Posted by: Coach C () on Mon Aug 25 21:39:14 2003

Jack I have seen on the message board that the swing is a slight upercut by the great hitters. I was always taught to focus on the top half of the ball. What do the great hitters focus on when rotating to the ball ? I hope you don't say I see the ball I hit the ball. 90% of the young hitters I have worked with when they swing and miss are under the ball, I have always told them to focus on the top half and it seems to resolve the problem. I guess I am struggling on what to tell those same kids that appear to be under it but yet they are suppose to be swinging up at it.
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> Hi
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> Swing plane is a product of posture when rotation begins. The hands have nothing to do with it. Or said a better way, if you are depending on the hands to set swing plane, the swing plane won't really matter because a hands-controlled swing won't ever generate the bat speed needed to hit consistently.
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> You don't stand there and try to manipulate the bat like a magic wand onto the path of the ball.
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> Which I suspect is what is happening with the person who first put the message.
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> In teaching children, swing plane is a minor point. Most of them need to learn to rotate the bat into an impact bag. Then you can work on posture, which will set the swing plane, and it should be slightly up from the moment the front shoulder begins rotating around toward the catcher.
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> If a child has good rotation, correct posture and some talent, the swing plane will take care of itself
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> If those mechanics aren't there, forget swing plane. It won't do anyone any good.
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> You can't stand there and say "They are missing under, so they need to swing down." It's more complicated than that.
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> Melvin

Melvin,

I'm gonna suppose that you are a great hitter, in hopes that you understand this. If the rear elbow does not slot, nothing else matters cause it's a hand swing. When the rear elbow slots, as a rule the swing will work. When kids are to ask to have an upswing, very few will drop the elbow into the slot (down and slightly under move). I have always felt that the rear arm sets the plane of my swing. In an effort to feel the slot most people will exagerate the swing down, then when the feel it they revert back to a flatter swing plane. I think swing plane is everything and in fact Joe Morgan has done much commentary on this same subject on ESPN (I'm not saying he is right , but he thinks he is). While it is my belief that the lower body can change the swing plane, consider this. If I swing down (tomahawk chop) does my back leg stay tall or collapse. Now if I swing up to the sky what will my back leg do. The upper torso sets the swing plane and the lower body fights to support that motion. Through out history many major leaguers have developed a downswing (Aaron, Pujols, Sheffield, Musial, etc.) with the back foot coming off the ground. I don't believe they had or have the notion of working the front shoulder up during the swing, in fact they want it to go down first. Now many others have made the move you speak of, the one constant is they all get to the slot. The slot works whether we swing up or down. Learning it down is easier to teach to kids that struggle with bat control. As a hitting instructor the first thing I look for is swing plane. Golf is light years ahead of baseball in my view. Golf's been teaching swing plane for decades. For me the bulk of my power comes from the waist up. As for the magic wand analogy, I give you Rod Carew, Tony Gwynn and Wade Boggs. I'm not coming down on you, just asking you to explain what drives rotation.....the legs or the slot?

How one arrives in the slot, will naturally set the proper shoulder tilt for that swing. If I swing down the shoulders stay more level, if I swing up the backside shoulder works down and under. This is not a hand dominated approach, in fact my hands just hold on. Your thoughts? Teaching kids to swing down gives them a better chance to discover their slot, then after that it's up to them based on the type of hitter they want to be.

Respectfully,

Coach C