Posted by: Dave P (dkcoachdave@yahoo.com) on Thu Jun 19 17:09:23 2008

> Well, I'm curious to know what your hitting guys position is here?
> In my opinion, it has very much to do with pitch location.
> When you see the back foot elevate,it's due in large part to the height of the pitch within the strike zone. I mean contact made at the letters, is normally going to result in less rear tilt of the body, which in turn, requires less support from the rear leg and, foot.
> Conversely, a much lower pitch, say at the knees, will result in somewhat the opposite result in tilting, requiring the need for rear leg support. I can't recall a quality swing on a pitch at the knees, where the rear foot came off the ground.
>
> Since I don't know your position or, your hitting guys postition on this, I'm certainly curious as to where each of you stand?
> Take care.
>
> John.

Hi John and All

Though I have not tracked the height of the pitch and rear foot coming off the ground many MLB players have their back foot off the ground during contact. I just went to MLB.com and watched home runs by 3 ball players that hit HR that were mid thigh height and they all got their back foot off the ground. The best hitters drive through off their back foot to generate power.

I believe that a hitters power and extension comes from the back foot going towards the pitcher. Just like throwing a ball you need to go forward with the back foot to generate power forward.

Dave