Posted by: dougdinger () on Fri Apr 9 21:23:56 2004

Two seperate questions:
>
> 1) My problem (well, one of them) is that I hold
> my hands too high while waiting for the pitch.
> I've even brought them down from where they
> used to be, but as I find myself thinking about
> hip turn, front leg lift, applying THT and BHT,
> staying back in the box, and even a little about
> what pitch is coming and where it's going to
> be... and my hands are drifting higher and
> higher like an unanchored helium balloon. As
> a result, it's pretty tough to get a swing plane
> that has any incline to it when the bat's gotta
> come down from the fifth story first. I end up
> hitting a lot of ground balls, and since I run like
> a file cabinet, that's not so productive. Any
> suggestions? I've tried more of a Bonds-type
> hand position, but it feels awkward to me; I
> had some good results dropping my hands
> down at pre-launch, but the last thing I need is
> something ELSE to think about then. "Let's
> see, raise the leg, bring the hands down,
> make sure the hips are turning ahead of the
> bat... oh, the catcher's already throwing the
> ball back to the pitcher...".
>
> 2) It'd be great if I could take 60-75 swings per
> day at live pitches at various speeds with
> curves & sliders mixed in, but unfortunately I
> live in the real world. I have a job and don't
> have enough room in my basement or garage
> for a pitching machine. I have a little but of
> room, an old tire, and a cheap practice tee.
> What would be the most productive use of my
> time- beat on the tire like the heavy bag in the
> video? Hit off the tee? Buy one of those
> SwingAway, ball-on-a-rope
> swing-around-a-pole things, so it's sort of like
> live pitching? Spend five bucks every day
> going to the mini golf place to hit in their
> outdoor cages? Approach random people on
> the street to throw me live pitching (let's just
> say I don't have many friends that could get the
> ball over the plate much)?
>
> Matt

Sounds to me like you suffer from inconsistency. The best way to get better is to practice, and practice right. Bringing your hands down may feel awkward at first but with practice you'll get use to it. The entire rotational swing felt awkward at first when I first started to learn, but practicing makes it feel more and more natural. Make use of that tire, and tee. As a kid, I always swung around in my back yard and in front of the door as a mirror, and sometimes still do. If your friends can't throw strikes from the mound, they should be able to soft-tossing them from the side a few feet away. Have fun!