Posted by: dougdinger () on Thu Jul 29 14:22:43 2004

> So is the back elbow still in contact with the hitter's side at contact on middle and inside pitches? I happen to be very skinny, so keeping my elbow tucked in at my (thin framed) side creates a very short swing and when I keep my elbow in, even on inside pitches I hit them on the end of the bat, and I cut my swing short of extension in the follow through. So is the back elbow, lead arm, and hands supposed to cast out a little (not sweep out) as the swing goes on? All my hits this year are on outside pitches, where I can extend my arms out and use more of an arm swing with less hip rotation, remember my earlier post I said I had an all arms swing with limited hip rotation.
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> Dougdinger,
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> It sounds like a very simple problem to me. Most hitters don't realize that hitting the ball off the wrong part of the bat is more a timing problem (assuming good mechanics) than anything.
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> If you're standing in the batter's box where you can reach pitches over the entire plate with the bat, you're swing is a bit early when you're hitting an inside pitch off the end of the bat.
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> Think about the circular hand path. It will bring the bat head around in a circular path, too. That means the sweet spot of the bat will cross the plate in an arc (not a straight line). To see where you need to make contact on a particular pitch (inside, outside, etc.) get in the batter's box and do a slow-motion rotational swing. See where the sweet spot of the bat comes around to meet an inside pitch. See where it would meet an outside pitch.
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> This is a very simplified method. Your mechanics would have to be very sound, but this will give you a better idea of where your ideal contact points will be. Note that you will hit an inside pitch a bit in front of your front knee, while you will want to hit the outside pitch farther back toward the catcher.
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> If you will think about it, you probably are hitting the inside pitch too far in front of your front leg. If the pitch is just a tad bit farther toward the catcher, would you have hit it on the sweet spot? It's worth exploring.
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> Marcus

It's not a timing problem. If I was swinging too early, I'd be pulling the inside pitches foul, no matter where on the bat I hit the ball. But I hit all the inside pitches to the 2nd baseman (LH), off the end of the bat, slow weak rollers. If I just got the ball on the sweet spot, they'd all be line drives over the 2B and in the gap. I might start my swing with a CHP but I might ruin it by pulling my hands inside. It's more of an inside out swing on inside pitches, and a sweeping casting swing on outside pitches.
Maybe since I don't complete the hip rotation, I compensate by finishing the swing by pushing the hands through and pulling them in at teh same time, I don't know, that's what it feels like, and I can't get a hold of a camera. Think I should try moving up to the plate a tad more?