Posted by: BHL (Knight1285@aol.com) on Sat Feb 21 22:09:21 2004

BHL, I have to disagree about the cues you mentioned that Jack uses. Cues are different for all hitters.......you might use a cue with a hitter that is very familiar with you that gets a quality result, and I might use a cue that is different from yours that gets the same result with my player.
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> > As far as where the front foot lands and how many degrees is right.......it is different for many fine hitters. George Brett landed closed and many times stayed there. Barry Bonds lands at about 45 degrees sometimes and sometimes he does not. It depends many times on the pitch and the location of the pitch on how closed or opend the front foot lands. I have many hours of film on some of the very best hitters over the years, and can find some swings that change very much in most of them. Front foot rolling over and then not rolling over etc.
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> > We can study a clip of a great hitter, but it is IMO better to study about 20 different clips of 20 different hitters and you will then find only a few absolutes.
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> > Doug
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> True. Everyone is different. I think it would be insane to copy someone elses swing, since we all have different size and strength. I have a Jimmy Rollins build and it would be really crazy if tried to imitate a Pujols or a Bonds swing. In fact, I don't even have a Rollins swing, I have my own and it works for me. With different swings and techniques it makes sense to have different cues.
> There's an old cue that goes "swing thru the ball", and I believe in an old post Jack disagrees with the cue saying that it will cause linear movement at or around contact and will result in pushing at the ball. After I read that I found myself swinging with no follow-thru, no full hip and shoulder rotation and my hit balls would have sidespin instead of backspin and the ball wouldn't travel far, they would tail and drop. I've been wondering why I only have a couple doubles in the last 5 years, just singles, and one lucky homerun. So I'll be using the cue starting this season. I think Jack would agree more with the cue "apply torque through the ball", but that sounds too scientific to me, I prefer the old cue. There's a reason why the cue is so popular, cause it works.

Hi Doug and Dougdinger,

Salutations to you both! Actually, if you watch the Major Leagues, there seems to be only one absolute amongst productive hitters: the hips lead the hands. These hitters also follow other trends, such as not watching the ball hit the bat. Some might also find it necessary to follow a Epstein "cue" (Jack's going to love this one!), and turn the front shoulder down and in at launch, but have it travel up and away at initiation. So, you both might be rights--"cues" are dictated by preference.

What should be every hitter's goal then? I believe it should be to accelerate a heavy bat 75+ mph on the trajectory to afford hitters--even the small ones--home run power. I've seen some Dominicans at 5'8" and 135 lbs. hit balls 400+ feet, due to the mechanics they use. However, not all understand how to apply THT on outside pitches, and struggle as a result. VCR frame-by-frame shots depict this rather vividly. But the main objective is the final result, and not the aesthetics of the swing (I've seen some examples of ugly swings mentioned on Mike's site, but they are powerful, so that is all that matters).

So, I guess if you guys are saying the only thing that counts is the final blast, I'd agree whole-heartedly.

Cheers!
BHL
Knight1285@aol.com