Posted by: george stanley (saint_george13@yahoo.com) on Tue Feb 19 10:30:16 2008

> > Coach says I am says i have my hands too far back behind my head at my stance. Is bat wrapping a bad thing?


MR. BAT WRAPPER:

the farther the bat has to travel BACKWARD before it begins its journey FORWARD means the more time it is going to take to ger to the ball..(assuming the bat is traveling at the same speed every swing)
assume you are looking at a mirror which is standing in the opposite batter's box... so you are looking at yourself..if the bat is cocked past the perpendicular,(that is,pointed toward the 2B man or SS depending on which side you are hitting), you will be catching up to the down/in pitch, but be late on other pitches in other spots.
julio franco has been reduced to looking for something out away from the plate... that is what he lives for... the only pitch he can now catch up to... away, away, away.. he is looking to dive out over the plate & drive an outside pitch to RF.. anything inside pretty much ties him up & leaves him looking ovematched, as he can NEVER get around on inside pitches...
basically to have such an exreme bias leaves you in a position to handle certain pitches in certain spots VERY WELL... but there is also a tradeoff- you are also vulnerable to a mjority of pitches in other spots.. so much so that statistically you have set yourself up to fail. you may be very successful for a while, but the pitchers will figure it out & start pounding you inside.. then it is up to you to make another adjustment to compensate for the pitchers' adjustment..it is still a game of adjustment especially at the MLB level.