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...
...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.