Posted by: george stanley (saint_george13@yahoo.com) on Tue Nov 20 09:29:02 2007

> Does anyone know why some Major League hitters consistently release the top hand and some do not?
>
> Does anyone know why hitters in the Major Leagues are successful with either style?
>
> Jimmy
the biggest problem with being a batting coach is trying to tell guys such as yourself how or why you should do certain things.. lotsa guys say"well, so-and-so is making $10 mil/year, so it must be ok".. NOT! don't be a monkey-see monkey-do kinda guy!
I would like you to learn to embrace 2 laws - LOGIC & PHYSICS... they apply to the entire universe... including MLB players, though they would have you believe they are immune to them & they don't apply because they are so special. the sooner you realize you are not, the faster you wll improve.
LOGICALLY SPEAKING: if you get halfway through your swing & drop your power hand off the bat, you have diminished the power you are generating to the bat.. make sense? you turn into a backhanded tennis player, thus slowing your batspeed.. logically speaking YOU SHOULD NOT NOT NOT DO ANYTHING THAT SLOWS YOUR BAT.. when you speak of being successful with this style, you ignore the most important point:
TO BE YOUR BEST & TRY TO IMPROVE ON A DAILY BASIS! even though they are successful, THEY ARE NOT DOING AS WELL AS THEY COULD OR SHOULD... that is the difference.. they are cheating themselves, & sabotaging their ability to maximize their accomplishments. i don't talk to ahitter about the times they hit the ball on the button, i want to talk about the far greater number of times they failed by being late.. that is where you improve, by identigying the problem & conceiving a solution to make the problem go away..
ANY HITTER WHO DROPS HIS POWER HAND OFF THE BAT MIDWAY THROUGH THE SWING WILL SLOW HIS BAT AT THE MOST CRITICAL MOMENT, THUS FOULING OFF OR POPPING UP PITCHES HE SHOULD HAVE HIT ON THE BUTTON. you focus on the successes rather than focusing on why you missed a pitch. all those MLB hitters who are successful even though wthey are dropping their power hand off the bat have alot of missed chances where they could have and should have hit a ptich they missed.. that is what every hitter should concentrate on.. trying to hit a pitch they should get, but don't. this is where you can get better, by keeping your power hand on the bat all the way thru the swing.. i like to have my students tape their power hand to the bat with duct tape, & practice swinging about 15 minutes a day with just the power hand...also during batting practice. that way they understand they are right handed, & that is the hand you must count on to generate most of the power...don't cheat yourself of un-used power at your disposal!! try it! you wll be amazed at how much more batspeed you will generate.
i don't hope this helps.. i KNOW IT WILL.
GOD LOVE YOU