Posted by: toti () on Thu Dec 4 07:49:28 2003

Watch his stride. Don't know if the pitcher is RH or LH but he strides from middle to closed probably before total pitch recognition or the ball tailed in. The catcher is reaching way in to receive the inside pitch it appears. From a closed stance landing he had to cross fire over his body to reach the pitch. Do you guys recommend closing off the front side like that or would you rather see him stride back to the center line. It seems that landing the hips closed each time would cause problems even with the bat launch. Did the pitcher notice this and come inside? Do the other coaches consider this his weakness. A flaw or not ?

great point,

i see that too. he is almost stepping on the chalk there and he got and inside pitch and had to adjust. what we are seeing in the clip is the adjustment to an uncomfortable pitch thrown inside. probably the pithcer saw his closed stride and tried to burned him inside. this is usually the problem with the closed stride, you have to be athletically gifted to adjust in. i couldn´t do that. if he could hit a homerun out of that pitch he is good. i still wonder how he could keep this one fair. i usually hit this balls far but foul. i hook them. i would have foul off this pithc. i stride open and stand with my back foot almost on the chalck line. it is a style thing. again i could always get burned outside but it is my choice.
it is hard to keep inside pitches fair, specially off speed.

thanks a great post.