Posted by: Coach C () on Thu Oct 30 00:38:47 2003

As a professional ballplayer (AA/AAA level), I spend a great deal of time working on my swing and studying. As I've begun to familiarize myself with the site, I have found a lot of things that I strongly agree with and only a few that I don't seem to grasp/like (don't know which one yet). However, I am fairly certain as I've studied the major league swing and my own swing, that the knee, hips, and shoulders do not go through the zone at the same time as what stated in the following: "Rotating around a stationary axis (neck and spine) is a "ground-up" movement where the knees, hips and shoulders all rotate in unison".
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> To me, hitting begins from the ground up. The soft front knee begins to turn which initiates the hip turn (around the axis) and the shoulder turn begins after that which releases the hands in an explosive, circular path towards the hitting zone. I know I'm splitting hairs here but the concept that all fly in unision just doesn't fly with me.


When you throw a ball it's a ground up movement as well, but do you think turn the front knee, crank hips, follow shoulders, then arm and then hand? I say this because I believe the lower body serves as a platform in which to turn the torso. Drop and drive, or crank the hips will often times disconnect the upper half from the lower half. It's critical to feel the connection of the lower half to the upper half, which makes it a ground up movement, but only because the lower body is fighting to maintain balance. However, what kills many a hitter is the loose linkage between the lower half and the upper half. This is why fly in unison can be an excellent que. Video will always show hips before shoulders in pitching or in hitting, but I wouldn't want to teach it that way, because it's likely to lead to pulling off the ball, and poor balance.

What are your thoughts on bat lag?

Coach C