Posted by: Greg Stokes (gregstokes@adelphia.net) on Mon May 10 07:28:01 2004

I started teaching the "basics" of rotational swing mechanics to my son age age 8. I went with the theory that its never too early. He is now ten and has moved to the "major" level in our little league program. His swing looks great and he has had a lot of success in his first 3 games. He actually hit a homerun in his 2nd AB of the season off a 12 yr old pitcher. By the way, the credit for his hitting ability is not due to outstanding athletic ability, I would consider him at this point very average. I believe his hitting ability is due to rotational mechanics and Jack Mankins "the final arc" video. Having said this.... He has been slumping a bit for the past few games. His swing still looks great but he is swinging and missing a lot. I noticed yesterday (at bp) that he looked to be too far from the plate. When he gets in the box, I noticed that he completely extends his arms to check plate coverage with his bat. I told him that with his rotational swing, he doesn't extend his arms like a linear hitter does and therefore, he is only covering half the plate. Shouldn't a hitter that uses rotational mechanics set up to the plate by checking plate coverage from where that bat crosses the plate with the back elbow tight to his side? I told him to extend the bat out with his left arm (bats lefty) with the elbow against his side. (similar to the top hand drill) I guess my question is: Do rotational hitters need to be a little closer to the plate or am I missing Something? He was hitting much better when he got closer to the plate. I'll know more come gameday. I would appreciate some additional thoughts.

THANX
Greg Stokes
Indiana PA