Posted by: JRR (clemente3001@aol.com) on Fri Mar 11 10:08:38 2005

> OK I know on many boards this is a subject that may very well have been beat to death. That said, I would like to know if anyone has employed a rotational hitting mechanics theory to his team and the results of that were.
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> I purchased a DVD on rotational hitting and my son is a young 8YO and watched the DVD with me. Last year he was the proverbial good glove, no hit player. However, he has worked on the drills and I have already noticed an increased bat speed and an additional power...but he hasn't tried it out yet on a machine and before I push forward I just wanted to know if anyone has been through this and what the results were.
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> My kid is small for his age and needs all the punch in his swing that he can get.

Cal:

I'm sure Jack will respond, but here is my two cents. I am a hitting instructor, and have had students as young as 5 years old. My advice is to use the video and the aids recommended there to foster proper mechanics and you will see amazing results.

I find with younger kids (regardless of their physical size), there is an innate competitiveness especially with themselves. Use the swing speedometer to create a baseline or average speed of your son's swing before the rotational mechanics lesson. This can be accomplish simply by hitting off of a tee. Then take them to the heavy bag and work on the front arm and rear arm position on contact while paying special attention to the contact position of the front leg. I will not go into the lesson step-by-step (you have the video), but if you follow the instruction portion of the video, and measure the bat head speed at the beginning and end of just a 1/2 hour lesson, your son will see improvement for himself. Watch his eyes light up when he sees the increase in bathead speed! My students have added as much as 10 MPH after a single lesson just by emphasizing the rotational mechanics of the hips and shoulders.

Torque can be difficult to instruct at the younger ages. I have found that strength becomes a factor more with this age group than when instructing a teenager. Teenagers are strong enough to apply sufficient torque. But sometimes just being satisfied with the results of the correct rotational mechanics of the hips and shoulders may be all that can be expected at this point. And make all the difference...remember to have fun.