for hits, 42% of ground balls, and finally 80% of line-drives went for hits.  Does that mean players that work with me won’t hit the ball out of the park? Just the opposite.

 

Over 50% of the players I worked with in 2007, (taking 10 lessons or more) hit at least one ball out of the park, several hit multiple home runs. Even better, the majority hit their first home runs ever! This includes both high school baseball and fast pitch softball players. I can’t tell you how unlikely it is for a player to get their first homeruns on their High School teams. Much more common is the player who hits a home run in Little League and never hits another one the rest of their life.

 

How long does it take to grasp the hitting mechanics I teach?  Of the players mentioned above who hit their first home runs ever, more than 70% were working with me for the first time in 2007!

 

The best example of hitting for high average leading to homeruns is Minnetonka High School (University of Oregon) future player Jimmy Ramsey. After working with me for three full years Jimmy was closing out his Tonka Little League season as an 11 year-old. Now although Jimmy had a legit batting average of near .700, he’d only hit two homeruns. Sitting next to Jimmy’s mom, Joyce in the stands of this last game of the year I promised Jimmy would hit plenty of homeruns in future seasons.

 

Boy did he…

 

The next season, age 12, his last season of little league baseball (roughly same amount of games) Jimmy hit in the upper .600s, but belted out 22 HRs!)

Additional details regarding Jimmy Ramsey:

 

  • Playing for Minnetonka High School Varsity as only a sophomore, Jimmy was recognized as: Rookie of the year, Slugging Percentage Award (.750), Batting Champion (.467). Jimmy was also All Conference. It didn’t stop there for Jimmy. Roughly one-third of the top ranked 25 College Division 1 programs eagerly recruited Jimmy, with scholarship offers for his pitching and hitting prowess. (LSU, Florida, TCU, Illinois, Louisville, Vanderbilt, Virginia, North Carolina, Oklahoma, Oregon, to name just a few.) Jimmy ultimately accepted a scholarship to play baseball for the Oregon Ducks!
     

  • Beyond that Jimmy played in some high profile tournaments and showcases including the Area Code Tournament down in Long Beach California. A tourney, televised on ESPN, brought together what was considered the best 100 – 150 players in the entire country. Jimmy did not disappoint- In the early fall of 2015 Jimmy played in the Major League Baseball developmental fall league. Jimmy was placed with the Cincinnati Reds. Jimmy both hit and pitched well.
     

  • Jimmy also caught the eyes and was contacted by scouts of several MLB teams including the Los Angeles Dodgers, Atlanta Braves, Tampa Bay Rays, Milwaukee Brewers, and our own Minnesota Twins.
     

  • Jimmy competed in the 10th Annual Power Showcase International Underclassman Homerun Derby in Miami Florida at the Miami Marlins MLB ballpark. Jimmy competed against the top power hitters from all over the United States and around the world in his age group. (Besides sluggers from Texas, Florida, Georgia, California, there were the top power hitters from Caribbean countries (the Dominican Republic, Puerto Rico, Bahamas, and Venezuela but also European countries like France, Netherlands, etc.)

 

The below is from the Power Showcase website article summing up the first day of competition:

 

Swingoff Needed In Underclassmen Preliminaries Miami Marlins Park   December 31, 2015
 

…Many guys were in the fight during the competitive opening round of the showcase. For much of the day several players were bunched at the top of the leader board with a few home runs. But when Minnesota’s Jimmy Ramsey came up for his swings, the left-handed slugger put on a show. Ramsey peppered shots out of the Miami Marlins Park, sending four into the upper deck and launching his longest 447 feet to center field. He finished with seven in all to jump to the front of the group, where he remained the rest of the way.

 

Ramsey, Farmer and Hinchman will face off for the title in the World Championship on Saturday, beginning with the National Anthem at 1 P.M. EST.


In the finals of the International Homerun Derby Jimmy hit five more homeruns, and outdid his initial distance setter with a 456 ft. blast!

Mechanically: Jimmy is now a split second after contact with the ball. His arms are in a power ‘V’, not fully extended as some believe happens in the best swings. (That is more the case of dead pull hitters). Hands stayed in. More of the dynamic balance/tilt at waist is visible, weight distribution is about 50-50, head still and behind belly button and down on the ball, and has remained relatively still, hips have come through, hits off a relatively stiff front leg. 

 

Mechanically Jimmy is now at the end of the follow through of his swing. At this point he’s come up out of dynamic balance a bit, yet his head has barely moved, having kept his head behind his belly button, head down on the ball, uses the lower half of the body, snapping the hips, hitting off a stiff front leg. His hands having started near his other ear, has explosively driven the knob of the bat to the ball, snapped his wrists for optimum bat speed in the hitting zone, and has let if finished a full circle in the follow through.

Jimmy has struck the ball, is coming up out of dynamic balance, head is now up off the ball to watch the flight path that could be one of his mammoth shots, including four that landed in the second deck of Miami Marlin’s ballpark in the preliminary round. Free flowing arc of the bat. Notice hitting off a stiff front leg, right ankle has rolled in finish, which is just fine. Head is now even with belly button. At this point both hands are grasping the bat.

 

Of note: This is from the preliminary round of the Power Showcase International Homerun Derby event at the Miami Marlins ballpark. (The lighting tells you as the dome was open the day of the preliminary round, and closed on the final round of competition.) On this day Jimmy hit four balls into the upper deck, hit the second farthest shot (447 ft.) and hit the most home runs (7).

 

When it was all over Jimmy took home four awards including:

  • Most combined homeruns in the two stage competition (12) (won this on tie breaker with Justin Farmer who also hit 12 homeruns in the combined preliminary and final rounds, but Jimmy hit the farthest shot.)

  • Farthest homerun hit in the final round. (456 ft.)

  • Most homeruns hit in the preliminary round (7)

  • “Colossus of Clout” Farthest home run in his age group for both rounds of competition (456 ft.)

  • (Presenting the “Colossus of Clout” award to Jimmy – Linda Ruth Tosetti (granddaughter to Babe Ruth.)|
     

* Jimmy finished second to Justin Farmer in the final round of competition.

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