Posted by: Jack Mankin (mrbatspeed@aol.com) on Wed Jan 14 09:25:07 2004

>>> What do you think is the reason many of the best hitters can be found (occasionally and in some cases routinely) with their back foot off the ground at contact?

As an aside, many great hitters had very long strides, including the Babe, Mantle and Mays. Tendency in recent years is for shorter stride length, but it worked for many Hall of Famers. <<<

Hi Nick

A longer stride with more linear movement of the axis prior to rotation would tend to cause the back-foot come of the ground more than a soft or no-stride approach. The length of a batter’s stride is more a matter of the batter’s Style and I could not find an absolute rule for an optimum length. As you pointed out, many of the great hitters found a longer stride more to their liking whereas many others found a short or no-stride worked best for them.

Jack Mankin