Posted by: daw () on Mon Nov 22 12:53:15 2004

For this upcoming season our fastpitch team has hired a new batting instructor that is introducing a new approach to hitting (rotational)as opposed to the linear approach the team has been taught and has been fairly successful with over the last few years. The rotational method appears to be providing more power. However, I would be very grateful if someone could reply in simple terms to the following questions:
>
> 1) Is rotational hitting appropriate for fastpitch, and if so, is it only for power hitters or is it a good approach for almost anyone?
>
> 2). what are the advantages and disadvantages of rotational hitting in fastpitch compared to linear hitting?
>
> 3). Are there specific types of hitters/body types, etc... (besides slappers) that should be using one method over the other?
>
> 4)what fastpitch coaches, teams, etc... employ rotational hitting as their main hitting technique.
>
> I realize that this subject may be covered somewhere in the forum on other posts, but I really am looking for some simple, straight answers before I take a good group of girls down a different path.
>
> Thanks

We installed the mechanics shown on this site and on the video with our U14 fastpitch team this Fall, and have see excellent results with ALL our hitters. Certainly our bigger kids are hitting for more power, but all our players developed noticably "quicker" bats very suddenly, especially as they become accustomed to THT. "Linear" mechanics that emphasize arm/wrist muscles work especially to the disadvantage of the smaller softball players, who have the weakest arms/wrists/shoulders. Still plenty of work to do to get consistent but our results so far suggest that anyone and everyone can benefit from rotational mechanics.

daw