Posted by: jalal leach (jdleachy@bmp18.com) on Wed Sep 28 15:21:12 2005

> Hi all, I was wondering if you could help me with this. My son uses the rotation method for hitting and his instructors have been telling him to aim his hands straight for the ball or inside the ball. So the bat pretty much goes in a downward motion. I am worried about the lack of swinging level. The instructors say don't worry about it, the bat will square itself up naturally before contact. It seems to be true, my son is doing well this way but I worry that timing seems so critical here.
>
> Then I saw a video of Pujols hitting a home run. It was a chest/stomach high fast ball and I could clearly see the bat go BELOW the ball and then back up before contact in the plane of the ball. (An uppercut swing?) I wonder how Pujols did it, the hands seem to go fairly straight at the ball, did he angle the bat with his hands to bring it down and into a level swing? Does he lose bat speed doing this? Can the hands take one path while the bat takes another?
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> What's ideal? Faster batspeed vs. swinging level? Can you get both?
>
> Thanks!

Sir

I'm not trying to belittle what you are saying and asking, but in all of my years (15) of Pro Ball we never talked about hitting in such technical terms. I played several year with the best hitter of All-time and I never heard him talk in this form. Now I know you may say he is/was gifted.

Rule number one in hitting, don't make it more complicated than it is. I met Pete Rose and he told me to "See the Ball and hit the ball." That's it! His a question for you, when you first started teaching your son how to hit did you teach him this rotational and linear stuff? Probably not. Keep it simple, by having him develop a good balanced stance and taking a level swing, focusing on keeping his hands inside the ball.

I could be wrong but all this rotational and linear hitting stuff is just making it way to complicated. I played with Vlade Guerrero, Derek Jeter and I never heard them talk like this. I can name drop all day, but it's not necessary.

I can tell you this we use a tool in our school that helps all facets of hitting. Come check it out at our site at www.bmp18.com.

Keep it Fun!!

Jalal Leach
San Francisco Giants 2001
www.bmp18.com