Joe Mauer is certainly a great baseball player, but his swing mechanics lead a lot to be desired. While it is rare to see hitters who have power without consistency (see Power Without Consistency (A Rare Breed)), consistency without power is quite common. When a player has this combination, his most important position, Impact, is lacking. His consistency can come from a variety of things: the speed of his body rotation (Mauer is very quick to the ball. So was Pete Rose), a level and flat bat plane (Mauer, Pujols), or just a tireless work-ethic that allows him to place the bat on the ball (Mauer, Tony Gwynn).

And you can certainly have all of those things and be a fantastic hitter, as Mauer is. But my question to Mauer: Why not add to it a superior Impact position? Not one of the above traits that improve consistency need be sacrificed in order to have a better Impact position. In fact, improving his Impact position, Mauer would not only make his swing more powerful (instantly, by the way) but he would give himself a longer Area of Impact, creating even more consistency than he has now! He could be, with a little work, the 80, .400 guy we’re looking for!

Keep the speed, Joe. Keep the flat bat-plane and the work ethic. Those are all postitive attributes. But for heaven’s sakes, buy a heavy punching bag and start working on your Impact position. It’s the easiest and quickest way to add tons more power to your swing. You’re running the bases when you could be jogging.

Joe Mauer is 6’5″, 230. Did he ever ask himself, “for all the contact I make, why don’t I have more home runs?” The swing is not a mystery, guys. There are positional reasons for statistics.

Power Without Consistency from Jaime Cevallos on Vimeo.

What is it that makes the rare power hitter with a low average?  How is it that some hitters are powerful but not consistent? You may remember guys like Dave Kingman, Rob Deer, and Reggie Jackson. More recently guys like Ryan Howard, Chris Davis, and Carlos Pena. If these guys didn’t hit towering home runs, they wouldn’t have made it past rookie ball. Their batting averages perennially hovered around .200 – .250, they struck out often, but the long ball saved them.

There are positional reasons for this rare breed of power hitters who lack… consistency. It is one of two things that keep their consistency down: small AOI and/or poor timing control. The small AOI has to do with their Slot position and their poor timing has to do with their Cushion position. I discuss where these guys go wrong with regard to these two very important positions in this video.

So why do they have such tremendous power? Because they transfer adequate force at Impact – the combination of speed and mass at the moment of contact is very high.

Inexpensive Equipment For Your Hitting from Jaime Cevallos on Vimeo.

To be a great hitter, you have to put in the work. No doubt. Working on your swing must take number one priority. To do that, in the early stages at least, you should look to save money whenever possible. So often, I see hitters with so much talent but they mistakenly put equipment ahead of their work ethic. How silly. It’s not the arrow, gentlemen, it’s the Indian. Always. If working on your hitting means shopping for equipment, you will lose.

Here are some innexpensive items that will aid you in improving your hitting.

In this video, I show you a few products that are cheap and effective… Of course I have to plug my book to begin with. Seriously, I only do that because I truly believe it should be your first purchase if you are looking for products to help with your hitting.

A few things I left out of the video are the camcorder model and the swing analysis software I use for analysis. I use the Canon ZR850, an older model that they no longer make. Check out the Sony DCR-SX44 or the Canon FS300. The important thing is the shutter speed. Go to the store and make sure you understand how to hook it up and work it with your computer before you buy.

As for the swing analysis software, go to www.openxcelltechnolabsusa.info/swingwrd/academy, click on “Not a member” and download a free version of their swing analysis software. (FYI – we will soon have online lessons available through this academy webpage. We’ll let you know through the newsletters when that is ready.)

Remember that putting in the time on the right drills ALWAYS trumps anything else. Know what your goal is. Know what you want to get out of hitting. If it’s to look cool for your girlfriend, then by all means, go by that third wrist band and the three hundred dollar bat. But if your goal is to dominate your league and make it to the next level, then spend as little money as possible on equipment and spend most of your physical and mental energy on your analysis and training.

MLB hitting coaches are motivated by keeping their job, not developing innovative principles. If they change a franchise player’s swing, and that player gets worse, their name is forever blacklisted. Word will spread that he makes good hitters bad. And regardless of how many hitters he has helped, the one he “ruined” will be the bain of his career. GMs will attach his name with money flying out the window. He can just take a seat next to Jose Canseco in the list of people who will never be offered a contract. Because of this, MLB hitting coaches develop vague hitting methods, appearing to help when the team is doing well, yet standing on no specific method when the team is struggling. It’s common for them to wait until a player on the team gets hot, and associate themselves to that player as much as possible. I’ve seen it time and time again.

Unfortunately, their “don’t rock the boat methods” become scripture… to the amateur levels below them. How often have you heard these methods – “drive the hips”, “load the hands”, “throw the hands”, “stay back”, “palm up, palm down at contact” (Is there any other option? – can you imagine palm up, palm up at contact?), and on and on. All of the above were started by major league coaches with minor league motives.

Aspiring baseball players assume that if the best baseball players are in the Major Leagues, then the best coaches must be there also. However, consider that the Major League hitting coach (like your real estate agent who wants you to buy an expensive house, not necessarily the house you want) may not have your best interests at heart.

Because of this, you will not see Major League hitting coaches do side by side comparisons of an average hitter to a great hitter – something that is so important for your development and understanding. If he did, he would be owning a specific hitting method and would be pigeonholed should his method not work.

In the video above I give you a comparison of an average MLB player to a great MLB player – to show the difference. Only by seeing the difference, are you able to measure and see more clearly what the Musials do that the Mendozas do not. I focus on two specific points in the swing – Secondary Cushion and Impact.