Posted by: BHL (Knight1285@aol.com) on Sun May 1 22:59:58 2005

> >>> I believe that if a player is able to swing like Bonds, they should be able to do Mike Epstein's fence drill without experiencing any breakdown in rotational mechanics. All they need to do is to pull their back elbow towards the first (or third) base dugout.
>
> Now, not everybody can use the fence drill effectively.
>
> What some players can do, though, is to use the drill to tighten the path of the bat head on inside pitches.
>
> Feel free to take issue with my opinion. <<<
>
> Hi BHL
>
> You and I have discussed “Epstein's fence drill” at least ten times. I will have no problem with still another discussion – providing, you play his Instructional video and study his students performing the drill frame-by-frame. Once you have noted how far the batter’s hands must arc toward third base to allow the bat-tip to miss the fence and where the bat-head is heading when it finally does accelerate, then report back and we will discuss it further.

> Jack Mankin

Hi Jack:

You are right about the students that Epstein uses--the bat head accelerates late in the swing.

My point, though, is that if he used Bonds instead, Bonds would be able to maintain a perfect circular hand path without hitting the fence. This is due to the fact that twisting his back elbow back will allow his bat to clear the fence on all inside pitches.

I believe this is the reason why he can keep pitches that fair that others will pull foul.

Also, I feel that a fence drill situation forces the body to rotate around its axis.

Additionally, I believe that Henry Aaron and others that use "fish hook" (a Nyman term) might be able to do the fence drill correctly, but that is a topic for another time.

Put succinctly, here is my question: do you not feel that Bonds could perform the fence drill correctly (i.e., as described above), and still maintain a powerful circular hand path (i.e., one that is tight).

Thanks for the input,
BHL
Knight1285@aol.com

P.S. If you believe that Bonds could not perform the fence drill correctly (i.e., as stated previously), then, what is it allows him to keep balls that jam other batters fair when he crowds the plate?