What's up guys, Coach Madden, YouGoProBaseball.com and I'm here again with Antonelli Baseball,
Matt Antonelli, Major League Hitter, Middle Infielder for the Padres and we played in
the Padres organization together and he's going to talk about today what turning the
barrel is and how to use turning the barrel for more bat speed, more power, just to be
a better hitter.
What do you got?
Sure.
Let's talk about a couple things.
One of the first things I talk with players about is when I'm swinging I've got to find
a way to create some type of stretch in my swing so I compare it to an elastic band or
slingshot where in order to shoot something, let's just say I have an elastic and I'm going
to pull an elastic back, if I want to shoot this elastic, I have to pull it back, stretch
it to store energy.
The more I pull back, the more energy I store, when I finally just literally let go of my
finger the elastic flies.
So I can do that much further than if I try to push the elastic or if I don't pull it
back and put enough stretch into it.
So I start with that.
Now, how do you relate that to the swing?
There's a couple of things.
The first thing is, when I get in position and I pull back here and I get ready to launch
the bat, here's the difference that I talk about versus what a lot of players kind of
think they want to do or young players especially try to do, is when I get here, instead of
just trying to go forward, trying to get, you'll hear "knob to the ball" or "down to
the ball", so instead of just getting this happening right here, what I'm literally trying
to do is when I launch and I start to turn and this leg is going to turn me this way,
I want my bat and my upper body literally to go the other way.
So my bat is going to be turned this way, instead of pushed that way.
So when I push this way I lose any of that stretch that I created is lost because my
body.
I'm turning this way, the bat is going this way, so everything is going in the same direction
so you lose that stretch.
So when I create it and now when I start to turn my lower body and my upper body is launched
back and my bat is launched back, well now you create even more of that stretch.
So this is coming here and this is going here so now you've got more stretch than if both
are going the same way.
So just think about the elastic.
That's the easy part.
Now when I do that I'm going to create much more bat speed because now I've used my body
in sequence, the right way.
We talked about the ground up.
So again, this is powering me here and this is going to happen.
My upper body is going to go back.
I create the stretch and I create more bat speed.
But not only that, now because my bat is turning this way, I'm going to enter the zone a lot
deeper.
So again, if I do this, I'm going to enter the zone, I'm going to miss out on this early
part of the zone, I'm going to use my upper body, it's really an upper body dominant swing,
I'm not going to create a lot of bat speed, and I'm not going to be on the same plane
of the pitch.
When I do this, now I'm creating bat speed.
I'm using my body the right way but now I can get in the zone early, and stay in the
zone for a long time.
So you've got better bat speed, you get on plane, you're going to be able to square the
ball up much more consistently.
So you get a bunch of things that are going to work through your swing versus kind of
that, more of that old school kind of "get the knob down to the ball, push the bat down
to the ball".
Now let's say we've got a young kid, maybe 10, 12, 14 years old or their parents, coaches,
watching this, what is something they could do to work on it.
Is it just a matter of repetitions or?
I think the first thing is to get into the right position.
So, we talked a little bit earlier about how to, you know the load and whether dropping
the hands is bad, or how do I want to load the bat.
All I talk to the guys about is literally, I want to get into position by, as I move
forward, I just want to pull back right here.
So I just think about it, it's almost like a feeling of, like you're almost going to
row something.
Like start a lawn mower.
It's more subtle than that move but it's right here.
So I literally use my back to get myself into position.
I don't push my hands back.
You hear a lot of guys say "get your hands back".
I can get them back a whole bunch of different ways.
I want to feel like I'm pulling them back.
So now once I feel this right here, now once I go, all I'm literally doing is this back
rear arm right here is going to start to work under and it's a feeling of literally just
this right here.
So I'm going to work the barrel back.
So instead of pushing this way, I get this feeling where I'm kind of getting palm up
earlier in the swing.
So instead of getting down and trying to get palm up here or never getting palm up, this
is the launch of my swing.
I start to get palm up back here, my barrel goes back, and I think about just, you know
we talked about turning the barrel but if you think about the knob, literally just turning
the knob deeper.
So again, here's the opposite, here's knob down to the ball, the knob never turns, right?
Knob's going down down down down and the barrel is going to follow the knob.
So if I'm just knob knob knob here, well then my barrel is going to go down through the
ball.
If I can start to feel the knob, if you just go slow motion, feel the knob turning deeper
back here.
Well now, all of a sudden when I start to get into here my knob is facing the pitcher,
now my barrel is going to replace my knob and I'll be on path.
So there's a bunch of different drills you can do with it.
We do a lot of different drills.
A real simple one, we'll face forward and we'll just pull back right here and from this
position if you just keep your right foot in the ground and just kind of coil around
that right leg, you can really feel as you launch here, thinking about taking your upper
body back, taking the barrel back, and turning the knob and just making contact.
When I do this drill I really feel myself having to get turned this way.
So that's an easy drill.
Again, there's a bunch of them but I think once you get the concept of what you're trying
to do, just get in the mirror, go slow, get that feel, and you'll all of a sudden go "wow,
I usually try to power the bat down to the ball here and now all I've got to do is get
into position and turn the knob a little bit deeper" they start to finally pick it up and
get it.
That's awesome man.
That's awesome information.
That's actually, "turning the barrel" the first time I heard that was on your YouTube
channel man.
So, I'm learning from your channel all the time.
Thank you.
Guys if you haven't checked out his channel, you've got to go over there and subscribe
man because he's got some great information.
Antonelli Baseball, I'll leave the link down below.
Check him out.
Oooop, you ok?