Posted by: Mark H. (mark_h45@hotmail.com) on Fri Oct 31 10:49:12 2003

The concept of hitting in professional baseball is taught from a number of different perspectives, but just like everywhere else, most everyone's opinions are shaped by their experiences. Throughout this site you find the commentary of Tony Gwynn on a Barry Bonds swing, his commentary illustrates my point. Gwynn tries to see Bonds through his swing and his experiences instead of looking at him objectively. Gwynn, a slap guy who was very very effective I might add, was seeing Bonds through his lens and his comments about Bonds were the things that Gwynn actually did in his swing (not saying that his comments are wrong).
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> I also must be very careful about what I say here since I am still trying to make a career out of this. I can say this (since he is no longer with us or associated with pro baseball): I had Willie Wilson as a hitting coach, and I must say first that this man was an incredibly talented baseball player. He won a Silver Bat and a World Series so we must have full respect for his accomplishments; however, his ability to effectively communicate the swing to us was not commensurate with his own hitting ability. He would just tell us "Stay Back & Use the Hands". That doesn't necessarily mean anything to me. What is "stay back"? And the more focus I put on the hands the more I lost my batspeed. I had another coach, Steve Scarsone, a utility guy with the Giants in the mid-90's. An excellent manager who helped me so much one day by telling me that I had lost my perpindicular load and that is why I was not hitting.
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> My point is this: just because they could swing it doesn't mean they can effectively communicate it. Half of us don't even realize what we do when we do it. Our big league hitting coach right now is Rick Schu. I had Schuey as a AAA hitting coach and as a roving hitting coordinator. This man loves video review and he understands the art. He helped me with my counterrotation problem and that is when I begin to develop a scap load instead. I was counterrotating so much that my back was almost to the pitcher (oops!). Anyway, just like everywhere else, there are men who know and men who don't. To me, the most important thing is that I know my own swing and have an inner circle of people that I trust with it.
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> To expand on my own struggles though, I will tell you that I am too tall at contact. I think this is a little man's complex, and it has often caused me to come down on a stiff front side which inhibits hip rotation. When I do this, I foul balls off to the right side and I pop up to right and first base. This also creates an extremely severe bat angle which I believe costs me some power. My goal this offseason will be to sit more down in my swing which I believe will increase the "L" in my back leg and the "L" in my top arm at contact, and it will stop that infernal popping up to the right side. I also want to maximize shoulder rotation. I'm not even sure where I'm at in that, but I will find out as soon as I start hitting again in a couple of weeks.
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> Hope that stuff is of interest!

You are an interesting addition to the board and have apparently read much of the same things I have read. Or you were just smart enough to figure out some things like counter rotation vs scap load on your own. Personally I had to have it explained to me :). Keep it up. And may you find success in your baseball career.