Posted by: Graylon (g_dunc@hotmail.com) on Sat Jan 12 16:38:54 2008

> Let me clarify... my son wasn't stepping in the bucket, so my exercise of "setup as if the SS is pitching to you (w/ your feet and shoulders on that line)" was a bit inaccurate. Rather, stride towards the pitcher on the mound, but open your front foot and lead knee more towards SS. It has a way of making you pull off the ball and slice the bat across the path of the pitch.
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> > My son struggled w/ this a couple years ago too when he was 11. I did video tape him and saw that, more often than not, he was committing his hips too soon by striding w/ his front foot > 45 degrees open (sometimes approaching 90 degrees!). When he did this, he'd land so far open that his body was setup as if he was aiming towards SS. But seeing he was still trying to hit line drives up the middle from that angle, he'd often either slice popups to RCF or RF or hit hard grounders to SS.
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> > Try it yourself... setup as if the SS is pitching to you (w/ your feet and shoulders on that line). Now have someone pitch to you from the mound.
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> > To address this, no stride may help, or at least a more conscious effort to land w/ the stride foot (and front knee) closed, letting rotation open it.
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> > Good luck.

Sandman,

The opening of the front foot and knee is desirable, this gets your front hip opening allowing seperation between the lower and upper body.

The statement "let rotation open it" is the problem this will cause you to power the swing with your shoulders which can cause you to cast your hands away from your body creating an outside in swing which will make you swing outside in slicing through the ball and keep you from squaring the bat to the ball.

The opening of the front hip along with keeping the front shoulder closed and turning the barrel rearward and then turning the bat around your hands to the ball will help you to square the bat to the ball.

Graylon