Posted by: Jack Mankin (MrBatspeed@aol.com) on Mon Jan 28 11:36:19 2008

>>> During my games i have been hitting the ball to left field ( i bat lefty) field a lot and it usually is a pop-up or a hard ground ball. It is always opposite field though. i have been told this is because i slice during my swing. how do i fix this? What techniques or drills will help me get my swing back on track? <<<

Hi Nate

When a batter is continually hitting foul balls to the right side it means the bat-head is trailing too far behind the hands at contact. This is due more to their swing mechanics than timing. The mechanics taught by many coaches has the batter quickly extending the hands toward the ball. This linear theory relies on a whipping action that is supposed to occur as the hands near full extension.

However, a whipping action of the bat-head (pendulum or flailing effect) only occurs when the hands are accelerated in a circular path (like swinging a ball on a string). With a straight hand-path, the bat-head just trails behind the hands and the batter must then try to bring the bat-head around by driving their top-hand past their bottom-hand (torque). This type of mechanics requires strong arms to attain even moderate bat-head acceleration, and that is why batters using these mechanics have limited power (especially to the opposite field) even with lighter bats.

Nate, I would suggest you would better reach your potential at the plate by practicing rotational transfer principles. Rotational mechanics use the larger muscles in your legs and torso to fling the hands into a circular path. You would then be swinging the bat-head around with those larger muscles rather than trying to muscle the bat with your arms.

Here is a link to another post I wrote than may relate to the problems you describe with your swing.

No power to the opposite field

Jack Mankin