Posted by: Donny (donnybstr@aol.com) on Sat Aug 23 04:55:26 2003

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Hands are too far forward. The hands are back in the right position only if they are placed there with the shoulder load. I watch LLWS to see which kids pre-load or dynamically load their shoulders at or before toe touch. It is the national average of about 2 per team . I then watch to see how many are late to the ball or execute a weak swing with little bat speed. It is the same.

We are missing a vital thing here. IF the bat is not located in the same spot at toe touch each time then their can be no consistency. If the shoulders don't load then there will be diminsihed hip/ shoulder separation. Most kids will not load during the phase where the pitcher is breaking over. They wait until pitch recognition before loading if at all. Against fast pitching it is a glaring error making it impossible to hit for team average. ARod has his bat back and front foot down before the ball is half the way home. Watch to see where the ball is when these kids begin loading. also watch to see if the hands get back "hidden" to the same location before pitch recognition. IT is a no brainer.