Posted by: JJ () on Wed Jan 31 08:57:45 2001

>>>I'm getting back into batting with our group of 9's, some of the High School's camps teach "keeping the heel of the front foot elevated during stance". I never really worked on stance as long as they were comfortable and balanced in their stance and in good position during the inward turn. What advantage is elevating the heel of the front or lead foot?
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> > I'd like to also thank you guys for this website, it's a great tool to help the kids. I'll be ordering the video as soon as I recover from Christmas. Larry <<<
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> > Hi Larry
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> > I do have my lead heel elevated in my launch position. The toe and knee are pointing in the direction of the first base dugout. The reason I have the heel elevated is because I rotate the lead knee around toward the pitcher as the swing is initiated and this works better on the ball of the foot. I do not consciously lower the heel, it automatically lowers as I rotate the knee and leg.
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> > Jack Mankin
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> Jack-
> I have been working on front heel down as swing initiation from Mike Epstein's influence. It is clearly a movement used by most major league players. When I videoed my son's swing last week, I noticed that he started his front foot heel up but sideways to the pitcher, not at 45 degrees as Epstein suggests.
> However, watching frame by frame, Matt (my son) both dropped his front heel down AND pivoted his foot toward the 45 degree angle. This pivoting movement opened the front knee and started his front hip turning back.
> This sounds very much like what you describe above. I think this is very important. It sheds more light on the initiation of the swing. THanks again for your insights.
> Major Dan

Please forgive me for seeming argumentative with the following. I have only posted a couple of times here and usually just use the posts as a reference or research material.

The statement was made Major Dan that, "It is clearly a movement used by most major league players." For which major league ball players have you performed the research? Or are you just referring to the tape that Epstein uses to make his point about the mechanics that he preaches? I have heard all his theories and have seen some of his theories in action with some of the kids he teaches his mechanics to, first hand. And I am very curious if you are trusting his word or if you are performing the actual research yourself?

If you watch rather closely in a frame by frame action (I have used DVD myself for the best frame by frame) "most" of the major league players do start and hit on the balls of their feet, as Jack has pointed out. This is generally caused by the slight dip in the knees inward during their stance, to naturally keep them off of their heels. The heel does not actually "drop" until they have made the decision as to where the location of the pitch is going to be. And most “young” hitters that do drop their heel do so because their weight has shifted too far forward and are not staying in the rocking chair during the swing (60/40 split – 60 in back behind the front knee and 40 in front). Example: If the pitch is inside and the heel is dropped too early in the swing. There is NO way that ANY hitter is going to get the hips cleared first and the bat head out in front on the inside pitch. Or on the outside pitch, if the heel is not dropped early enough in the swing then there is no way you can stay closed long enough to successfully drive the outside pitch. A good example of both of these is Tony Gwyn. Try to find some tape of him in action and then slowly watch his hitting frame by frame (some others: Walker, Helton, etc). I used to go watch Gwyn and Wynn (when he was with the Padres) hit at Poway HS.

This has always been a topic of interest to me and is why I have asked the question(s) I have. I am NOT saying the Mike is teaching something incorrectly or that it is wrong. But, too many of us trust the word of others without actually doing the research on our own or seeing it work first hand. I no longer make that mistake. Everything that is even discussed about the game, I will research on my own (watch tapes, look on the NET, etc.)

Thanks for listening and I look forward to hearing your take on this topic.