Posted by: Jack Mankin (MrBatspeed@aol.com) on Sat May 3 09:35:16 2008

>>> Jack, your thoughts on my top hand post?
Also, I think I've looked at a fair amount of video, my own, as well as others, not to name names. You know who they are :)
One thing I have seen, is that the guys that hit for power, are not sitting on their back leg at contact. They just aren't! Not to sound naive but, I am truly baffled as to why it's professed that they are sitting on their back leg. Are their exceptions to this? Like anything, sure there is. Dustin Pedroia of the Red Sox, I think, might be the exception to the rule. He wouldn't be classified as a power hitter but, he doesn't get cheated with his at bats, that's for sure. I'm attaching a link that someone was kind enough to post a while back. It's a clip of Ted and , other great hitters of the past, in action. I feel it truly depicts, in most cases, that they're hitting against a stiff front leg and, certainly not sitting on their rear leg.
Didn't mean to be so long winded.
Thank you.
The link is below. http://wms17.streamhoster.com/firstpick/Science%20of%20hitting.wmv <<<

Hi John

Your “top hand post” raises some important issues regarding efficient swing mechanics and I will address some of them in your post below. For now, let us discuss your statement in this post. – You state, “I feel it truly depicts, in most cases, that they're hitting against a stiff front leg and, certainly not sitting on their rear leg.”

In a good swing, I would agree that there is little weight remaining on the back-leg at contact. However, I also find misleading connotations in the term, “hitting against a firm front side.” This implies that that blocking a batter’s weight-shift with a firm front leg is responsible for inducing hip and shoulder rotation. Although a batter’s front leg is firm at contact, most good hitters land on a fell flexed front-leg. After foot plant there is little or no forward movement (or weight-shift) of the body and the batter uses the extension of the flexed leg to drive the lead-hip rearward as the back-hip is being rotated forward. This is what generates rotation about a stationary axis.

In the thread below from the Archives, we discuss “weight-shift” and why there is little weight on the back-foot at contact. I would appreciate your thought on the thread.

Momentum & Gyro Action

Jack Mankin