Posted by: dougdinger () on Sun Feb 22 13:11:31 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.
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> Hi Doug and Dougdinger,
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> 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.
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> 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).
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> So, I guess if you guys are saying the only thing that counts is the final blast, I'd agree whole-heartedly.
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> Cheers!
> BHL
> Knight1285@aol.com

Yes, the result is what really matters, but not necessarily a "blast" is important in hitting.
What both of us Dougs are saying is that there are just so many ways to get good results. Many factors, like size, strength, technique, quickness, the pitch speed, location, hitting situations like advancing a runner to 3rd base which doesn't necessarily require a final "blast", just something hit to the right side of the field. Pitch movement. And you can go into subfactors, like for mechanics. Like more hips, less hand movement, crouched down or standing up swing, long/short arm path, and those sub-factors are all linked to the other factors-longers arms will lead to a longer hand path.
I don't think that leading the swing with the hips is used by every good hitter. In Tony Gwynn's book he says he uses the cue "throw the batknob to the ball", he says he starts with his hands and doesn't do anything at all with the hips. And it works great for him! He's pretty large, but he definately doesn't crush the ball, but he's always hit better than 300 and rarely strikes out and will be in the Hall of Fame some day. I think that all productive hitters only have one thing in common, balance! It could mean weight at 50-50 for you, it could be keeping weight over my back leg for me!
I sort of agree with what you said every hitter's goal should be. Accelarating the bat 75+MPH, inline, homerun power. But Johnny Damon doesn't have homerun power. He just hits hard enough, and hard enough in the Majors is still pretty hard compared to most peoples hardest swings, even mine. So I think you might mean everyone's goal to be more like "hard, consistent contact":)