Seattle Sports Insider

Robinson Cano's "Net Drill"

Panacea or Placebo?

Posted by

2/27/14

There's a spirited debate, in the shout box, as to the value of Cano's "net drill." Some think it's a panacea; others think it's just the "placebo effect" of having a Real Hall of Famer(TM) personally coach you. One amigo wondered, plausibly, whether Smoak had actually done the "net drill" from the right side of the plate anyway (before his short, off-field double that day).

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First of all, here is the Ryan Divish video. It shows Smoak taking batting practice, with a "fence" (net) set up close to him, so that he has to swing with the knob of the bat on his belly button.

If you're going to read further, YOU MUST VISIT THIS PAGE FIRST. ;- ) Very simple texts, awesome .gifs.

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Second of all, it is true that most hitting tweaks don't matter much. By "MOST" we do NOT mean "ALL."

Bill James observed that most MLB athletes get far, far too much coaching. That's true. But just because 80%, or 90%, or 98%, of suggestions do not help ... does that mean that none of them do?

Randy Johnson, for example. He spent five years trying to figure it out, and then hit on The Golden Tweak. Nolan Ryan told him to land on the toe of his foot, rather than his heel. That was it. One tweak, and you had the 2nd-greatest left hand pitcher of all time.

I believe Mo' Dawg (a scratch golfer) will /cosign this section. Most tweaks are fruitless, BUT ... find just the right tweak and, amigo, That Is How Stella Got Her Groove Back.

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Third of all, let this saying sink deep into your ears:

Scott Baker was on 710 ESPN last week. They asked him, what is it like to pitch to Robinson Cano.

With gusto, Baker said, "The one thing about Robinson Cano is that he is quicker on the jam pitch than any other hitter in baseball. You cannot throw the ball inside to Robinson Cano. He's just too fast. So if the entire inside third is taken away from you, it just makes it very tough to get him out."

That was it. Baker's reaction to Robinson Cano: don't throw the ball inside. He's way too fast inside.

Edgar Martinez, the only other .300-and-plenty hitter in Mariner history, was also famous for his ability to pull his hands in and drive the ball hard.

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From an aiki standpoint ... the first principle of aikido is "Turn When Pushed, Enter When Pulled."

Let's say something suppresses you (a mugger jumps out of a bush and into your personal space before you have time to establish your spacing). You need to turn, to pivot away from the pressure. (ANY street fighter knows you have to be able to hip-flip an enemy. The U.S. Army, too.)

Any hitter -- say, Justin Smoak -- who extends his "ki" (and arms, and CG) too much, at a pitch IN on him, is violating this law of nature.

The pitcher releases the ball
Smoak strides in, ready for a Mighty Hack, his belly button lunging out to grab the incoming energy
The ball gets into Smoak's personal space too much
Smoak is not in position to work "around" the suppressing energy

In other words, O'Sensei has great enthusiasm for Robinson Cano's alertness to suppressive pressure. You have to know how to deal with invasion, before you can go out and invade anybody else.

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RockiesJeff, a hitting coach, uses this "stay inside the ball" approach to increase a player's HIT tool. Does Justin Smoak need to improve the soundness of his attack? Does Michael Saunders? Does Nick Franklin?

Lodge me in the "panacea" group. I think there are a lot of "greedy" Mariner youngsters who need to stabilize their approach to the pitcher/hitter matchup. You have to deal with suppression (a hot inside fastball) first.

There are MLB stars whose approach is unsound -- Josh Hamilton, for instance -- but Robinson Cano ain't one of 'em.

BABVA,

Dr D

Blog:

Aiki Mechanics

Comments

.gif of Cano's hands

Edit to add: Lookout Landing has a .gif of Cano's hit today. LINK
It's a coin-op line drive single, off a LEFT hand pitcher, who comes in on Cano's hands. (Watch how close the knob of the bat is to Cano's stomach).
This is not to be confused with an "inside-out" swing, like Derek Jeter uses. Robinson Cano, like Edgar Martinez, pulls the knob in AND he gets the bat head in front.
Amusing that Cano's first hit in a Seattle unie is his calling-card single off a jam pitch. Watch for it this season.

My intentions were different than this tangent

Another winner of a piece Doc... and love the insight of getting quicker hands and using the lower half of the body better tied to Baker's comments.
However, the reason I brought up the net drill in the shouts was that Smoak had never done it before.
Mariner coaches did not use this drill / technique to help Mariner minor leaguers to develop the quicker hands and better use of the lower half of their bodies in their swings... and I was trying to tie this failure of using this drill (and possibly several other drills) to the failures the Mariners have had in developing a hitter before Seager and after A-Rod.
I wonder how much Lopez or Casper or even Tui or Clement could have done with quicker hands....
How many guys have the Mariners past coaching staffs harmed by not knowing the best drills to be teaching players???

:: daps ::

Thanks for the clarification 'Rain.
Right, it's not possible to use one "tweak" for every situation. Mo' Dawg might fix his golf swing with one key, but that doesn't mean that particular key is the answer for the next guy in.
Smoak, though, I love it in his case. He's a "greedy" hitter with an overambitious lunge at the ball that takes lots of time to get off.

And my comment

is that the Ms coaching staff prior to this year seemed to be teaching a "corporate" approach -- one size fits all -- that meant that Saunders and Smoak had to go off the reservation for help - from Mike Bard and Hunter Bledsoe, respectively.
A willingness to let people try adjustments and then find WHATEVER exercises that help them become muscle memory is, to me, the best kind of coaching, but the hardest. Each individual has their own weaknesses to fix or make adjustments for, and it seems intuitive that one size can't fit all when you are talking about guys as physically different as Ackley and Smoak. And the corporate philosophy seemed to work worst for those two, probably for psychological reasons -- it made them doubt their abilities, where Seager, with a different personality and approach, seems to have shrugged it off.
An approach firmly grounded in kinematics and balance from the martial arts is a great place to start from a theoretical standpoint, but can it truly help Smoak deal with keeping his head still enough to recognize a slider, while he also generates the rotational power Wedge wanted to see from him? Smoak is probably more willing to listen (and trust his livelihood) to someone who has had baseball success, even if what that source is telling him is actually wrong for him. The things Jemanji sees from his experience are fantastic "tells" as to what is going wrong, but to groove the swing to be able to have a round bat meet a round ball in a millimeter spatial domain and a millisecond time domain ... well, that's a bit tricky!
Well, here's to McClendon and HoJo, and an approach that lets each guy work it out how to be successful on his own terms. If this season sees Saunders, Ackley, Smoak, and Morrison (adding Montero, five of the top 30 prospects in baseball for 2010 per Baseball America) all rediscover their strengths and learn to deploy them in the constant round of exploitation and adjustment, well, it's going to be fun to watch!
And, truly, if Cano is a part of the encouragement of this environment, especially given the criticism of his style not being Jeter's, he truly will be leveraging his value, and that'll be great to see.
I REALLY like OBF's suggestion of attaching Montero firmly within Cano's sphere of influence. I've said before, based on things I'd read and heard, that I thought Montero had been part of A-Rod's circle, to his eventual dismay. Well, it seems like we may have a healthy alternative.
And, by the way, I find that the dynamic of the current Yankees-in-transition is really interesting. Jeter is the paragon, but seems distant and aloof -- a guy that doesn't really have close buddies. A-Rod wants to be everybody's friend and help them -- but screws over Cervelli and Montero, at least. And meanwhile Cano has stayed out of the center of things and tried to do his thing the best he knows how. The way he acted with the Dominican team in the WBC was different than we saw with the Yankees. Maybe, just maybe, his leaving the Yankees wasn't a crass reach for a better monetary deal alone, but also a liberation. Now he can be the paragon -- and it might be he's quite suited for it.

Great comment Bat!

I was a little skeptical about Cano's influence ... I mean, the way the New York people were playing it up "Just wait until he gets his own team! You watch! He'll be like he was in the WBC!" (Here's an article about Cano in the WBC.)
But as we're talking here, it's really starting to resonate. Maybe he is going to be the Ichiro to this Team Japan. He's off to one whale of a start.
........
/cosign Montero. Some young players can, and do, find a "Big Brother" who straightens them out.

Simple

The most simple tweaks are almost always the best. I'm convinced that quite often it is the mental result (clarity) that comes with a simple tweak and not the physiological result that is the key.
Simple tweaks can allow you to have simple thoughts, essentially making it much easier for you to get out of your own way.
There must be an aiki concept that states that better than I, Doc. But I'm pretty sure I'm right.
That said, Smoak's double, on an off the plate pitch while he was batting right handed, was certainly not the result of one left-handed drill designed to give inside-half plate coverage. All the same, sometimes just hanging around a guy with a great cut is enough for something (or lots of somethings) positive to rub off. I know that has happened to me.
moe

Bat, you are probably right about the past

Most of the past managers and hitting coaches came here with a theme.... and tried to preach it to whomever they were in charge of...
- Wedge was swing hard as you can at strikes and do damage with homers
- Chambliss if I recall right wanted players to pull the ball in the air
- Hargrove and McLaren were about slowing the game down, and letting the game come to you and etc...
All of these on their own are fine concepts to learn, but they won't help every player - just as you say Bat.
Hopefully LLoyd and these coaches are truly bringing a new attitude and style to the Mariners.

I do give Cano and LLoyd and Hojo and rest props...

For whatever it is worth, and maybe Smoak's double was a fluke... but that ball yesterday was SMOAKED to right center by Smoak batting right handed.
Does ANYONE remember the last time Smoak or any other young right handed Mariner batter crushed a ball opposite field?
I remember plenty of shots going oppo left handed, but right handed? To me, that fact makes that hit HUGE.
Thus, PROPS to Cano, LLoyd, Hojo and whomever else got him to make that swing... and may we see many, many more this year.

Doubles

Excellent as always Jeff. I read where McClendon said Smoak should be pounding out doubles. I think even Cano said he was worried about not hitting it over the fence. That will ruin anyone's swing. Hopefully some guidelines along with confident coaching will spread far beyond Smoak.
I must say I love the pitching side over the hitting. I love to see a pitcher break the bat of the guy who can't drive the barrel with those hands in and ahead. Not very nice but my son will be able to tell you how many broken bats he gets in tournaments.
Keep up the good work! Hopefully we will have a season to smile!