Batting swing trainer and method

Abstract

A baseball batting swing trainer teaches proper bat swinging and ball hitting technique. The swing trainer includes a first handle attached to the first end of a shaft. The second end of the shaft includes a head having a diameter greater than the shaft diameter and less than the diameter of the head of a conventional baseball bat. A cylindrical second handle slidable between the first and second shaft ends. The second handle is sized to accommodate all five fingers on one of the user's hands in a batting grip. A process for teaching a person the proper technique for swinging a baseball bat using the swing trainer is also provided. When performed properly, the process produces an audible sound by striking the second handle against the stop while the head of the bat is passing through the user's strike zone and directly over the user's forward foot.

Description

[0001] The present application is a continuation of co-pending U.S. patent application Ser. No. 10 / 407,284, filed on Apr. 4, 2003, which claims the benefit of U.S. Provisional Patent Application No. 60 / 370,156, filed Apr. 5, 2002, and is a continuation-in-part of U.S. patent application Ser. No. 09 / 882,627, filed on Jun. 15, 2001, now U.S. Pat. No. 6,949,036, issued on Sep. 27, 2005, which claims the benefit of U.S. Provisional Patent Application No. 60 / 246,465, filed on Nov. 7, 2000.FIELD OF THE INVENTION [0002] The invention relates to a device and system for teaching a person the proper way to swing a baseball bat and hit a baseball or the like. The invention also relates to a swing trainer for teaching a person the proper technique for swinging a bat in order to achieve maximum bat speed and power at impact with a ball. In particular, the swing trainer teaches the user proper body form for swinging a bat and how to use his or her body most effectively when executing a swing and ...

AI Technical Summary

Benefits of technology

[0020] Two buffers are made of plastic, aluminum, nylon, polyethylene, or other suitable material that produces an attention-getting noise when the buffer strikes the stop or the head. A lower buffer is attached to the end of the slide closest to the handle to signal that the slide has reached the handle, to prevent pinching of the batter's hand and to provide additional protection against the slide inadvertently leaving the shaft. An upper buffer is preferably attached to the slide to signal that the slide has reached the head and to prevent a batter's hands from being pinched between the slide and the bat head. Preferably, the head includes a stop for rapidly decelerating the slide and, simultaneously, making an unmistakable sound upon contact with the upper buffer.

[0031] In each of the hitting exercises, the slide is held against the handle by gravity alone in the initial position and flies toward the head under the influence of centripetal acceleration during the swing. A high degree of concentration is required to hit the baseball with the swing trainer because the head of the swing trainer is narrower than that of a conventional baseball bat. With each swing, the batter can conform the timing of his swing and the point of least acceleration. Hitting the baseball with the sweet spot while the upper buffer is sounding and the head is in the strike zone directly over the front foot is an elusive goal that is immediately rewarded by the swing trainer. Hitting this contact point on a conventional bat will cause the ball to travel the greatest distance.

Problems solved by technology

Teaching a person the proper technique for swinging a bat can be a difficult task.

While the previously described trainers may help batters determine when to move their hands and / or wrists during a swing or to recognize the optimal place a bat should contact the ball, none of the bat trainers or warm-up devices described above teaches the batter proper swing technique.

Changing the position of the weight with respect to the grip handle changes the center of gravity of the bat and alters the effort required by the batter to swing the bat.

Because a golf club swing is different from a baseball bat swing, the Kallassy Swing Magic™ device does not offer any benefit when teaching a person proper baseball bat swinging technique.

A batter can increase muscle mass by increasing the weight of the bat he or she must swing, but still have poor swing technique.

Further, obtaining optimal bat acceleration can be achieved even if the batter's swing technique is poor.

Therefore, none of the training bats described above is capable of teaching a batter proper swing technique or the most accurate contact point for a bat to hit a ball.

Further, simply swinging weighted bats does not teach the batter the proper placement of the arms, hands, shoulders and torso throughout a swing of the bat.

None of the available swing trainers enable the batter to practice and develop these skills.

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