HIT FROM LOAD
This is really no stride. Start wide. Coil your knee a bit without your foot moving at all. So simple absolutely nothing can go wrong. Albert Pujols has crushed 662 jacks with this one and Juan Soto uses it with two strikes. When a hitter’s having trouble with his timing I’ll have him hit from load in pre-game BP. Often he’ll stay with it in the game because he’s back in the groove.
SLIDE STEP
A simple 6 to 8 inch slide, one of the best ways to get to load and explode. Paul Molitor and Ryne Sandberg, two of the most consistent hitters ever, used slides of only two or three inches. Precise. Simple. Easy to duplicate over and over. How good was Molitor? So far beyond mere mortals it’s a Seinfeld joke. He ripped .300 in 12 different seasons with a career .306. You see that these days as often as vegetarians eat steak. Amen to a short slide step.
KNEE COIL AND SLIDE
Before you slide just coil your stride knee back a little bit to load and make sure you don’t lunge.
The Best–TOE TAP
I love this one. Sammy Sosa drilled 609 bombs with a toe tap and Vlady, the Junior joined the club. Start wide again. Then load by pulling your stride foot back about six inches. Slide step and hammer. So why is this better than just slide stepping? Because it’s a great way to make sure you get loaded on your back leg before you stride.
Sammy keeps his head down to the ball after a toe tap
And the Worst–KNEE RAISE
I’ve already hacked this one to pieces in the story 307 Reasons so I won’t dissect it again. Suffice it to say it’s dumber than eating apple pie with a hammer.
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Dave Talks Baseball 