Posted by: Chuck () on Sat Jul 26 19:53:37 2008

In a well timed baseball swing the lead arm will be extended and the upper part of the arm (bicep) will be close to or even touching the batter's chest at the point of contact. The only time you'll see a hitters front arm bent at the point of contact is when they've been beat (late on a pitch) especially on pitches inside. The later they are the larger the bent in the lead arm.

Major league hitters are so well practiced that they can be beat with a fastball and still make the subconcious on the fly adjustment and hit the ball hard. I once saw Chase Utley hit a homerun on a pitch where he was beaten so badly that his front arm was bent at a 90 degree angle at contact. That's what happens when baseball becomes a job that you dedicate yourself to instead of just a game that you play... you become really good at it.

Anyway the point of this post is that ideally the front arm will be extended or "barred" regardless of pitch location (outside or inside). On inside pitches hitters need to really get their hips open to allow there hands to get to where they need to be to hit the ball out in front. Young hitters try to hit the inside pitch by tucking their hands in (bending the lead arm). Bending the lead arm will be the natural reaction if you're beaten on a fastball, but that shouldn't be the hitter's natural approach to hitting inside pitches. A hitter's approach to hitting inside pitches should be to start early and get a full 120 degree rotation in the hips so that rest of the body will be in position to hit the ball in a relaxed, extended position.