Squish the bug?

Adam, 8 years old

Nathan, 10 years old

Jack, 8 years old

Bailey, 10 years old

Chuck, 10 years old

If you  read my post the other day about practice makes perfect, you know Im big on teaching “cues” to players.

Well, squish the bug is NOT one of them. DO NOT TEACH THIS!! This is the worst cue to teach ANY hitter, at ANY age.

You will not see any succseful major leaugue hitter “squish the bug”.

So why is this a common phrase? Because most coaches, are teaching what they were taught. Most coaches refuse to admit, that they were taught incorrectly. I will have to admit, that was me, two years ago. I was teaching kids fundamentals, I grew up learning. Ask your coach what he teaches, rotational or linear. If he doesnt know or hasnt heard of either, hes not coaching. If we are not teaching kids the proper techniques, we are not coaching, we are simply babysitting.

It’s the ol saying, if you’re not part of the solution, your part of the problem

To be succesful, I knew something had to change about how I approached the game. I decided to sit down and start reading. What I have discovered over these two years is, I don’t see succesful hitters “squish the bug”. After talking to our local high school coach, I have adapted his phrases, “laces towards the pitcher” or “heel to the sky”.

Like I said in the practice makes perfect article, the vocabulary we use to explain things can be permanently imprinted into our young players.

Lets make sure we are giving them the proper “verbage”.

I have read so many articles, I’m not sure where I got this (probably natural hitting) but this is the BEST definition of why we don’t squish the bug,

Correcting incomplete hip turn;

If your hips are not turning, then your back elbow is not slotting into your hip, and you are not maintaining the slot and the 90 degree elbow until you are facing the pitcher.
Squishing the bug in order to assist in hip turn usually results in turning the back leg instead of actually turning the hips, or finishing the hip turn. I call this a fake hip turn. Squishing may actually hinder a complete hip turn.

I am attaching some images of today’s best hitters. See for yourself what they are doing.

rotational images