Along with stepping in the bucket goes opening up the stride foot upon landing. They kind of go hand in hand. What I mean by this is, when your stride foot lands, your toes are pointing at the pitcher. Two things happen when this occurs. First, your weight has most certainly shifted to your front leg. Second, when the front foot opens, it brings the hips with it which will cause the front shoulder to pull off as well. Try and keep your weight between your feet when your stride foot lands. Watch for it and make sure posture is good and stride foot is pointing into opposite hitters batter box (or slightly open) at toe touch with the front heel slightly off the ground with the weight against the ball of the big toe.
Quick Fix Drills
- Practice taking strides and landing on the ball of your front foot, heel slightly off the ground, with front foot pointing in opposite batters box right back toward the pitcher (you can also incorporate a slight rock backwards or knee cock shifting your weight into your back leg). Make sure to keep your posture when you rock back and feel the weight go into the inside portion of your back foot.
- Practice taking strides with a pitch being thrown and no swing, same actions as above.
- During batting practice or tee work, work on stepping toward the pitcher and driving the ball to the opposite field.