Posted by: Major Dan (markj89@charter.net) on Mon Dec 11 06:37:57 2000

>>> I think now may be a good time to bring the discussion back to what the board was designed to accomplish - "A frank and open-minded discussion of the baseball/softball swing." It seems clear to me that discussing personalities can make little advancement to our understanding of the swing.
> > >
> > > So, I will ask a question about a batting principle that has bothered me for some time. -- Why is hitting the "inside of the ball" called GOOD while hitting the "outside of the ball" is Taboo?
> > >
> > > I am thinking of adding an article to my "Truism or Fallacy" list on the subject of hitting the outside pitch. Your input would be most helpful.
> > >
> > > Jack Mankin
> >
> > Hi All
> >
> > Well, I must say that I am somewhat surprised. A consensus of the posts seem to say that hitting the "outside" of the ball is equally as good as hitting the "inside" of the ball. --- Is this also true for hitting the outside pitch? Should we teach pulling the outside pitch as well as going to the opposite field? Is going the other way preferable to pulling the outside pitch -- if so - why?
> >
> > Jack Mankin
> >
> >
> > >
> >"Is this also true for hitting the outside pitch?".....i say no.....outside pitch you need to hit the inside part of the ball (for a left handed hitter perhaps around 4:30)....for most hitters, i think for a lefty to try to hit the outside pitch at 7:30 would require too many anatomically inefficient contortions to be effective.....respectfully, grc...

The part of the ball that is struck (inside, outside or backside) determines where the ball goes. There is no good or bad intrinsic in that. What determines the 'good' or 'bad' is the combination of pitch location, swing style, batter size, strength, etc. and game situation.
Most hitters of all styles tend to pull the inside pitch, up the middle on the middle pitch, and go opposite field on the outside pitch.
My observations and what I have learned in these web discussions, tell me that a more 'linear' hitter will use a more inside-out swing and tend to hit from the back to the inside of the ball. Inside pitches up the middle, outside pitches opposite field. A rotational, chp type hitter will tend to hit from the outside of the ball to the back of it, pulling inside pitches and driving outside pitches from opposite field gap to up the middle.
However, there are infinite variations. A 'linear' hitter may create an adjustment to react inside by turning on the ball (more rotational element) and pulling. Others use chp to inside-out the inside pitch and take it opposite field (see Harry Heilmann story that is going around these days ).
Some rotational hitters using more of the model that Jack advocates are pulling inside pitches fair (outside the ball) and driving outside pitches hard to the opposite field (inside the ball).

What is universally dysfunctional is pulling outside pitches when they are beyond the normal reach of the hitter and farther back upon contact. While a McGuire can treat an outside pitch like it is down the middle (height, reach, longer bat, etc.) and drive it to center or left-center, a John Valentin too often tries to 'hook' that pitch and send a routine ground ball to shortstop. Early casting of the hands to extension before contact causes the bat barrel to change direction rapidly due to 'wrist snap'. Once the arms cast, the rotational power is disconnected. THe ball should have been hit already, but if it hasn't, the barrel passes the hands and creates a 'pull' contact angle. However without significant power, the contact has no pop to it. The same effect on an inside pitch results in the ball being pulled very foul.
These are the examples of hitting outside the ball being 'bad'.
Interestingly, if a lefty hitter does this on an outside pitch with a runner on second base and no outs, the weak ground ball to the second baseman advances the runner and is considered good baseball. The same junk from a righty is bad baseball since the grounder to short freezes the runner.
IMO, the most interesting thing I have learned at this site, is that with Jack's mechanics, hitters are able to generate power to all fields by going with the pitch AND using small variations on the same mechanics - not different mechanics for inside vs. outside. That is a powerful hitting tool.