Posted by: Rich (Holland608@cs.com) on Sun Jun 29 21:01:56 2003

I have read the Rotational vs. Linear arguements on this site and I see that my 13 year old son may benefit from using the Rotational approach. He cannot pull an inside pitch as a result of slow bat speed.
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> > However, how can I explain this to him or what drills can promote this? I think it might be hard for him to make this change by me just telling him you have to stop bringing your hands forward and you should pull your bottom hand and push with your top hand. Any ideas on drills or a better way to explain this to him.
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> > Thanks,
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> > Rob
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> Read the "Fence Drill and Inertia" article in the research section. It may help. Or try setting up a tee so he has to hit inside pitches and go through the mechanics slowly first, and see how he does.

Hey Rob,
First please don't tell your son to push with his top hand. that will cause him to cast and lose his connection to the rotating torso. here's something that i've used with my daughter and it helped her to
"see" how to execute bottom hand torque. have your son sit on a box that is tall enough so his thighs are parallel to the ground. with bat in hand and sitting have him get his upper body into his stance.
in slow motion have him drop his back elbow to his side as he begins his shoulder rotation. when his back forearm is parallel to the floor and has come in contact with his thigh stop... at this point he should have come from slightly bent over in his initial stance to sitting pretty straight up. now if he rotates his lead shoulder past parallel with his hips and at the same time tilts his upper torso back slightly you and he will notice that the top hand stays stationary and the bottom hand pulls the knob back by virture of the extra rotation and the tilt back. during this whole drill the knees remain facing forward... this drill will not duplicate the actual swing but will show your son how the front shoulder pull and tilt actually pull the bat head thru the strike zone. the hands are only holding the bat,and loosely i might add, and at no time in the swing do the go toward the ball on their own... the hands are brought to the ball by the rotating shoulders. the hands job is to get the bat on the same plane as the incoming ball and that's it. they do extend out slightly on middle outside pitches... hopes this helps. Rich