Welcome to the Angled Performance blog

I grew up in an era where “chopping down on the ball” was the standard template for a proper swing. Throughout high school, I succeeded with this approach. But upon facing elite competition and seeing TRUE pitches with movement, I realized that this mechanical philosophy had holes in it. Subsequently, so did my swing. I needed to make an adjustment. Whether they were teammates or televised stars, I began to really break down every successful hitter I could find. Throughout all of the varying stances, load-ups, leg kicks, body types, and bat sizes, the successful hitters all had one constant: They set a proper angle to square up the ball and their barrel remained in the zone for an extended period of time.

After this realization, not only did my baseball career vastly improve, but I was able to effectively relay this message to my students of all ages and sizes. I was able to watch the college freshmen I worked with turn into All-Americans and draft picks by their junior year. It was one of the proudest moments in my career.

As an instructor for the past five years, I have experienced the right and wrong ways to work with students. I’ve seen too many facilities pounding cookie-cutter information into young players’ heads without any studied proof of success. I have watched people get hurried out the door for the next client; fundamental flaws go unfixed, and parents leaving with a bad taste in their mouth. I’m excited to change that. I’m excited to watch players develop the right visualization methods, a strong approach for their unique hitting type, and a swing that can consistently handle velocity, ball movement, and location.

Dan Hennigan