Posted by: Jack Mankin (MrBatspeed@aol.com) on Wed Nov 14 10:14:30 2007

>>> Jack/Board. I believe that some of the most fundamental reasons why hitters have trouble hitting the outside pitch are:

1. The hitter is not close enough to the plate. Thus if he pulls off the pitch and or is fooled he does not have enough plate coverage to hit the ball.

2. Almost every hitter uses the same length bat. It stands to reason that if a hitter is shorter, has shorter arms, or is way away from the plate, would not it make sense that he experiment with a bat a half inch or so longer?

3. The batter does not trust himself/his mechanics to wait longer in an effort to effectively maximize his full swing as opposed to casting the hands to meet the ball across the plate. Reaching for the ball reduces the potential power.

4. The hitter is to pull conscious in his approach which would effectively cancel out the outer part of the plate.

5. Not striding with a 45 degree angle toward the plate as some theories recommend. <<<

Hi THG

I have found the reason most average hitters have trouble reaching outside pitches is more due to “bat drag” than their hands not being wide enough to make solid contact. In other words, their hands were there, but the bat-head was not. Understanding why their mechanics left the bat-head dragging farther behind the hands on outside pitches is the key to helping him improve.

Jack Mankin