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