Posted by: Jack Mankin (mrbatspeed@aol.com) on Tue Apr 13 23:44:11 2004

>>> I believe that Jack information has benefitted a variety of individuals, possessing hetereogeneous skill levels and statures. Yet, there are three of pointers might prove detrimental to the development of a player. They include 1) putting little emphasis on the importance of the stretch position; 2) dismissing the importance of sitting on the back leg; and, finally, 3) failing to recognize the need to get the front heel planted on time.



Jack contends that focusing on cues that overemphasize the hips leading the hands can cause the batter to forget about swinging the bat-head in an arc. Rather, he opines that if a batter allows the bat to arc back towards the catcher, inertia will cause the seperation that will allow the hips to lead to hands.

Secondly, I read posts where he argues against hinging the rear leg more for low pitches. Contrariwise, he believes that swings are best handled by the batter adjusting the swing plane to a more vertical one.

Finally, his "cue" for bat acceleration is "rotate the heel, rotate the bathead." According to Jack, this "cue" helps the batter use to front leg to assist rotation in a more productive manner than if the heel were just dropped straight down.

However, allowing inertia to cause the hips to rotate ahead of hands causes a very slow swing. If, on the other hand, the batter opens the bottom half, while closing the top half, both halves will spring forward, almost instantaneously. The better connection will cause the lower body to cause the shoulders to rotate much more effectively using this method.

As for Jack's advice to maintain the same posture while hitting, here is what Ted Williams and John Underwood have to say on the subject:

"To get the maximum hitting surface of the bat through the longest possible impact zone you are better off bending your knees and dropping down. The angle of the bat at impact is much sharper when you're up high trying to uppercur. The plane of the swing intersects the downward flight of the ball over a shortened area. You want the opposite" ("The Science of Hitting").

Lastly, one can spin the heel all he or she once, but until the heel drops, no rotations occur. This is seen in the "Final Arc II," where Elliot's rotation begins at front heel plant. A better "cue" might be "open the foot, drop the heel, rotate the bat-head."

Other than that, I think the rest of Jack's instructional "cues" are just fine.

BHL <<<

Hi BHL

First let me say, you’re encouraging young hitters to pull outside pitches is definitely “detrimental to the development of a player.” There are a number of professional hitters with sound rotational mechanics (THT) that can successfully pull outside pitches. However, most hitters, especially young hitters, have a tendency to use more linear mechanics on outside pitches and your recommendation of pulling everything will lead them to many disappointments.

I must also point out that your post misrepresents many of my batting principles. I am not sure how many hitters you have worked with to test your ideas, but hundreds of video swing reviews show that the principles presented on this site (and in my instructional video) are working just fine.

Jack Mankin