Posted by: BHL (Knight1285@aol.com) on Wed Apr 7 14:07:59 2004

Hi Teacherman
>
> You quoted me as stating, “....."Although I have never advocated pulling the outside pitch, Ray may have thought I did"........Jack's words.” -- That is close, but what I actually said was, “Although I have never advocated TRYING to pull the outside pitch, Ray may have thought I did.” & “I have always maintained that regardless of pitch location, batters should practice timing their swings to hit the ball hard and straight-away (bat perpendicular to the path of the incoming ball). If the ball is met a little early - it will be hit to the pulled side - a little late – the ball is hit to the opposite field. The important thing is to hit the ball hard.”
>
> In other words, I have no problem with a rotational batter pulling outside pitches. I just do not think it best to try pulling all pitches. I have found that most of the hitters I have worked with generate more early bat speed by timing the swing to hit the ball straightaway. Moving the intended contact point back a few degrees makes the batter concentrate more on accelerating the bat-head back toward the catcher before rotating and directing their energy toward the ball.
>
> If the wider hand-path for outside pitches results in bat-head slightly trailing the hands at contact, they would still have generated enough bat speed to hit the ball hard to the opposite field – maybe enough to clear the fence. If the bat-head should have accelerated past the hands at contact, the ball will be hit hard to the pulled side.
>
> Jack Mankin
>
Hi Jack,

> Why not try to pull all pitches? The "natural" field dimensions have two benefits: 1) they are the shortest--other than the opposite field--and, 2) unlike the opposite field, the batter reaches maximum bat-speed by contact. Hit to the other fields, all these hits are outs.

Left-handed hitter Mel Ott took advantage of the short right field fence in the Polo Ground, and he pulled many of his pitches. Hit them to other fields, they are all out.

The pull field can turn a smart hitter who can hit 360 feet consistently to left field into a home run slugger. This hitter is not only using the proper mechanics for distance, but hitting them to the right part of the ballpark as well.

Who cares if the "hitting surface is dimished," as Ted Williams said in "The Science of Hitting." He said one thing--advising hitters against dead pull hitting, but did another, pulling every pitch he could. Ferroli said that "he pulled too much for his own good"...well, he pulled his away into the Hall of Fame.

Any person who does not take advantage of pulling every pitch is making a huge mistake. Sure, the surface is reduced, but the bat-speed obtained more than makes up for it. Even when one is jammed severely, it can end up over the fence, and I remember an occassion when Frank Thomas was jammed, broke his bat, and still hit the ball over the fence!

It's hard to argue against this proof!

Sincerely,
BHL
Knight1285@aol.com