atta boy

I know u actually didn't do this stop lying

Don't worry you won't be hitting homers any time soon kid

You're on the right track! This video has great hitting advice. Listen to Josh Donaldson and you'll be hitting better than you did before!

I hope you made him watch this!

Frank Durand Yes

I've watch hundreds of this videos tbh

He changed hitting

and your haircut too

How’s you and Josh’s sub .200 batting average doing?

By far the most true comment i have ever read...my entire high school coaching staff absolutely lost it when they watched this saying "our field is way to big, we need kids hitting it on the ground"...this fustrated me but i didnt say anything ( cause whos gonna argue with the varsity coach who could make our break you)..but the amount of research i have done on these exact topics, all runs full circle to: shoulder plane, opening the hips, and back loading...im a 5'7 170lbs freshman out of lake havasu city, az and am truly blown away by the bias opinions if some coaches

Logan, you just had a taste of the resistance believers face in the youth baseball world (little league, travel ball, high school) all the time. I had my nephew's travel ball coach ask me if I would be interested in helping with hitting. (the 12U nephew hits well) We talked briefly and as I described the basic concept of rotational hitting, his head exploded... he actually got angry and threw insults. Over the next 4 months, he tried to undermine my nephews hitting while team mates would ask the kid for advice. A local high school assist. coach, familiar with my students results , asked me if I could do a clinic or 2 for their struggling baseball program (almost all the kids on this team swing knob to the ball, downward bat path and hit, at best, grounders and pop ups). The head coach said no. He knows I'm a Epstein, Baseball Rebellion, Tewks-style instructor. (the head coach is one of 3 brothers that all played pro ball... you would know the name) The ignorant resistance to the idea of making a swing that puts the bat on an upward path to meet a descending baseball is like the 'world is flat' types.

telekev1 Yes, exactly completely agree with getting the bat on a plane with descending ball..but its like foreign land to most coaches cause its not something they did as kids or where taught as kids..my high school season is coming to a close in this next week..and the one thing that still blows my mind is my coaches still extremely implying the "hit the top of the ball" teaching method

telekev1 Yes, exactly completely agree with getting the bat on a plane with descending ball..but its like foreign land to most coaches cause its not something they did as kids or where taught as kids..my high school season is coming to a close in this next week..and the one thing that still blows my mind is my coaches still extremely implying the "hit the top of the ball" teaching method

There's still resistance to the principle of upward motion in the swing?! Ted Williams was teaching that decades ago! How is this still being fought?

it's awesome if you follow his Twitter in the off-season he is constantly giving people hitting advice

My HS coach teaches swinging down and getting on top of the ball. Can't stand him. But he's a one of those coaches that wants the entire team to do it his way and he doesn't allow any flexibility

XxXxXxXx Transfer.

XxXxXxXx not every kid is big enough in highschool to hit the long bombs that's why he's saying that trying to get the most out of you guys now even though it's probably screwing you over In the long run ... he knows that high school wise half these kids can't make a tough ground ball out to first but shit if i were you id shake my head yes to the on top the ball and just load the hell up and hit the middle instead he wont tell the difference just say see told yah on every good hit and remind you to hit the top on every bad hit lol

CSaint shall guide you.

Lol

Either him or Vin Scully.

That's what steroids will do to you.

+Alex B 36 Vin Scully

lol. he is like the assistant on the baseball team that knows alot about baseball but keeps it to himself

the look he gives after lol

I wanna share that to my school baseball coach.

Think about that quote daily

How’s that launch angle doing? Lmao get on top of the ball kids and stop hitting .230 like Josh Donaldson

@@McShibby10brother he won a MVP and would likely be a hall of famer if he didn’t start his career at 27. He’s old now, and retired at 37 after making a life time worth of money unlike you who’s commenting under KZfaq videos getting mad that someone has a different idea than you.

Jake Wheelie HAHA

Yeah tru

Based on what? LOL

He’s the only person who could ever break Bobby Cox’s record for ejections

@@skoalface3269 passion. Also he hits dingers

For real? Its not a joke?

+The Puss Y For real. But not in an MLB park. I play in a college league.

Why the fuck you lieing

@John Alcina. Why the fuck can't you spell lying?

damn deepest part of cf! Impressive!!

I’m here before and after lol. I don’t follow baseball but always loved this video of JD. 💯

Yep

yep

I am here for learning and that video.

Yes! I just watched it a little while ago. His swing mehanics line got my interest

Noah Oziel when is that

@@mistermurder5488 5:27

To be fair, grounders work well for 10 yr olds because the fielding is not that great so they'll make a lot of errors. But I get why it won't work well in the higher levels.

Jaime Sandoval ikr

so true

Since when has it ever been about a level swing.? it’s impossible..The ball is coming at you in a downward angle.. if you had a level swing you would break so many bats the clubhouse manager would start to hate ya.. He would be fetching you a new bat after every Bp. I see it all the time in young players wanting to square up to the plate.. Bowing in at the knees, never able to get the proper hip rotation.. so guess what? they end up over correcting themselves and by doing so they fly , better yet Jerk... the front shoulder open, head following right along, while back elbow loads at the completely wrong angle... never able to establish the ability for the back elbow to come up under the bottom part of the hip during hip rotation... all because instead of balancing during the soft landing in the end part of the stride, where only the outside Part of your big toe balances the weight of your body on the back leg , which creates your timing mechanism allowing you to pull the trigger. These players are landing literally flat footed . Some don’t even take that step in the stride anymore they slightly rotate on the front foot like a golf swing breaking their wrists.. rolling the barrel head over top the ball .. when the ideal momentum is transferring from your legs to your hips then your back elbow finally your hands can apply. It’s the only time they are suppose to..Everyone wants to think their philosophy and approach is the correct one, all these interpretations, and everyone has been getting it wrong for quite some time now... I think it’s because young players are incorrectly instructed and they misuse the best piece of training equipment a player, and that’s the tee..literally lVe also seen players there head falls down toward the ball... Let the ball travel you don’t have to pull everything.. It’s like no one knows how to do an inside out swing anymore.. only thing you need to movement as far as your head goes is your eyeballs..just because the old saying goes drop the hammer down or chop the wood does not mean the bat is actually coming from the back shoulder at a downward angle towards the ball.. it actually develops at the back part of the hip rotation when the the barrel head comes through the zone at a slight upswing. That’s when a player is in perfect balance..But hey if we didn’t have the swing to try and dissect than we just wouldn’t have anything to talk about, Now would we.

I have never it my life heard a non-baseball fan say that.

Yah I’ve never heard anyone say that, especially about the major league level. It’s usually the opposite.

Same. Was waiting for that the entire time

Funny that you mention it, I didn't even notice that until you said something about it. I was just entrance by his tutuorial, which was excellent.

laxrocks56

same

lol thatd be irresponsible!

yeah a huge thank you to JD and to @mlbnetwork for sharing!!

no, he doesn't. he dresses like an athlete. The hair though, that's a whole different story

White t shirt and grey jeans. Pretty plain if u ask me

Daniel Kim oh you’re gay. Why didn’t you just say so? That makes more sense now. Thx for the analysis.

@@chriskozub8012 looks like I've proven my point. You really are a dumb narcissist

Daniel Kim cool projection bro. Didn’t realize a comment saying “grey jeans and a white shirt are pretty plain” would trigger anyone so bad. Good luck with life. You’re going to need it being such a fucking pussy.

Michael Jung It isn't like he has done anything different after going to the blue jays. He did the exact same thing in Oakland too

Well since he's come to Toronto his slugging pct has gone into the mid .550, there is definitely an improvement and change. He's always had power in his swing, I was a fan of his in Oakland as well. But his swing has gone through some small adjustments and he points it out in this video. It's not to take anything away from his talent when I was praising the Jays coaching staff, its a culmination of great coaching and a world class talent like Donny is.

Michael Jung actually a lot of it came from Golf instructions and simulators believe it or not. They don't have flight path simulators for baseball. He created his own and learned how to hit the ball farther. Jays have great hitting coaches but most of this is his outside the box thinking.

Donaldson talked his swing mechanics all the time on Twitter when he was in Oakland. When he first came up, when he was still catching, he had a much more upright stance and not much of a leg kick. When Scott Sizemore blew out his knee for the second time, Donaldson came into spring training vying for the open 3B position and a totally revamped swing, much more like his current swing. He struggled somewhat initially and was sent back down to triple A. He got his swing dialed in the second half of the year after being called back up and put together a good final 2-3 months of the year. The next year he was in the discussion for MVP. Not a bad return in the Rich Harden deal with the Cubs.

Not entirely true. This started from a guy named Bobby Tewksbary out of New Hampshire, who created his own hitting program. He first worked with Donaldson when he was in Oakland. He later went on to work with a lot of the Blue Jays though. And he was the one of the early adopters of the golf style trackman devices to hitting. A lot of the players are getting their info and techniques from outside the clubs now and relating what they want and the hitting coaches are there to be observers and relay info back to the better hitters. Tewksbary was the HR derby pitcher for Donaldson in 2012

He played at Auburn. War Eagle!

Haha

Right here, I can teach all this ,certified Epstein hitting instructor,,Johnny Johnson 405 317 3081. Okc ok

Um sorry he doesn’t associate himself with the enemy

I'm watching this from a Disc Golf perspective and the theory is the same. Kinetic chain, hip loading, hip opening, effortless swing, shoulder plane. I'm going to watch this over again and try to take his words out to the course with me.

A lot of this same theory is being taught in golf swing mechanics along with piecing it together with actual data from advanced technology. JD is a straight stud and his understanding of the swing is impressive.

so true man, my coach teaches the same thing. many parents/players hate on him for it

Andrew, I totally relate. I'm the hitting coach for an Intermediate LL team. The coach is old school but he went all in... total support! It took a lot of work, drills and practice but this team is now 10-2 and averaging 10+ runs per game. The one boy that just will not abandon his fathers instruction of swinging down to the ball continues to hit grounders... at best... low line drives. The most satisfying is the smaller framed boys, that could barely get around and fouling balls off, are now hitting line drives in games. Keep up the good fight, Coach!

Louie Oostenbrug Anyone who knows anything teaches it. This stuff isn't new. It's been around since Shoeless Joe and Babe Ruth.

Epstein isn't the greatest, he teaches more rotational hitting. He also teaches getting your elbows too far out in front of your hands with too much bat lag.

Is this the same Epstein that didn't kill himself?

You better give him a kiss then Scotty

When I was in high school, every day in batting practice I would hear a bunch of the old shit from my coaches, I'd nod my head, and never do it. Chop the ball, hands to the ball, linear swing, blah blah blah. Just shows how little people know about hitting.

god i wish this concept was around when i was younger im 30 now...thru out my teens coachs top me to hit a to b i got sooo mad i just stopped

Correct opinion guy actually if you put your weight on your front side you will hit it to the third basemen but if you keep your weight back you can do the rubber band he was talking about. Also if you put your weight on your front foot you will look stupid if they threw a curveball

Timmy Brummett I'm pretty sure Correct opinion guy was referring to coaches like yourself when he said, "conventional hitting coaches...heads exploding". It's ok, I was once there too, just pick up the skull fragments and get on board with folks like Joey Myers @ the hitting performance lab, Chas Pippit @ Baseball Rebellion and Bobby Tewksbury (JD's instructor) Modern video analysis and human movement science has come a long way. JD knows what he is talking about here.

Now we now why Donaldson is an avid golf player. His explanations sounded just like instructors teach the golf swing. He's as smart as they get in sports.

Same! We need more segments like this

He's ours now fuck face

+About Stone L

+About Stone so the team in FIRST place in al east sucks? that makes a lot of sense.

zander Marshall how does it feel to get swept by the Indians

@Fra nco we will find out soon enough it seems lol

He's still a whiny bitch

but he's not.

I think we got some jelios ranger fans.

That lasted long lmao

Carl Grimes's Eyepatch no one tops Barry on hitting. Literally no one

BluntBoy007 there were better hitters than bonds. Home runs aren't the only stat that matters

But how many hit for power and had an almost .300 career average. BB was an all around great hitter

dominicroman3 Ken Griffey jr, Ted Williams, Joe dimmagio. Don't get me wrong, Barry had a great bat but his second half of his career was dedicated to the longball.

Nick Perez but if you understand context how many of them are highly regarded hitting coaches. The original comment was about coaching hitters. ...Only Barry Bonds is. And Of course your abilities change as you get older. But Barry did it all in his career.

We he isn't on the field lol

Ryan Potter especially on shooting clappers

No kidding, when he’s healthy he kills the ball

You are very much right

LOLOL

Happy Halloween 2020

i think a lot of players in New York got a bit lost in 2022. Stanton, Rizzo, and Donaldson all went from being 30+ homer hitters with decent averages to hardly making 30 homers (Donaldson not even close) and hitting .220. might be the short porch, or just the team vibe

​@@baileysmith4744 He's 37, and the average fastball, the average fastball he sees is 94mph. As you can see the dude has a long powerful swing but he has slider bat speed now.

@dukedematteo1995 . He is still at the level he was a couple yesrs ago, just gotta get out of New York. So many players have gone to New York and have everything go wrong in their swing because they see the short porch in right and left field looks very reachable. Rizzo is the king of adjustments so he managed alright this year, but Stanton changed his whole swing after his MVP 2017 and has been as inconsistent as anyone in history. Same as Hicks, and Judge almost went that route until he created his own training program and stopped listening to the Yankees coaches

Tell him no🤣🤣

Good one 👍

He’s old what u expect lmao

sarcasm? 😂

the shoulder still stays closed

i felt that when my front foot passed roughly a 45 degree angle my front hip and shoulder flew open as well. my coaches called it "pulling off the ball"

+steve h some guys have had success hitting with the front foot closed but they are mostly contact hitters like jeter.You just have to turn your calf you dont open the upper body

the 45 ish degree angle is what we refer to as closed. i want my guys around 45 through contact. just a miscommunication.

LMAO

Lmao

giggity

Whoreable comment

gay

Literally who has ever said that?

nobody says that but ok......

Probably whoever taught Roughned Odor how to play

+Banokuy u must be a salty Jays fan that's mad that bautista got rocked

+Draiborn99 hahahahahaha. Dude!! That was awesome!!! LOLOLOLOL!, hahahahhaa !!!