Posted by: george stanley (saint_george13@yahoo.com) on Wed Dec 12 15:55:50 2007

> > Here is the age old question coaches at all levels preach. Why is the home run looked down upon and put into hitters heads that they shouldn't try to achieve. Often coaches get upset when they have a hitter who is hitting bombs at batting practice instead of line drive singles and ground balls. Many coaches think that it will mess a hitters swing up if that is what he tries to do. I'm here to tell you that it makes the kids swing better. If he is hitting bombs he is probably producing a great deal of bat speed because the ball is only traveling 50 mph during bp. Let the kid swing it, why not let kids achieve the highest award anyone could get through an at bat. I know many will dis agree.
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> Mike, as long as the youngster is maintaining good mechanics it is probably OK to let him swing for the fence in BP. However, since the ball is traveling slower in BP more batspeed will be needed to achieve the energy necessary to hit it out of the park. The youngster may lose his form trying to create more batspeed. Also, batspeed is not the only thing that contributes to hitting the ball out of the park. Angle of the swing also contributes. Line drive hitters tend to have a 5 to 10 degree upper cut while home run hitters have close to a 20 degree upper cut. If the youngster has to change his mechanics to achieve the 20 degree uppercut (a swing not natural to him because he had to change his mechanics to achieve it), then he is probably not benefitting as much as he could from BP by staying with his natural swing. Also, timing becomes crucial when using an uppercut to hit home runs. That is why power hitters tend to K more often than line drive hitters. If they are late they will be under the ball whereas a hitter with less of an uppercut, when he is late, will still hit the ball relatively squarely, but to the opposite field . In summary, BP should be used to perfect a swing and if anything is done during BP which sacrifices form and mechanics then it is probably not good overall--unless the youngster wants to permanently change his mechanics and become a home run hitter rather than a line drive hitter.
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> Merry Christmas.
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> Sportsdoc7

hi doc!!
the thing about hitting long balls in bp is because of the slow speed of the pitch, the hitters are usually loading up.. that is, they are taking a 16" softball windup with their bat prior to swinging... which does not translate to success when the pitch is at game speed.. if the hitter is maintaining a short compact swing just as though they were facing a 90 MPH FB, then ok... but that is usually not the case. slower pitches result in a longer backswing & allows for bad habits like dropping the hands, doing a littl circle hitch, & drawing back the arms & hands after the pitch is released... simply because have the time to do those bad things & still get there on time..unfortunately these are ALL fatal errors... also, i see hitters swinging at a lotta bad pitches in BP.. they should not forget to swing only at a strike.. because of time restrictions, or limits on number of pitches allowed, i see too many hitters forgetting the first order of business- SWING AT A STRIKE ONLY.. that is the problem with BP... IT'S ONLY PRACTICE.. & NOT THE REAL THING... CONSEQUENTLY YOU SEE HITTERS DOING A LOT OF THINGS THEY WOULD NOT BE DOING OTHERWISE. BP can be a minefield if you do things which are detrimental to your mental discipline, as well as teaching you a different swing from your game swing..