Posted by: Doug () on Thu Sep 18 22:14:36 2003

I've been taught by proffesional scouts to step and have my foot down before the pitcher has released the ball. I have had success with this because it gives me greater pitch awarness. I'd like to hear some of yalls thoughts on that. Also I've had a problem with keeping my front foot closed, even to the 45 degree mark. It tends to open up quite a bit, I was wondering if yall could help on that.
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> > Eastfield Harvester Baseball
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> In pitching you load, step , and throw. In hitting , you load, step and swing. Where the weight is in the phases, when each players does these actions, and where the bat is positioned at toe touch etc. etc. are the subjects of 100s of pages of text and rightfully so.
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> IMO proper upper body mechanics concerning centering of the bat, scap pinch/ inward turn do affect how the hips open.
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> I totally agree that getting the front foot down too late is an all too common problem for hitters. They end up swinging during their stride and the front foot can't assist in firing the hips open hence, they are late or powerless.

Donny, Have to disagree. Most amatuer hitters get their foot down way too early, not late. I have never seen a hitter swing while his lead foot was still in the air, but I have seen thousands be way too early and they lunge and it causes a power loss. Where the bat is positioned at footplant does not take 1000 pages of text. It just takes about 10-15 clips of the best hitters to show that their hands are at the back shoulder in height at footplant.

Doug