Posted by: RQL () on Wed Jan 14 19:16:36 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?
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> 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. <<<
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> Hi Nick
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> 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.
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> Jack Mankin
> >>>>Jack I believe some speed can be enhanced by striding linear then going rotatinal all I can say about why Is that all balls that I hit out in my tee work come with a stride,none from no stride.It seems like the running start you get from tht as you have referred.Why do they not take big hard strides,because hitting is not all about batspeed,it is about precision bat ball contact at varying speeds and it is much harder to adjust with hard weight shifts,yet more than enough speed can be generated with a soft stride and more timing.