Posted by: BHL (Knight1285@aol.com) on Wed Mar 16 13:57:51 2005

Hi Jack:

I asked you a question about hitting low pitches on a post entitled "Less Turn on Low Pitches???" on Thu Mar 10 22:44:49 2005, and would appreciate your input. I will resubmit the question for your convencience. Here is my query:

I agree that the best hitters use the same core mechanics, regardless of size.

In the Final Arc II video, your co-host John Elliot immediately came to mind: although not McGwirean in stature, he hit the ball 450+ feet consistently (my estimate).

However, all pitches that he hit for home runs in BP were thrown between the waist and the chest.

I think you would agree that pitchers try to keep the ball at the knees, since elevating pitches creates the opportunity for hitters to get the ball in the air. As a result, these rising line drives / fly balls can result in home runs; on the other hand, low pitches tend to result in ground balls.

Since pitchers try to keep the ball down, I was shocked that "how to hit low pitches" in the air for power was not addressed in "The Final Arc II."

I remember reading a post on the subject that argues that a batter should not hinge their back knee more on low pitches, but should use THT.

According to your "Swing Mechanics" page, the hitter will use body rotation any time he applies more THT to hit an outside pitch. According to the logic presented therein, you state that in order to hit the inside pitch with full authority, the batter must rotate his / her hips 90+ degrees. It also says that on the outside pitch, rotating the body 90+ degrees will not allow the bathead to reach the pitch; hence, the body will rotate only 70 degrees, allowing the arms to cast. Nonetheless, any momentum lost by bodily rotation is made up for in bat speed, since objects swung in a wider arc accumulate more velocity than objects swung in a narrower arc.

Following the lotus of the argument, can we not argue that hitting high inside pitches demand using full body rotation, whereas hitting high outside pitches call for using less bodily gyration, and more THT?

Can we also argue that when hitting all pitches requiring more lead-arm casting, less body rotation and more THT will be employed?

Please respond as soon as possible.

Sincerely,
BHL
Knight1285@aol.com

I am still a PFO, but that is more of a philosophy than a mechanic; however, it is a good credo to embrace.