How To -Stay Through It- In Baseball

What's going on, everyone? We're here in our new Antonelli Baseball Facility, and today we're talking about staying through the ball. It's a common term that you'll hear at any baseball or softball game or practice. Everybody's heard, hey, you've got to stay through it. Stay through the ball here. But what does that mean exactly? And so today I want to break that down. For me, when I think about staying through it, I think about really two things. The first thing is, I think about keeping my barrel through the hitting zone, okay? So if you think about the hitting zone or where you can make contact with the ball, if you think about that as this big area, I call it a hitting window. So let's say the ball is being pitched. So here comes the ball. We're going to go this way. So here comes the ball through our hitting window. How early can I get my barrel into that hitting window, and then how long can I stay through that hitting window? The longer I can stay through the hitting window, the better chance I have of not only squaring the ball up and timing that ball up, but I'm going to put the full force of the bat into the ball, and I'm going to be able to create good spin on that ball. So it's really important to be able to stay through the hitting zone as long as possible. Now if you think about a bat path, there's a couple of different things that a bat can do when it's moving through the hitting zone. And so your bat, as it works through the hitting zone, it can work up through the hitting zone, it can work down through the hitting zone, it can work level through the hitting zone, in all different degrees of up, down, or, again, level. So I want my barrel to be working slightly up through, again, through that hitting zone to create that big hitting window. If you look at the numbers, and this is not my opinion, but if you watch video and look at the actual numbers, whether you're looking at the best softball players or the best baseball players, they're working their barrel slightly up through the hitting zone. When I work slightly up through the hitting zone, it gives me a better ability to stay through the hitting zone and stay through the ball, which, again, we haven't even talked about saying through the ball just yet. So, again, timing-wise, because I don't know at which point I'm going to contact that ball, if I can stay through it, through the hitting zone, it will allow me to then stay through the baseball. Because, again, if I don't know which point along this pitch path I'm going to hit this ball, if my barrel is working this way too much, right, so if my barrel is working too much up through the ball, so here comes the pitch, and here comes my barrel doing this, I can only contact that ball at one point. My window for hitting that ball is really small because I'm too much uphill. It's the same thing if I'm too much downhill. So now, here comes the ball, I'm coming down like this, my timing has to be perfect. I can't stay through the ball. But if I'm working slightly up, here comes that ball, now I can hit that ball here, I can hit it here, I can hit it here, I can hit it here, so I'm able to stay through the hitting zone, and I'm also able to then, because I'm staying through the hitting zone, I'm able to then stay through the ball, which is really, really important. So that is one huge part of hitting, is staying through it by being slightly up through the hitting zone. Now the other part is, your barrel can come from the outside in or the inside out. And so if the ball, again, is moving this way, through that hitting zone, and my barrel goes out and now comes across, well if I hit that ball, I'm not going to stay through it. The ball's coming this way, if I'm working this way, I'm probably going to pull a lot of balls. I'm going to hook a lot of balls. So staying through it also means being from what we call the inside out. So I'm attacking from the inside, and then I can let the barrel out at any point that I want. And if I'm able to turn and have a tight barrel and work from the inside, well now here comes the ball, I can work that barrel into the hitting zone early, and then stay through the hitting zone for a really long time. So those are really two of the keys, being slightly up and being from the inside. And that's going to allow me to stay through the hitting zone and through the ball. It gives me a better chance to contact the ball and improves my timing. It gives me a better chance to put the full force of the bat into the ball. It allows me to put better spin on the ball. So if I'm staying this way, now I can contact that ball and I have a better chance to put better spin on it, but also to be able to drive the ball on the trajectory that I want. So if I want to hit a line drive with carry, I want to be slightly up. Slightly up, I contact that ball, I stay through the ball, now I can hit the ball on a line. If I'm coming this way too much, right here comes the ball, I'm coming up too much, well I'm going to have a tendency to be under the ball, or I'm going to have a tendency to put a lot of topspin on the ball, because I'm coming up so much, when I hit that ball, I hit the top part of the ball, I put topspin on it. If I'm coming down too much, I have a tendency to clip the bottom of the ball and hit the ball straight up in the air too much. If I'm slightly up, I have a better chance of contacting that ball and sending that ball on a ball flight that I want. And we hear so much about launch angle, and all it is, is hitting a ball with good carry. So a line drive that carries, that's what we're looking for. So all of that is about staying through the hitting zone, staying through the ball. One way you can think about it, and that we talk about, is that we want to feel like we're staying palm up all the way through contact. If I stay palm up through contact, see how my barrel stays through the zone, and so it's from the inside, it's through the zone, so if I go palm up through the ball, well then I can't roll over, I can't come off the ball, and I'm going to stay through it. If I start to roll this hand over early, well my barrel is going to exit the zone to the left early, it's also going to pick the barrel up over the ball, and now I'm going to roll over a lot of pitches. So staying through the ball, staying palm up. The last tip I'll give you is not getting too rotational with our upper body. If I pull hard with my upper body and my shoulder pulls off the ball, what typically happens, my barrel goes outside, and now it cuts across, so it's from out to in, and so that is not staying through the hitting zone, that's coming across the hitting zone, I call that cutting across. But if I instead don't pull with this and I allow this to work back, now I can work through the ball, through the hitting zone, which is again what we're trying to do. So if you ever hear your coach say, hey stay through it, think stay through the hitting zone, stay through the ball. Two hugely important things, those are some ways to think about how to do it. So hopefully that helps you out. If you want two free hitting drills, down in the comment section below, I have pinned a comment, just click that, you're going to be able to put in your email and get two free hitting drills from us. So go ahead and check that out, one of those drills, actually both of those drills talk about being palm up and staying through the ball. So that's all I have, thank you so much for watching, subscribe to the channel if you haven't done so already, give it a thumbs up, share with all your friends, and we'll talk to you later. If you've got hitters that you're looking to improve before the start of next season, this is essential for you. Matt Antonelli here, former major league player, first round pick, and college coach. With this course, we're going to show you exactly, step by step, how to generate power, develop at speed, and enhance swing mechanics. Regardless of your hitter's age, this course is going to deliver advanced hitting techniques that will allow any hitter to get better and make an impact at the plate this spring. We have a full catalog of training content that you can access from anywhere at any time. This course is perfect for players, parents, coaches, instructors, and more. It offers a comprehensive package of drills and techniques that you can directly implement. Our course has helped hitters all over the country at different competition levels, and the feedback that we've received has been outstanding. The work you put in now will drive your success at the plate this spring. Get the essential knowledge that you need to take your game to the next level.