Posted by: Coach C () on Tue Aug 19 07:16:39 2003

Hi Jack.
>
> Earlier this summer I asked you if you thought a hitter's weight should be against the inside of the rear thigh at contact, and you disagreed, saying that it should be against the the front thigh. Pardon me, but I would have to take exception to your logic on this issue. Let me validate my point.
>
> In baseball, many pitches are thrown between the waist and the knees. If you do not dip your back shoulder, and sit on your back leg, the weight distribution on your back side will be equal to the weight distribution on your front side. You will lunge, and swing down at pitches going down. Off course, you could also choose to uppercut these pitches, but the angle of intersection with the ball on an uppercut is significantly less than one who implements the slight upswing.
>
> Therefore, on middle-in pitches going down, one must dip their back shoulder, and tuck the rear elbow in. You must not overlook that the rear elbow works up, preventing a person from lunging, and forcing him to rotate around a stationary axis. That means you start with the weight on the inside of the rear thigh. But what happens when you drop the back shoulder, tuck the back elbow, and force the lead elbow up? The weight shifts to the back of the rear thigh!
>
> This is what Mike Epstein called "tilting to avoid the tilt." In other words, you must tilt if you are going to get on the plane of the low pitch. And it can only be accomplished by having the weight situated against the rear thigh. Now your bat is positioned perfectly to execute an upswing flush into the pitch.
>
> Please respond ASAP with your opinion; I gave you my enlightened one.
>
> Sincerely,
> BHL
> Knight1285@aol.com


BHL,

If I had to a pick a poster child for this theory I'd have to choose Bagwell. Certainly no one is going dispute the fact that he's a great hitter and to be sure there are many others that do the same thing. However in searching for the Holy Grail one must keep an open mind to all hitting theories. There is no question that there have been others who swing it differently. I would not put Palmeiro, Ichiro, Griffey or Edgar Martinez into your sitting on the back leg theory.
For many of us, including myself, who have made fundamental swing changes or modifications over the years, one thing we have discovered is that there are different approaches that work. Finding the one that suits you is the key. It's clear that you've found one that suits you and that's great.

I understand your point fully and believe that approach can work, but I'm not sure you're undestanding Jacks' theory as I understand it. His theory works also. Heck I could swing between my legs and that could work, but we're all searching for something that's most efficient. Then after we find it, we go with it and see if it stands up to the pressures of the game. If you hit under .1000 you're system is flawed, which makes all of us in search of the Holy Grail.

Good Luck GrassHopper

Coach C