Posted by: John in FL () on Mon May 12 23:38:34 2008

If you look at the geometric angles (not teaching it to a child), if the fouled pitch is coming straight back (in a line from the pitcher to the plate and directly behind the plate) it doesn't always mean the hitter is late in making contact. it depends on what position the bat head (if that's where the contact is being made) is at the point of contact. Teaching these things to a child depends on the skills of the child. When I was teaching them to my younger brother when he was 12, he was hitting over .500 in the Georgia State Championships (he also hit 4 home runs in one game in that tournament). At the high school level in both Georgia and Florida, we had no problems getting the good hitters to understand the concepts once they understood the angles. It depends on the ability of the hitter to understand the concept whatever the age. As far as if a hitter is early or late, and where the ball goes, that is prefaced by where contact is made between ball and bat....and all of the angles and trajectories come into play there. Early contact does not always equate to top spin and dead center does not always equate to dead center. Where the ball is pitched and the angle of the bat at contact controls where the ball goes. You can't override the laws of physics.