A month or so ago, I wrote an article entitled “Why I Started Ignite.”
If you want to read the whole thing, you can click here. But for a brief summary, I was angry. I wanted kids to have a better experience than what I had, and a better experience than what I was seeing them have when I was working for another organization. At the time, I was a 25-year-old kid, and I flat out thought that the swing was being taught incorrectly.
That thought process led me down a very long rabbit hole. I look back on that time in my life and I’m proud of the hard work that I put in, and the things I discovered. That said, I’m eight years older now, and just like many coaches that get older, I’ve seen some things that have made me alter and question my own beliefs.
I no longer think there is a right way to swing the bat. I think many factors that are not about the swing govern our hitting outcomes: visual acuity, vestibular acuity, mobility, stability, our ability to be powerful in different planes of motion. All of these things play a huge role in the success of a hitter and the swing is only a piece of that pie.
Do I think that just about every swing can be improved? Yes, I think so. But that doesn’t mean that every swing should be improved.
I think the question is, what makes a hitter want to change their swing? The answer is simple: failure. When your swing is not good enough, and the pain of staying the same exceeds the pain of changing, you will change your swing. We hear countless stories about big leaguers changing their lives; they make a swing adjustment and go from a hitter that is just trying to get on base to one that drives in runs consistently. These changes do happen, and when people buy in, very good things can occur. But that doesn’t mean that everybody needs to change their swing, we all need to work on our swing. Whatever it is you do, do it better, make it more consistent. When athletes get to a certain age (14 or 15 for many), it makes more sense to just continue to challenge the swing that they already have. Hopefully, at this point, the athlete has built up a strong base that they can work from.
That swing that you have. Is it good enough? And are you good enough to hit high velocity? High-level off-speed pitches? Pitchers throwing you backwards?
We will never know until we test it. If you swing like Hunter Pence, and you produce like prime Hunter Pence, any coach that wants you to change would be out of their mind.
A change is only needed when performance is lacking. And even when performance is lacking, is your swing the issue? Or do you lack one or more of the following: visual acuity, vestibular acuity, mobility, stability, the ability to be powerful in different planes of motion? Well, if your swing isn’t the problem, where can you train all the other things that could be holding you back?
At Ignite’s Gym, we’ve designed the space to perfectly meet the needs of anything that could be a problem on the baseball field and have screening and correctives for all things ranging from ankle stability to our ability to converge our eyes as an object flies towards us, a thing that happens so frequently in the game of baseball but is rarely taught or discussed.
As we move forward I’ll be shifting my focus to be the man in charge of open gym, making sure all of our athletes get what they need, and are taken care of in the best way possible.
Hope you enjoyed reading!
Kurt Hewes
CEO and Founder of Ignite Baseball
I would also add to the factors that impact your performance at the plate… routines, ,mindset, confidence, and approach. These things might have more to do with success than anything as you move up the baseball ladder.