Posted by: () on Mon Dec 15 14:12:14 2003

Yo Rich, thanks for your reply regarding palm orientation & wrist roll. Please elaborate upon using front arm to get plane of bat on same plane as ball to eliminate pop-ups
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> ........getting on plane with a high pitch probably has more to do with posture than anything else. In other words, for an UP pitch you should be more vertical or chest should be more upright on the axis and then just rotate the same old way. It is probably easier to hit an Up pitch than down -- to me.
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> The reason so many hit pop-ups is because "they dip the back shoulder" and guess what -- the bat head drops way below the hands. Can you spell U-P-P-E-R-C-U-T. That's why rotational hitting will never catch on in fastpitch as long as there is a R-I-S-E-B-A-L-L.....

Hi Folks

Jenny wrote that an uppercut is when "the bat head drops way below the hands."

Jenny, is it possible for a batter to hit a pitch below shoulder level with the bat head above the hands? If so, please describe this technique.

Also, please describe how the batting technique of the University of California's first base player last year satisfies the definition of a linear swing. You might remember her. She was walked intentiaonally in almost every at bat in the College World Series. The few times they pitched to her, she homered.

Answer the following: 1) do her hands begin in a perpindicular path to the ball? 2) does the initiate the swing with rotation or hand pushing? 3)does she rotate under a stationary axis?

Jenny, the answer to all three questions is yes. That makes her a rotational hitter.

I played last year against the Nebraska North Americans, a top 20 men's fastpitch team that travels every weekend and draws big crowds. I saw them play against another top 20 team. Half the lineup of both teams used a rotational swing. They even hit rise balls doing it.

Your statements are incorrect.

Melvin