Posted by: Coach C () on Fri Dec 12 15:56:17 2003

have any of you guys tried this? because it feels good and helps stay close and connected. i have improved a lot since i do it.
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> > > has anybody got anything against rotating on the heel? it seems most major leaguers doit. jeter for example. he strides closed and then opens up and rotates onthe heel. manny too.
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> > > thanks toti
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> > I assume you mean the front heel. The answer is yes. When you rotate on the front heel, you are hitting against the leg, which encourages rotation. Or to say it another way, you are taking more of the weight in the hip socket, rather than the front knee.....which will often give way and promote sway. Good job Toti....I can see your hard work is paying off.
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> > A lot of great hitters hit between (or against) the legs, not on top of them. I don't like the term weight back. My set up is 50/50 and it's one small stride to the ball. Any forward move to the ball will stop as the lead hip absorbes the weight. When I stride I land toe/heel together for the most part. If I think toe touch first then I feel I would be spinning on the toe (thus spinning/or swaying my hips), rather than rotating on the heel, which puts the hips in the best possible position for true rotation around the center axis.
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> > Good Luck,
> > Coach C
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> I personally feet that your weight should be on the balls of the feet even during rotation. Could you explain how you rotate on your front heel? I can't imagine this!

Fair question. Review Bonds clip #2 (Front shot) and Griffey clip #5 (side shot), at contact they're pivoting more on the front heel.

http://www.youthbaseballcoaching.com/swings.html

This puts them with their weight against (inside the leg) the leg and not on top of it. If you pivot on the ball of the foot the hips will sway or essentially spin. How one does this is one of the secrets to pure rotation principles in my opinion. The trick is to absorb the weight in the hip socket and not the knee socket. When the lead hip socket absorbs the weight rotation becomes violent and then the knee will lock from rotation and not from forward weight shift. Most hitters have trouble keeping head over center as well (because they carry too much weight on the toes.....thus the head counter balances my leaning over and changing the spine angle during the stroke. I do not agree with the weight on the toes at all, it's weight between ball of foot and heel at foot landing, even though in some cases the toe will win the race to the ground. If I guard you in basketball I want weight between ball of foot and heel and the feet flared out, never strictly on the ball of the feet (toes pointed forward). On a side note (not related to baseball), Labron James' God given talent is he's bowlegged with feet naturally flared out, so his weight is always between the feet, or in this case the heel and toe. Great athletes pivot between the heel and toe, but for those learning, emphasis on the heel is a good start if it doesn't go too much that way. This is my opinion of course, so do what you have to. (Sorry I love basketball too!)

I think Toti is very observant and has already noticed the difference, of which I'm not surprised.

Good Luck,

Coach C