Posted by: toti (ho) on Sat Dec 13 04:19:58 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.
> > > >
> > > > 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
> > >
> > > 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.
> > >
> > > 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.
> > >
> > >
> > > Good Luck,
> > > Coach C
> >
> > 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!
>
> Toti, you might have something here. Take a look at this site for some clips. http://www.youthbaseballcoaching.com/swings.html
> Look at the following where you can see the front foot
> Bonds #4; Giambi #1 Griffey #5 Renteria #1; and Sosa #6
> These guys are in fact on their front heel. Kajun Coach you need to take a look too.

thanks to Alan, and Coach C;

i have been studying these clips for months on end and couldn´t get the trick until recently. i read a jack mankin post in which he literally said he had had great success with his pupils by making them rotate on the front heel. so i took my wiffle machine and went out and tried it and it clicked! that was what was missing in my rotational swing. right now i am in the middle of adjusting to this "new" found secret. it works, period. that´s what jeter, sosa, etc do. for the life of me i could never understand why all this greathitters strode closed. it seemed like a contradiction but in fact if made a lot of sense. they remained closed and opened up explosively in last moment, by rotating on the heel! Eureka!

now it all makes sense. the explosion of hips that you get is mean and destructive. you are able to really use the legs(Good old Epstein was right all this time, how could doubt him for a minute!), and incorporate a mean, mean hip turn into the swing. it is all trial and error baby. funny thing is it was happening in front of my eyes and couldn´t see it. i always wondered why major leaguers front foot swayed open like out of control upon contact. now i know. the bat speed you get this way is huge. i cant wait to start the season.




toti, the enlighted