Posted by: Jack Mankin (mrbatspeed@aol.com) on Sat Nov 22 14:49:37 2003

>>> Classifying Coach C as one who teaches linear mechanics if wrong in my opinion. I have sat face to face with him and have looked at the clips of his son and I just don’t see a linear hitting coach. The quandry I think is this: A full extension swing will hit the ball a long way. Guys in slow pitch softball hit the ball a mile using a full extension swing. It is the essence of a golf swing. The full extension swing feels very natural, so when you ask kids to swing for the fences or to challenge themselves with a bat speed meter, they will gravitate toward a full extension swing. Unfortunately, this is not the best swing to be successful hitting a baseball coming at you at a high rate of speed. After much time going down many paths I have come to the conclusion it is better to build a good swing first, with mechanics that will hold up as the player gets older. Once the mechanics are in place they can then add bat speed.

I don’t know if you have noticed it, but the commentary on this sight and the things being discussed in the past two months are at the highest level I have seen anywhere in a very long time. This is due to the contributions of yourself as well as a number of frequent contributors who know a heck of a lot about hitting, Coach C being one of them. <<<

Hi Nick

I have viewed many good slow pitch hitters and did not find them at full extension at contact. Some had the back-arm more extended than we see in the baseball swing. But this was due more to a higher swing plane used in slow pitch. Whenever a batter initiates the swing with the intention of getting the back-arm fully extended at contact, it results in the hands and lead-arm disconnecting from rotation (especially if the body is “quiet”) which generates a more linear hand-path and a less powerful swing.

Coach C has made many good contributions to the board and it is possible I may have misinterpreted some of his statements. But the essence of initiating a circular hand-path is to allow the hands to remain at the back-shoulder and have the power of body rotation swing (or fling) the hands into a circular path. So, when someone advocates “Keep the lower body quiet and be quick with the hands,” warning bells should begin to ring.

He then stated, “Jack the front shoulder is driven by the hands, whether they go linear or rotational. It's when the front shoulder leads that creates the problems.” A video of every good rotational swing will show the lead-shoulder starts to rotate before the hands accelerate. – Linear mechanics has the lead-shoulder “staying in-there” and “clearing out” as the hands come through. Coach C stated, “the front shoulder is driven by the hands.”

He also stated, “I don't believe McGwire ever used THT in his later years and yet hit it the ball farther than anyone, he also had a very quiet lower body as well. He had fast hands, would you agree with that?” This said to me that he does not believe that McGwire was pulling back with the top-hand to accelerate the bat-head back toward the catcher at initiation. Therefore, it would appear he meant by “fast hands” that McGwire’s hands were being fired forward while the lower body remained quiet.

Yes, I could have misinterpreted some of his statements. That is the problem with the written word. Maybe if I had the chance to discuss batting principles with him in person as you did, our positions may be much closer than it appears.

Jack Mankin