Barry Bonds Key Swing Mechanics - Nothing to do with Rear Legged Launch

[Music] welcome to the baseball swing.com Joe kuchi here with you uh we're taking a look at Barry Bonds today going to kind of break him down I think I have a good handle on uh couple things and key things that bonds did that might be able to help you so that said as I did with the Fernando tatis video I just want to make my self clear um I am anti-steroid I know Bond was accused of it I don't know if he was ever convicted or caught or whatever um look he did them so I don't care um I don't believe in them I think they're bad and for a number of reasons but purpose of the channel is really to help you guys um and bonds quite frankly does you know was tremendous before during the steroids um by his own right he's a guy worth looking at and breaking down and you know likely would have been a Hall of Famer um he has some things more importantly in his swing that I want to share with you that I think can help you so that that's why we're out out here doing this and we're kind of having them on here so also before I get started big shout out baseball swing PD I grabbed so many videos there and they got some great stuff it's just a great site on YouTube you can go check out and look at all kinds of swings so what is Bond doing and what makes him so special why do he have so much power why did he hit so with such consistency um early on in his career and even through the uh later days with the Giants he he did things very similarly and I want to focus on a couple key things that I think might be of help to you so bonds from a Kinesiology standpoint and sequencing standpoint really leveraged everything he had um and he did it in the correct order and he did it in a way that allowed him to be very very successful um bonds will as we like to say things going forward things going backwards scap looting hands going a little bit backwards while his leg Paws out in front of him he gets the heal plant and a couple areas I want you to focus on Bond's Knee will be the first thing that moves and kicks in before he lowers his hands before he slots his Bat really before he does anything virtually simultaneous with that move he will begin to rotate his shoulders or hips open while his shoulders stay Square so as I scrub through this just see if we can kind of see a little bit of this and this was a little more evident in bond swing early in his career ironically when he was a little bit maybe thinner and more flexible uh but regardless that knee is working in hips are starting to rotate open shoulders are staying square and when we get a different angle on this you'll really see how drastic the uh the difference in angles are from this point I think Bon just kind of sits here and waits and one of the other keys I think he does um is he takes this bleed shoulder and he just kind of rotates it immediately behind where his head is and that in essence drops the bat Barrel flatter it pulls his arm across his chest and it really is evidence that he's not leading with the hands pushing forward now now there are guys in history that have done that move better right and bonds did get just a little pushy with his hands but by en llarge it's the velocity he takes and rotates his upper body through the Zone again key on the front shoulder uh ripping around behind the head that's what pulls his arms and his backat Barrel into the zone so right from here there's his impact or where You' like impact to be frame forward Maybe beautiful um to see this at real speed and we'll we'll try to get to one is really phenomenal I mean it is just like lightning quick again scap loading striding out forward back knee kicks in hips begin to rotate and then the shoulders at this point when he says yep I want to go this is when it really I think the magic happens the velocity he can Ro rotate his upper body with is just phenomenal so to me this is where he's launching because he said yep I'm going to go he's uh loaded up he's stretched out and he just turns that shoulder behind the head and before you know it that bat Barrel gets dragged into impact uh point of Interest here too left arm really pretty connected with his left side uh that's really looks like impact is uh arm somewhat across his chest as as big as he was by this point it's hard almost even to look normal but um he's showing a lot of signs that a lot of great hitters um have in common one thing that is a little different um he gets in here and again that knee going first and those hips rotating and the shoulders kind of staying back that's not that unusual right when we look at the other angle you see that the amount of difference between the shoulder turn hip turn that is unusual but what he does unique here is he just he doesn't continue forward with his you know his left side his back side knee doesn't really continue forward hip doesn't close in he's focused more on that upper body turn because he's coiled up and just again rips that shoulder right behind his head and that gets him and drags a bat into impact all right here's the angle where you're going to see it a little more prevalently from the difference in the hip and shoulder turn so again little bit of a back tip from bonds hands are kind of low versus the average guy but no biggie he raises him up he strides forward that back knee is already kicking in in hips are turning and look at the difference between his hips are pointing at second base his shoulders are pointing at Short Stop This creates that stretch we talked about in the lower back in the ass and the in the hamstrings even even across the upper back he's wound up so to say he has launched uh you know earlier than this is incorrect he hasn't launched yet again what's unique a little bit about bonds is he takes this upper body and just rotates it in circle like he's in a foam booth and I think that's part of the reason he was so quick to the ball um it just gets that shoulder working behind a head and that really drags that bat through the Zone it's not necessarily all about the bat tip it's not necessarily all about you know staying over that rear leg It's a combination of things but to me he's not launched here at all his foot's down it's been down for a bit he's got his shoulders closed his hips open and that creates the torsion and the and the tension that can unwind and snap through impact at this point in the swing you'll notice his hips and shoulders kind of down the right field line right chest kind of at the pitcher belt buckle kind of at the pitcher so in other words from this position where his chest is pointing back towards the catcher and his hips are wide open he eventually catches up with his chest and the hips and the chest end up by this point pointing in the same direction that is a short period of time and that's why again he created so much power through impact Beyond being a strong guy juic to the gills and a a superior athlete really um but you guys can strive for this position you can work on this see if it helps your game uh technically you this is really good do this um at least try it and see how it works for you anyway um so he turns that upper body catches up with the lower body and there's the classic Barry Bonds finish beautiful um and incidentally I think he kind of does this move where that you see his back leg kind of come off balance I i' love to have a technical explanation for this but I think it might just well first of all he's way on top of his back leg where most guys are a little more evenly distributed so maybe that has something to do with it but I really just think it's the velocity This Bat is moving that even as strong as he is he can't take it it just gives and he spins around uh but it's neither here nor there the ball's gone this is a great swing all right from behind again Bond's hips starting open shoulders still Clos and when he says go in his mind notice he's on both feet he has not launched yet when this front shoulder rips behind his head that's his launch and that's the beginning of his launch bang There It Is bang that's the launch and again that pulls the bat barrel down flattens it and gets it behind the the ball okay it's not a snapping of the hands or wrists or any of that it's this position here where the hips are open shoulders are closed and he says yep I'm going front shoulder rips back behind the head okay and that's what keeps him rearward and over his rear leg whereas most of the great players and and most players will move a little bit more forward and use their body mass to hit into the ball Bond's you know did it really quite frankly different all right um let's grab just kind of one more view from the the front just to reiterate what we were talking about so B bons has got the bat tipped a little bit here balls gaining ground on him gaining ground um he starts to raise his hands the bat Barrel will start to flatten a little but again the key here is this he gets into heel plant his hips are wide open shoulders are closed um and again first move is Rip this uh front shoulder right around behind his head that drags the bat through the zone now looks like this ball was going to be maybe on the black maybe a little inch or two inside Bond hits it and hits it hard right he kills it and you'll notice his lead arm all bowed up here well he had to do that to adjust you should adjust he can't straighten his arm with this ball bearing in on him but what he can do is get into this good land position with this differential between his shoulders and hips in terms of the turn build up all that tension Let It Go recognize it's inside and he just bows out his elbow pulls his hands in this is good hitting guys guy made a great pitch and he just destroyed it all right so don't be afraid of that that's something you should be doing um want to roll through just a couple of swings here looks like uh skinny Barry Bonds still with the Giants and again you're going to see the same things that back knee the hip rotation the different between the shoulder turn and hip turn um it's all the same stuff it's all the same stuff it's what bonds did best uh one of kind of point of Interest here again you see the hips starting to open bat still back shoulders haven't turned hips are you know opening shoulders are square back knee is kicked in right and he just rips that shoulder behind his head now look he's a little bit early on this so bonds his arms and hands get out in front of him he adjusted just like He adjusted on that inside fast ball there's nothing wrong with this guys adjust make contact hit it hard do what you got to do right you're not going to have perfect timing you're fooled a little here whoops extend the arms out now one thing I will say if he were moving forward maybe in a little more traditional manner or the way I kind of like it he'd be gaining ground on that the whole time and wouldn't have to extend quite as much um so not a big deal though I like B swing I like his mechanics just not exactly what I teach um here's a skinny Barry Bonds again looks like back with the Pirates but you'll see the same things now shoulders are very Square even closed little hips are flying open back knee is kicking down and in um he does look like he has a little more extension here uh you know a little lighter and more flexible perhaps but he's doing the same things guys the same things it is his front shoulder ripping behind his head that drags the bat through the ball and this is the little bit of pushy that I talk about Bond now he is very connected right that elbows next to the hips arm is just a little bit away from the chest so he's not quite griffi esque but you know you don't have to be perfect um we want to get really good we want to understand the fundamentals the important things um and he does quite a few good things here I just think he pushes with the hands I mean just the hair just a hair I'd prefer these hands be a little more left of him and little less in front of him at this time but you know he had pretty good success without my help anyway rotates through looks like the younger bonds moved forward a little bit more was a little less rear-left hips rotate open shoulders turned to square the back um another good angle here so look at that left knee in the back kicking in that's starting his move down into the ball this is really where he starts launching um hips are wide open shoulders are still Square he says yep I'm going watch that front shoulder rip right behind his head he's moving backwards here a little bit too trying to make room might have felt beat on it but again it's game of adjustments so your t-w work should really is where you want to kind of look mechanically perfect um but in the game you know understand what's going on and do the best you can to have good mechanics but you got to compete that's the number one thing you get in that box just compete all right so I found this online I want to give the guy credit hold on Brian Anderson posted this um really cool little side by side with Williams and Barry Bonds uh it looks like he's trying to highlight here some of the things they do similarly which they do a couple things similarly um so I just thought it was cool and I figured I'd throw it into the end here in case you haven't seen it um as to what they're doing the same and different um both with that little back elbow scap load both of them kind of shoulder down and then from this position here they're starting to make their minds up and you're going to watch both of them just kind of drop the bat barrel and start to rotate Ted moves a little more forward Barry stays a little more back not too too different uh one good teaching Point here I think you guys should understand now you're looking at two guys with you know 1,00 and something home runs or 1300 home runs collectively these are huge huge power guys yet note the length of their stride and the width of their stance both of them so we'll get into uh kind of pick up a little bit and they just plant the foot back down now Deo bonds is in a home run derby I believe in this swing so he's trying to jack it he's got no other you know purpose yet the stride was very short uh he's really pretty narrow um Williams was a little wider but not wide by any stretch this enabled both of them to rotate through the ball very freely when your stance is more narrow um you're going to be able to rotate a little easier um it's okay to be wide he's just going to change your I guess swing Tendencies a little bit see what comfortable what works for you key here with both of them is as that front shoulder starts to work around that's when the bat drops they're not doing it artificially again just you know both beautiful through impact I do prefer Ted swing but if you you watch like game speed swings Ted Williams was you know like almost like griffy like it was just so pretty and so fluid Bond's definitely a little more jerky um but still in all I mean just greay mechan mechanics scap load short stride no stride heel down and then look at the pitch and say okay yep I'm going to go bang so all right hope that helped guys hope you enjoyed it um once again Joe kuchi with the baseball swing.com um if you'd like a lesson just go over to the website sign up be happy to work with you uh questions or comments put them down below in the comments section if you have a question you want to ask offline go to the website and drop it in the the form there and I'd be happy to get back about it um until next time guys play well enjoy yourselves and uh once again we'll look forward to seeing you soon

Channel: The Baseball Swing

Views: 6,033

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Id: 45TCvMYr9BQ

Length: 17min 8sec (1028 seconds)

Published: Sun Mar 24 2024