"Unique training device improves speed, technique"

The following article is reprinted from issue no. 0019 of Baseball America,
September 18 - October 1, 2000.

It's no secret an increase in bat speed and a decrease in mechanical flaws will make hitters better. It's also no secret bat speed is lost with age and the natural wear and tear throughout a career and even individual seasons.

What shouldn't be a secret is a product that has been proven to help increase and maintain bat speed, while helping batters overcome simple holes in their swings that pitchers try to expose.

Swingbuilder, a weight-training device invented by Samuel Levatino, is the perfect offseason tool to help hitters improve dramatically.

Swingbuilder resembles a workout machine, but the training comes from actually swinging instead of pulling or lifting. It develops muscles directly involved with hitting, while helping with bat trajectory and low-tension swings.

Diamondbacks hitting coach and former major leaguer Jim Presley is sold on the product after watching two of his players enjoy career years in 1999.

"The big impact of the machine is the tremendous increase in bat speed with less effort and tension," Presley said. "Training before the 1999 season, the hitters eventually progressed to sets of ten with 100-lbs. After training, the 33-ounce bat weight provided little resistance to bat speed because it was virtually weightless compared to 1600 ounces. The big increase in the bat speed showed up everywhere in their swings. Balls that died on the warning tracks in 1998 were 15 rows out in 1999.

"We could wait longer on the ball because we were so strong and fast. Our confidence increased and our belief system changed. Several guys had career years."

Charging the Batteries

Presley didn't jump fully into using Swingbuilder when he first started working with it in 1998. He had hitters wing with about 20 to 30 pounds of pressure.

A year later, he decided to spend a day with Levatino at his home in Baton Rouge. (Interestingly, Levatino is a dentist there and built Swingbuilder in his spare time.) It was there that Presley saw Levatino coach a young college kid into a 100-pound swing. When the hitter picked up the wood bat, Presley's conception of Swingbuilder changed. He was convince Swingbuilder could be fully utilized by his hitters with the Diamondbacks.

"I went back to Phoenix and intensified our preseason workout before the 1999 season," Presley said. "We progressed to sets of 10 with 100 pounds. We were last in hitting in 1998, and we pounded the ball in 1999. However, we did no in-season maintenance and lost a little bat speed after 10 weeks."

Levatino says the bat speed Swingbuilder induces acts like a battery charge.

"Bat speed drains slowly immediately when you quit swinging and it needs to be recharged," he said. "It lasts about 8 to 10 weeks.

"I would begin to coach every hitter gradually into 100-pound swings. Then I would tell them to get increasingly faster and smoother at 100 pounds. It would be easier for hitters to time the ball because they would have more bat speed, but they would be doing it with less effort and tension.

"The only thing I would do differently than the great job Presley and his hitters did in 1999 is that I would put them on maintenance during the season. It would consist of training with at least 80 percent of their maximum, one time a week or every four days - a non-intensive workout with few swings. Since we know that all individuals are different, players would be comfortable with different maintenance routines."

Presley, who says every high school and collegiate program should use Swingbuilder, is not alone in his assessment of the new advancement.

Loyola University head coach Don Moreau is also sold on it.

"Levatino invited seven of our hitters to Baton Rouge for a personal training session in December 1999," he said. "Upon arriving, he had each player swing a 32-ounce wood bat. he then began to individually coach each player gradually and incrementally into 60-70 pounds."

After each individual training session, he gave them a wood bat to swing. their bat speed was notable, as they all experienced dramatic increases. They said the bat head felt virutally wieghtless.

"If you are serious about building a tremendous swing, I recommend implementing this machine into overall conventional training regimens," Moreau said. "It is the most powerful training aid I have ever seen."

Gary Hymel, Louisiana State University's Catcher for the team that won the College World Series in 1991, also believes in Levatino's creation.

"I trained on the machine for two years before I left Baton Rouge," Hymel said. "I porgressed to swing stronger and faster with flawlessly perfect mechanics. My bat speed was unbelievable. It also removed a hole in my swing."