Posted by: tom.guerry (tom.guerry@kp.org) on Tue Sep 26 09:04:05 2000

> RQL-
> > How did you figure out the importance of pulling the lead shoulder back ? THE BEST WAY TO DESCRIBE HOW I CAME UP WITH THE PULLING OF THE SHOULDER BACK WAS IF I KEPT MY SHOULDERS ROTATING AND THE EXTENSION THE SAME AS HOW I GOT OUT TO PULL THE BALL THAT WAS DOWN THE MIDDLE THEN BY THE TIME MY BAT HAD COME AROUND TO CONTACT THE INSIDE PITCH IT WAS EVEN FURTHER OUT FRONT FROM THE CHP AND THE ANGLE OF THE BAT AT CONTACT WAS HOOKING IT FOUL.IT WAS EASY TO SEE USING THE TEE AND WHERE I MADE CONTACT AND WHERE THE BALL WENT.TO KEEP IT FAIR I HAD TO MOVE THE BALL CLOSER AND MAKE THE HAND PATH TIGHTER THERE BY PULLING THE SHOULDER BACK HARDER TO GET THE BAT ANGLE TO KEEP IT FAIR.I HAVE SEEN DEREK JETER DO THIS ON A NUMBER OF OCCASSIONS AND LOOKS LIKE A CONSCIOUS ADJUSTMENT FOR HIM AND HE PULLED IT JUST INSIDE THE LINE WHERE OTHER TIMES I HAVE SEEN OTHER HITTERS MAKE THAT LONGER MORE FLUID SWING CATCH IT WAY OUT FRONT AND HOOK IT UP IN THE STANDS FOUL.THE BAT ANGLE AT CONTACT DECIDES WHERE THE BALL GOES I BELIEVE AND YOU HAVE TO LEARN THE CONTACT POINT AND BAT ANGLE TO KEEP IT FAIR OR YOU CAN JUST KEEP COMING AROUND FLUIDLY AND RIPPING LONG SHOTS FOUL.

RQL-
This sounds similar to my experience,see what you think.I was always a weight shift hitter-shifting weight from back to center or back to front and extending the arms.I hit with low power but good average,between 300 and 400 in HS and College.I was always trying to figure out how to hit with power,but would just hook the middle/in pitch foul when trying to pull.When I discovered Jack's info, I finally understood the right hand path to go with body rotation.You have to keep the hands in and keep rotating so the front shoulder is being pulled back at contact.The front arm needs to maintain connection to the shoulder turn and the hands need to hook in front of the body to maintain an arcing path until contact,not extending out to contact.My experience is that when you do this,not only does the ball stay fair,but power and contact both improve.
The next step along the path is to hit the outside pitch with similar mechanics.This is more difficult,but doable.In this case,I feel the same arm action,but launch is slightly delayed so the hands go slightly wider and hip/shoulder turn is less at contact,but power is still good because the back shoulder drives the top hand more(than on the inside pitch)and the ball goes more to the power alley since the angle at contact is more square(as opposed to the bat lagging more as on an inside out hit).
Have you tried using these refinements for the outside location?