Posted by: george stanley (saint_george13@yahoo.com) on Sat Jan 5 05:49:30 2008

> > George,
> >
> > The way I stand in the batters box has very little effect on my swing. What matters is how my body prepares to handle the force that I am going to apply to the bat. When I jump in the box nothing is happening, now as I prepare to launch the barrel rearward my body will prepare itself to handle the momentum that I will create.
> >
> > Graylon
> >
> > ##
> > George,
> >
> > You are way off base here. I could almost gaurantee you that I have done more research about hitting then you. Have you ever stood in the box and faced a MLB quality fastball? I say no. You say they miss a belt high FB but you don't understand what you're saying, a belt high FB in little league is just that a belt high FB, but a belt high FB in the MLB is much different, an MLB FB is not straight it moves in, out and down but is very seldom just straight.
> >
> > You said we never dispute the facts that you mention but I have. You say start your hands high and back, this does not make sense based on the laws of Physics and Logic. If my hands are high then I will becoming down on the ball with absolutely no early batspeed and how do I drive a ball that I am hitting down on, my timing will have to be perfect, this makes no sense. If my hands are as far back as comfortable, I'll create bat drag which will make me late and give me less of a chance to square the bat to the ball.
> >
> > George there is no such thing as the perfect swing, there is only the adjustment you make to the pitch you get. Your discription of your swing gives you no chance to adjust on the fly.
> >
> > I am a Mike Epstein Instructor and I truly believe that he has the best drills for teaching the proper mechanics and I also believe that Jack has some very good stuff as well. I don't live in a box and I have trialed and error just like everyone else and I am telling you that your description of a good swing will only work at the lower levels and will handicap kids when they get older because they will have to overcome many burned in bad habits.
> >
> > I got to go, so I will comment on some of your other claims later.
> >
> > Graylon
>
> George,
> I'll have to agree with gray. Kernerko a year ago hit 313 30 plus and 100 plus. This was an off year hit 259 big deal and put up the same power numbers. Both seasons struck out a hundred times so yeah george he missed completely alot. But when he made contact he produced numbers. 259 is lower than 313 but he hit many hard hit balls that did not fall and the sox weren't as good as the year before so his hard hit outs weren't sacrifice fly balls like they were the year before because nobody was on base. There are some major factors that you need to take into consideration. There isn't anything to change on kernerk's mechanics because he is obviously doing something right hitting 300 30 plus 100 plus against the worlds best pitching. He could miss that pitch you say he misses 100 out of 100 times but he still puts up numbers. Watch some more video George the tape does not lie. And do not ever compare yourself to the great names you mention because you are an opinion based naked eye teacher. things happen way to fast for the naked eye to pick up. When you watch frame by frame hitters you really find out why they are so good.


hi guys!

grey my boy, ANYONE who sez the stance has no influence on your success rate in completely lost in space... sorry. try laying on your back in the box & let me know how that works for you...or face 3B & try to hit the ball.. WHERE YOU STAND & HOW YOU STAND IS EVERYTHING!!! COME ON FIGURE IT OUT!! if you can't figure that out, there is no help for you.. can you not see a relation between the fact the guys with the most open stances (counsell, kendall,) have the fewest incidence of HR's?!?!?! hello!?!??!? they are the poster children of the extreme.. LOGIC dictates that the less open your stance the more likely you are to hit more HR's.. now comes the tricky part most of you guys can't seem to figure out the WHY...
simply because the more closed your stance, the more you engage your legs & lower body in the swing, thus generating greater batspeed, thus generating more power, thus more HR's... if that ain't proof positive that the stance has a great effect on your ability to hit a baseball, i suggest you stand up there like craig counsell or jason kendall for a while, then get back to me...once you figure that out, you might have a chance of improving your hitters.

concerning holding your hands up as high & as far back as comfortably possible..the early batspeed is not the important factor you make it out to be... it is the acceleration rate that is of the greatest importance.. in your world, you want to generate bat speed by working your hands & arms , drawing back to the launch position AFTER pitch is released... this will make you late to far too many pitches in certain spots.. I SAY START OUT IN THE LAUNCH POSITION & START FORWARD IMMEDIATELY... WHILE YOU ARE DRAWING BACK, I AM GOING FORWARD.. I AM GOING TO GET THERE ON MORE PITCHES THAN YOU WILL.. the sooner you start forward, the sooner you begin to accelerate... the more time you are accelerating, the greater the end batspeed...incidentally, the lower body is supposed to be in motion before the upper area.. this is where you will generate the greatest batspeed, from the ground up... to be top heavy (all arms & shoulders) & "buggywhipping" like too many hitters makes for a tradeoff where you hit more HR, but have a lesser BA.. i would rather have a superior BA with less HR.. then there are those few who do both, like MAGGLIO ORDONEZ (.363, ONLY 28 HR, but 163 RBI).. here is a guy who does not buggywhip, holds his hands eye-high, catches up to a lot of pitches up in the zone, made the commitment to being a good hitter who is not looking for the HR first, rather a good pitch he can handle.. DEREK JETER & MATT HOLIDAY also come to mind when thinking of good hitters who are not buggywhippers who have their hands up & start immediately at the ball.

concerning the swing.. my swing is not different than yours.. it just starts out from a higher point...you underestimate or ignore comepletely the power of gravity!! your hands should start out about eye-high.. everyone has a pendulum swing.. starting out going down, then on the low pitches catching the ball on the upside..
however on the pitches up in the zone, the higher your hands start out, the greater the distance the bat head is coming downward.. your ability to be coming down if only just the slightest bit, thus generating better batspeed than YOUR technique, where your hands start out lower than mine..this will enable ME to catch up to pitches that YOU will be late to & pop up or foul off..

concerning your statement " If my hands are as far back as comfortable, I'll create bat drag which will make me late and give me less of a chance to square the bat to the ball." i'm having trouble making any sense as to where this drag is coming from..
what i'm saying is YOU draw back to the launch position while the ball is underway... bad, because you don't have time for that.. it will cause you to be late to certain pitches in certain spots..when you are going through all those power generating motions after the pitch is released, you do in fact end up at your launch position.. at that point, are not your hands as high & as far back as you want them to be, ergo as comfortable as possible for YOU??.. no different than me... all i say is get your hands a little higher,& start from there.. don't draw back to there AFTER THE PITCH IS UNDERWAY.. that is where you go wrong... it makes you LATE LATE LATE! our differences are a matter of timing.. you want to have a softball windup on your swing.. i say get going right straight at the ball..see henry aaron, or if you ever saw paul molitor hit, he is the posterchld for correct everything.. if you want to endorse buggywhipping, especially for young players in their formative years, you are going to have a few successes, but far more hitters who don't have the strength or athletic abiity to sustain that theory... not good.. that is an evolutionary mindset, whereby you will ensure only the strong survive, to the detriment of many others who might be MLB hitters if they pursue another mindset.. wonderful as all you guys are, like every other person on this planet, there is always room for improvement..except you & mike.. he's in his own little world too, where your stance makes no difference.. but he thinks your muscle memory is the only thing that will get you there .. & if you don't have it right you'll never be able to change it.. never mind, it's useles to try to adjust & make changes or attempt to improve.
if you ever saw paul molitor hit, he is the posterchld for correct everything.. if you want to endorse buggywhipping, especially for young players in their formative years, you are going to have a few successes, but far more hitters who don't have the strength or athletic abiity to sustain that theory... not good.. that is an evolutionary mindset, whereby you will ensure only the strong survive, to the detriment of many others who might be MLB hitters if they pursue another mindset.. wonderful as all you guys are, like every other person on this planet, there is always room for improvement..except mike.. he's in his own little world, where your stance makes no difference, your muscle memory is theonly thing that will get you there .. & if you don't have it right you'll never be able to change it.. never mind, it's useles to try to adjust & make changes or attempt to improve.


mikee my boy! always a treat to hear your half baked ideas!!
it's always about numbers with you, ain't it?! i have watched paul konerko & the white sox my whole life.. konerko has the bad habit of still being asleep once the season starts, then FINALLY rubbing the sleep out his eyes when june is half over..last year he was .200 on june 3. he frequently is of absolutely no use to his team the first 3 months of the season, when i need him step up & get big hits to help the team jump off to s good start.. he is nowhere to be found..then after the die is cast, & the season is already a foregone failure, THEN he wants to heat up & get useless bases empty HR's & meaningless RBI, all the while consistently getting jobbed by the good pitchers on a regular basis..the last 10 games of this last year, he was flailing at all kinds of slop in an effort to hit his 30th HR..like that was going to validate his whole season & make me forget how big a brickhead he is.. in the process, he NEVER failed to hit into a DP or popup or K with the winning run on 3B.. he was godawful.. he has fallen into a very bad rut.. the pitchers have their book on him & he has failed to adjust.. i see more of the same for him this year... just like sheffield i expect declining numbers for konerko this year.. i would trade him in a minute..