Posted by: H. Fuentes (alexcarlfue@bellsouth.net) on Sat Feb 19 20:52:16 2005

My 14 y/o fixed that problem by realizing that hitting force comes from a rotational reaction and not by the linear back to forward movement. Therefore, I convinced him that the stride represents:
1 a waste of valuable time
2 guiding your wrists to a pitch on the corners, right after landing the front foot is a difficult task. Its a fantasy that players direct their front foot towards the pitch path. They use their upper body and adjust arms separation from their chest to swing at off the middle pitches.
3 the stride will lower your eyes from the initial trajectorial information sent to the brain.
My son is 14 y/o (born 12/90) 5'10", 140 lbs, and uses the Hit-Away almost daily (30-40 swings). I ask him to imagine he is cutting a tree... no stride needed for that!To avoid "opening too soon", don't use the open stance if can't come in early enough to swing.
Keep a comfortable stance with hips turned slightly toward the catcher to develop rotational force.
If he is keeping too much of his weight on the back leg, could be too easy for him to have a stride that is too long, or too outward from the plate.