The first question I ask my prospective hitters at a camp is, “How many people here think all great hitters look alike when they hit?” Nobody raises their hand. So then I ask, “How many think all great hitters look different when they hit?” and everyone raises their hand. Of course, then I say, “Wrong again rookie breath. All great hitters DO look alike when they hit. The only place they don’t look alike is in their stance.”
If you see 10,000 great hitters, you’ll see 10,000 different stances. When the pitcher steps and throws towards home plate what’s the first thing you do? You move out of your stance into another position. We call this the Hall of Fame Power Position. Some people call it the Launch Position or the Strided Position. But it’s the position you are in after you stride. Those 10,000 hitters stride out of their stance into one Hall of Fame Power Position if they want to have any chance of being a great hitter.
What does the Hall of Fame Power Position look like?
- Toes on line.
- Knees level and inside the feet such that the legs form a triangle.
- Slight bend at the waist, chest toward the plate, butt toward the stands, slight flexion in the knees and ankles.
- Two-eyed, level-eyed look at the pitcher.
- Hands in, back and up. Straight line from the front shoulder to the bottom hand. Exception: Excessive power hitters sometimes have a straight line from the front shoulder to the top hand.
- Scapula loaded.
- Barrel inside your hands two ways, bat at 1:30 (RHP looking in at a RHH) or 10:30 for a LHH.
- 5 eyes on the Pitcher. Besides the normal two which are good for contact, we put 3 Power eyes on the back of the front shoulder, on the front butt cheek, and on the side of the front knee.
- Ike (back shoulder) is always taller than Mike (front shoulder.)
Figure shows a visual for the Power Position (front view of the player) / Figure shows a visual for the Power Position (side view of the player)
Once we have shown the students the H of F Power Position and video clips of prominent MLB stars we then ask the players to hit from their power position. Once they get a feel for that, we finish the day with: “Show me your stance, show me your step, show me your swing!”
Once we establish the importance of getting into the Power Position the students will make significant progress very quickly.
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