Lets take a look at Bryce Harper’s swing sequence here. This is early 2019 before spring training. Nothing new to see from him vs his usual swing (or that I can tell from this) but there are some things to note.
- Balance
- His swing may seem out of control at times or like he is swinging as hard as he can but his balance is always great. You can swing as hard as you want if you can control it and stay balanced.
- Load and Stretch
- This is probably the key to his power. His load is back and wide and he creates so much stretch and power with his hips, shoulders, and back elbow.
- Launch
- This is where his swing is unique and its not something you would teach. That doesn’t matter because its perfect for him. But he becomes very down and steep to the ball and more noticeably his head drops and tilts back. This may give him the sense that he is staying down and behind the ball.
- Impact
- All the power is unleashed at impact. He doesn’t get cheated. That big load and powerful launch gets him to this spot and when he has the natural skill to square the ball up, he hits it hard. His hips fire so hard that his back foot has to release and come up.
- Finish
- Balance and up and the things to look at here.
This isn’t a swing anyone would teach but that’s the point. Everyone is unique in the way their body moves. In the swing the feet, knees, thighs, hips, back, core, shoulders, elbows, neck, wrists, and hands have to work together. The mind already knows that it needs to just react and get the bat on the ball. I’ve only listed 12 body parts out of the thousands that need to work in a swing. Every muscle, tendon, nerve, etc need to work together. But now you can mathematically understand why everyone’s swing is different.