Posted by: Graylon (g_dunc@hotmail.com) on Sat Nov 24 12:55:52 2007

> > I am having a very hard time getting that firm front leg at contact. As I am making contact, instead of firming up on the front leg, I tend to glide forward and throw all my weight forward instead of firming up and allowing my lower half to rotate. Any drills I could do to help with this? Thanks alot
>
> mike, without actually seeing you swing a bat,for anyone to give you some advice would very similar to me asking you how many fingers am i holding up.. you gotta be able to look at it. that being said, it is my humble opinion that this one aspect of hitting a baseball is not the only thing between you & MLB. if it is, then here's a stab at it:
> it sounds to me like perhaps your stride is too long, which will have the result of diminishing your lower body torque. this rotational theory that is being taught here emphasizes the upper body rotation, which is all well & good.. but it does not address in much detail the untapped power in your lower body, which incidentally is about 3 or 4 times greater than your upper body... & should be utilized to a much greater extent than is endorsed on this site.
> i believe your stance should start out with your feet no more than shoulder width.. this will give you a small solid base, rather than a wider one which will tend to spread out your lower body & diminish your ability to actively torque you lower body & hips.get some bend in your back leg so you are pushing off with greater force...
> then land your front foot, & start torqueing with your back hip.. the way you are doing it, sounds to me like you are top heavy in your motion, with no concern for torqueing your hips..it also sounds like you are opening up your front foot too much.. that is, when you step forward, your foot & toe rotate toward the pitcher. draw a line thru the middle of each foot... both lines should be parallel.. after your stride, they should still be FAIRLY parallel; you should concentrate on not letting your front foot rotate & open up too much. this will allow you to torque more. . the more you rotate that front foot, the less torque you will be able to generate. i would also get a longer spike. which will have the effect of grabbing the dirt better, thus helping you to stop your front foot fromt rotating open.
> good luck... let me know how it goes

George,

Before I get started let me say that I have never heard Jack say that the upperbody is more important then the lowerbody. Both are equally important. If you just rotate the hips without allowing it to transfer to the upperbody or if you just rotate the upperbody witout creating tourque with the lowerbody it will not be effective.

Now about landing with a closed front foot. If you land with a closed front foot you can't generate as much torque with your hips then if you landed with a slightly opened front foot(about a 45 degrees). With a closed front foot the torque you are feeling is in the hip joint and not in the stretching in the mid section. If your front foot stays closed how do you turn your hips? Watch Bonds or Ortiz or just about all of them, when the front foot lands it is opened at about a 45 or more.
Now as for a bent back leg so you can push off with greater force. I may be misunderstanding you but... If you push off with your back leg to get started then you will shift your upper body forward. How about landing on a slightly bent front leg with a firmer back leg which wiil allow you to shift some of your weight slightly forward, yes I know that sounds like I am asking you to weight shift linear and I am but just a little(let the hips slide slightly linear). With a bent front knee and a firm back leg your weight will be balanced or slightly forward. As the front heel is coming down and front leg is straightening the back knee should be bending and leading the rear heel off the ground(pulling it up)and driving forward trying to get to the front knee. If this happens you will turn the linear hip slide into rotational power and your weight should shift slightly back because of the straight front leg and bent back knee.

I do understand that it is hard to translate hitting in the written word and if I have misuderstood what you were trying to say I apologize ahead of time.