Posted by: Graylon (g_dunc@hotmail.com) on Mon Oct 22 20:45:22 2007

> I've had about 3 kids that I've worked with go to one of the Mike Epstein's hitting clinics and have actually taken this drill seriously, to the point to where they literally slam their front heel into the ground. They think that it's going to help their hips get through. What ends up happening is their front side hits so hard that their head moves, they lock their leg out to early and don't make contact. "Whatever happened to telling someone "land with a soft front side." The front knee never locks out until just after contact is made. I've worked with young athletes, high school kids, and even minor league players for the past 5 years and never in my entire time have I ever had to tell a kid, " drop your front heel to start your hips." Yeah it might be a drill to quick fix and show a kid instant success, but it's not a drill that truley encourages fluential mechanics.

Let me see if I understand you. You don't feel it necesary to get your front heel down? Your front heel getting down is very important in starting your hips and locking out your front leg. If you do not get your front heel down how can you get your back leg started? Front heel gets down and back heel comes up.

When the front heel gets down with a slightly open foot that pushes your front hip open and your back knee bending causes the rear heel to come up and pushes the rear hip forward. The front knee locks out before contact not afterward. If the front leg doesn't lock out your weight will continue to push forward causing you to lunge. The front leg locking out helps turn any lateral movement into rotational.
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> > > Hi Tre:
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> > > Jack Mankin, Mike Epstein, and Paul Nyman all stress rotational hitting, although the latter precept is interpreted difficulty by these individuals. The former defines rotational hitting as a coupled lower-upper body gyration, whereas the latter stresses rotary movement in the lower body, but a curvilinear path with respect to the upper body and limbs. Nyman dismisses the lexical term "rotational hitting" as a misnomer, arguing that, during some point in the swing, the hips and shoulder must turn the bat.
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> > > While I agree with Nyman's observation, I find myself in Epstein's camp with respect of the proper way to teach the swing. I admire Mankin, though, for, in Nyman's terms, being the first person to articulate the fact that no batter swings the bat in a purely linear fashion.
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> > > Here's a drill that can assist hip rotation that is borrowed from Epstein. It is de rigueur to build muscle memory so the body can understand that the front heel drop starts the batter's hip turn. When the front heel drops, three events must transpire simultaneously: 1) the back heel must come off the ground ("do not squish the bug"); 2) the back knee must turn down and in; 3) the back hip must "turn around its axis."
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> > > If you have any further concerns, feel free to email me.
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> > > Best Wishes,
> > > Geoffrey Bandura
> > > Knight1285@aol.com
> > >there are so many ideas out there,but this one I have disagreed with for years and I believe Nyman agreed with me at least at some point in his studies.There are actions and reactions in the swing and taking a small body part like a heel and saying that when you decide to swing you will 1st put the heel down before all else can start ,then other bigger muscles can begin is not efficient,and the ML swing is designed around efficiency due to time constraints.