my swing

Question
I have been playing slow-pitch softball for about a year now and have been hitting softballs 450 feet, but about 5 weeks ago I broke my hand and started swinging one-handed , but my bat speed was still pretty good. My hand is about 90% better and I am able to swing with both hands again. About 2 weeks ago I started to notice that my swing felt differnet. The sound of my swing was not the same and my bat felt heavy. Within that 2-3 week period I had been playing a lot of softball more games a week than I really should. Could my body just be exhausted or could it be from my hand? How do I get my pop back?  

Answer
Damien,

There could be more than one factor causing you to have problems. First, breaking your hand (depending on how severe) could have affected the alignment of the bones or the range of motion of the hand itself. Or, you would have likely lost muscle tone in the affected arm during the healing period due to lack of use, and it will take some time to regain that strength (this is probably the most likely reason). And yes, playing too much can certainly cause problems as well. My inclination is to believe that all these factors together may have contributed to your swing problems. I would recommend some light weight training to build up strength (assuming the broken hand has properly healed), and start taking some batting practice concentrating on proper mechanics. Swinging with one arm for that period of time may have adversely affected your muscle memory and swing mechanics. But if you were able to hit a softball 450 feet, then you should regain that fairly soon.

Hope this helps.

Mike Fortunato