Posted by: Noah (Noahmcdx@yahoo.com) on Sat Jul 21 23:02:01 2012

I'm hoping I can get a reply from Jack on this one, but I'd like to
explain my troubles and see what kind of feedback I can get.

I'm 15, and I've been legitimately working on rotational mechanics for
nearly 2 years now. Don't worry, I'm not about to vent my skepticism
for rotational mechanics because I still have problems, I'm just
trying to learn more about what I need to do to achieve a good
rotational swing that allow me to hit the ball to all fields with
power. I'll hit balls the other way occasionally, but I always find
myself way out in front of pitches. Generally speaking, the only hard
hit balls I hit to right tend to be balls in the middle of the plate
that I was just a tick late on.

Now I know I drop my hands, I do roll over often, I pop up too much,
and I know I have all the qualities of a barrel-hook. But for the
life of me, I can't seem to change that. I can produce good swings,
and I don't just mean good results, because anyone can do that
occasionally, but I truly do produce good swings occasionally, but
almost never are they on outside pitches or do they produce balls hit
the other way. As much as I fight it, or try to hit a ball to right
field, I end up out in front of the pitch.

My problem to this point has been my posture, and maintaining it is a
big problem for me. I'm someone that leans back and flies open(I know
Jack, you hate that term, but I mean my lead shoulder and my hands
disconnect, probably because I'm opening too early), and when I do
keep my posture, I do put a better swing on the ball. I'm honestly
not really sure even HOW to hit a ball the other way. All I can think
of and try is to wait, wait, and wait.

From my perspective, you see two different types of swings that
produce decently hit balls the other way. There's the A-rod-esque
swing where it looks as if he put the same swing on the ball as he
would a ball he pulled or hit to center, and he just slightly hits it
off the end of the bat. And then there's the swing you see more
commonly on balls in the opposite field gap, where it literally looks
like they went with the pitch and didn't rotate as much. I've seen
both produce home runs at the big league level, but from my knowledge
of rotational mechanics, the swing I described as a-rod-esque is the
better swing. However, when I think of going the other way by simply
waiting longer and rotating like I normally would, I often pop the
ball up or even cap the ball of the end of the bat.

Thanks for any input.