Posted by: dougdinger () on Wed Jul 30 19:47:54 2003

i'm going to be a jr. in high school this year,and i want to be at the top of my game by this spring. my question is my swing. when i swing with linear mechanics i make contact most of the time,but when i swing with rotational mechanics i have more power but the pitches i hit the most consistant are the low fastballs and curves. So should i work harder on the rotational mechanics or just take the easy way out and use linear mechanics. (when i throw my hands at the ball i usually inside out but with rotational i don't) I am a die hard baseball fanatic and my dream is to play pro baseball and i feel the only way i can accomplish that is to get maximum performance. If anyone can give me and opinion i would really appretiate it.
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> Swingman, I don't really know what linear mechanics are, but rotational mechanics are what most major league players use. If you have good pitch selection at the plate it will really help you. Until you have two strikes, look for a pitch in your happy area and don't swing if it is not there. Your goal should be to get 4-6 fastballs in 4 AB's and if you hit two of them hard you will be successful. It takes patience to do this, but then again it takes patience to become a good hitter too. Work hard on your rotational mechanics and get a good fastball to hit.
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> Doug

I don't see how Doug doesn't understand what linear mechanics are, but knows what rotational mechanics are.
As for Swingman if you make as good contact rotational as you do linear, then work on rotational. If you aren't then stick to linear. If you can only hit low fastballs and curves with rotational, then at the pro level, you won't see any curves or low fastballs. You'll likely see nothing but high fastballs until you learn to hit high fastballs.
You have a situation here. You do certain things with one technique, and you do other things with another technique. Find the technique that best works for you. And remember, contact is more important than power. You won't hit if you can't make contact. You have to hit the ball first before it goes over the fence, or in the gap, or up the middle.

Ted Williams, in his book, says to experiment. Try different things, different bats, different stances, etc.
And good luck!