Loading up.

Load up.

Those are phrases that many people use.

I also use them, but quite differently than most people do.

This piece discusses a number of hitters...

...and overlaps with a number of my other pieces.

  • Phony Flaws > Hitch
  • Leaky Hands
  • Loading
  • Overlap
  • Separation

Loading Up

The conventional usage of the terms...

  • Loading Up
  • Load Up

...refer to the stride; usually, a linear rearward movement, back towards the catcher, preceding a linear forward movement.

However, as I explain when I talk about Coil, I'm not an advocate of large linear movements.

Ted Williams didn't like large linear movements.

And it's also not what I see in the best hitters.

Yes, there's a Linear component to a high-level swing.

But not a big one.

Tommy Pham 2015

So what do I mean when I talk about "Loading Up?"

HSSU

I first noticed the difference in Loading patterns when I was working with one of my HSSU hitters.

Albert Pujols 2009

I was having some trouble seeing the problem, and explaining it, until I went back to one of my favorite clips of Albert Pujols.

And then I saw it.

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