Okay, if you’ve ever seen a Jurassic Park movie or gone to a natural science museum you know what I am talking about. How can such a huge and ferocious dinosaur have such cute stubby little arms? You have a monster sized creature with little stubs passing for arms.
Well, a parent of one of my hitters told me the other day that they had come up with a name for some of the swings the player was taking. They called it “T-Rex Arms,” which is just like it sounds. The swing is short and stubby and doesn’t really look like the swing we practice over and over.
All hitters can become a victim of the T-Rex syndrome when their timing is off. We have talked a bunch of time about how timing problems lead to jacked-up swings. Jacked-up swings lead to unhappy hitters and unhappy parents!
Hitters need to give themselves the time they need to execute the swing they really want to take. Almost all the issues that we see when a hitter is struggling are tied to the fact that they are often too late in getting their front foot down which then leads to them running out of time to take their true swing.
The T-Rex swing, just like all other bad “habits” are not something that a hitter does purposely. They are almost always the end result of a short circuit that takes place in the brain when you realize that you are running out of time for your swing.
So unless your goal is to see how ridiculous your swing can look remember one very important thing. Get your front foot down early! Give yourself the time you need to take the swing you practice all the time.
About the Author: Tory Acheson brings a wealth of knowledge to the Fastpitch Prep staff. He has coached at all levels of the game, including the last 25 years at the college level at the University of Wisconsin – Parkside, Tennessee Tech and Kennesaw State. He began his coaching career at the high school level spending 9 years Whitnall High School in Greenfield, Wis. and is now working as a professional softball instructor.
