In the last post, I described the importance of the stance, how it is the base structure from which the swing starts, and is often the root of hitting mistakes. A player's stance is a matter of personal preference, but it must allow the batter to transition smoothly into the player's swing.
From the athletic stance position, the first movement of the swing "loads" the power into the bat and body so the bat can move forward with greater speed. This "first movement" is called loading, but I have also heard it described as coiling (because you coil the body) or the pre-swing movement (because it is the movement before the bat swings forward).
Loading
The purpose of loading is to shift your weight and hands backwards so that they can travel a greater distance and can apply more torque before making contact with the ball. This backward before going forward type of movement is very common in sports. When a soccer player kicks a ball, what does his kicking leg do first? It goes backwards first before going forward to load as much power into the kick. A golf player hitting from a tee, moves the club backwards first to coil his body and maximize the potential force that the club can bring to bear when it hits the ball.
When a batter loads their power, they pick up the front foot and slightly turn the front knee inward to transfer more weight to the back leg and coil the torso (some rotational batter's do not stride, but still get this same type of movement by lifting the front heel to shift their weight backward). A batter then shifts their hand alignment from in front of their rear shoulder to behind the shoulder to increase the distance between the hands and the contact point with the ball. This slight backwards movement with their weight and hands should keep the center of gravity inside the back leg in order to keep their head and eyes locked on to pitcher. Finally, softly stride the front foot forward directly toward the pitcher with the front foot remaining closed (that is, remaining parallel to the pitching rubber). This step should cover between no ground and half a shin length (about 8 inches on a six foot tall adult). After the front foot lands, it should stiffen to accept and control the forward weight transfer, which occurs in the next step.
To recap, the objective of loading is to shift the batter's weight slightly backwards by picking up the front foot, slightly coil the torso, and softly step toward the pitcher to start the weight transfer forward. The pre-swing loading should be keep as simple possible so as not to disrupt the batter's timing or put them into a poor position to start the swing.
Next Step: Bat Speed Generation
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