Posted by: KSTEVENS () on Tue Mar 30 08:46:32 2004

Phil,

I appreciate your input, however, I think you're confused about a few things. Beginning with your belief that one has to play the game to figure out that center is the longest part of the field. Maybe you had to "step into the box" to figure this one out, but most of us "observant" people don't have to. Although, who am I to criticize someone for being a little slower than the rest of us. You must be what they call a tactile learner.

And... for someone who had to "play the game" to figure out that center is the longest part of the field, you seem to know quite a bit about myself. Yes, I have taken the time to read EACH and every post on this topic, and yes, I was able to spare the 30 seconds that it took me to digest them.

So, now that we have that straight, I would like to explain to you why I believe that this philosophy is flawed, and why I believe that major league hitters don't use it. First of all, I've sat back as you so called "coaches" have supplied your solutions to the obvious problems in this "Power Field Orientation" theory. So far the problems that have been posed are as follows:

"How does one hit an offspeed pitch if they have the mentatlity to pull every pitch."

and...

"How does one hit an outside pitch if they have the mentality to pull."

The responses to these questions (if you can call them that) have done little in the way of supplying actual evidence that supports this theory. Yes, the hitter would be able to hit an inside pitch, and NO he would not be able to CONSISTENTLY hit an outside pitch or breaking pitch. And here is why...

As I said earlier, 99% of the time if a batter attempts to pull an outside pitch he will not drive the ball, but rather hit a weak ground ball. Don't tell me that this is not true, because I see it every time I turn on the television and watch a baseball game. As far as a breaking pitch, ask any high level player and they will tell you that they always look to hit the ball to the center of the field. This allows them to wait back on the breaking ball and drive it. It also allows them to maintain an inside bat path and keep the hands on the same rotational path as the hips.

The biggest problem that I see with this philosophy, and I am not going to get into the physics of it, is that it goes against the principles of maximizing batspeed. In order to have maximum batspeed, the hands and hips must be on the same rotational path during the swing. This means that on an outside pitch the hitter generally hits the ball later than on a pitch middle in. I think we can all agree with this, although there may be a few exceptions. So, regardless of pitch location, the hands and hips rotate together. Therefore, if one were to employ this new philosophy, they would have to make contact on the outside pitch out in front to successfully pull it down the line. This causes the hands to separate from the rotational path of the hips.

Unless... we were to move in closer to the play as several of you have suggested. Yes, this may work for some hitters, but I would guess that 100% of us on this site are not coaching major league players. I can't imagine trying to teach this philosphy to a 12 year old kid. There are no kids at this age, or even high school, that are considered the guys that just hit homeruns as is the case in the major leagues. When does a player reach the point when they should start employing this "Powerfield Orientation" philosophy? 18? 20? 25?

And...BHL, I would like to point out that baseball is quite different from slowpitch softball. Anybody can wait back on a ball coming in at 10 mph and pull it down the line. So, Phil, if we have to "play the game" to understand this philosophy, than surely you can agree that BHL's new philosophy has no merit. Right?

Sincerely,
KSTEVENS