Posted by: Kevin (ksewell33@yahoo.com) on Sat Jan 29 21:54:19 2005

Hello Jack. I was hitting with my minor league hitting coordinator the other day and he was pointing out to me how hitters start their hips. We looked at how guys take their back knee down and forward before turning our foot to allow the hands to get out in front of the hands. He explained it to me as just lifting your heel once you plant the front foot. I heard that certain organizations teach this (Florida--my organization, Oakland) I also heard that certain organizations believe this isn't correct (White Sox). I don't have any clips of White Sox players to compare this, but I am just curious if you've noticed this and how much it can affect bat speed. I don't do this. I was informed not to change, but if it is something that can help me, I'd like to add it in. My hitting coordinator compared me to Jim Thome for this little hip thing. Apparently Thome doesn't do this, but I didn't understand it as we watched Thome's video clip. I don't think Bonds does this either. Any information that can help me decide whether or not this is a better way to start the hips would be appreciated. I did see this with Soriano in his video clip. I hope I explained this correctly. Thanks in advance.