Loading The Back Hip

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5 lifts every hitter should be doing with Cory Ritter. 

Cory spent 8 years in professional baseball as a strength and conditioning coach and as the sports science coordinator for the Los Angeles Dodgers. 

Cory debunks lifting myths, why he doesn’t like putting players in buckets, and how he does assessments 

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One of the biggest flaws I see with hitters is not being able to control their forward move (stride toward the pitcher) 

They end up drifting towards the pitcher (some may call it lunging) 

If you’re not in a balanced position to get your swing off, it’s going to be hard to consistently be on time. 

I think ‘getting in the back hip’ is a phrase used by many coaches, but I’m not sure most hitters understand it. 

There are several reasons why that may happen. 

"Unfortunately..." 

Coaches don’t know ‘why’ it happens

• Don’t know what to ‘feel’
   
• Forget intent plays a role 
  
  
• Never do movement prep
  
  
• Try to do too much at the plate
   
• Let’s find answers for all of these now.

Step 1: Show them

Hitters are visual learners. So anytime, we can show visuals of what they’re doing, and what we want them to do, I find it beneficial. 

I love this graphic by Eric Cressey

Showing hitters visuals like the one Eric Cressey, did above can help a hitter connect the dots. 

You can also show them a video of their swing and let them make the connection. 

That’s exactly what happened this past week with one of our hitters. 

Kayde Ridley is a 2026 Infielder who attends Moeller High School in Cincinnati, Ohio.

I took a video of the first few swings that Kayde took and showed it to him. Here’s one of them. 

I asked him a few questions, one being (don’t try to do too much) 

Zade Richardson, who is coaching with us now, told him to swing at a 20% effort level.

The very next round. 

You can see the difference. 

Not loading into quad 

Not swaying as much as before 

Step 2: Here’s a progression I have done with a few hitters 

Some hitters need to ‘feel’ their back hip/glute 

Here’s a simple progression that helps them do that. 

1. Single Leg RDL

Have them do a single-leg RDL in their stance on their back leg  

 2. Now have them coil their back hip

3. Stride forward and swing

That is a very simple progression that lets the hitter ‘feel’ their back hip being engaged. 

Step 3: Do Less Not More 

It makes sense if a hitter is late on a fastball for them to think that they need to swing harder. 

That means that’ll gear up to swing faster, which causes them to sometimes sway over their rear leg. 

Instead, most of them should try to do less, which will relax their muscles and increase the chances of them being on time because they’re going to move more efficiently. 

So to wrap this up there are a few reasons to help hitters load into their back hip 

• Say nothing if they already do it 
• Show them visuals of themself
• Instill single-leg RDL progression 
• Tell them to do less not more  

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