Posted by: jalal leach (jdleachy@bmp18.com) on Fri Sep 30 21:37:44 2005

> >>> I've got a question for you, on my site I have an intro-video of my 1st at bat in the Big Leagues. Take a look at it and tell me what you think, and then I will tell you what really happened. <<<
>
> Hi Jalal
>
> From what I could see, it looked fine. But I have learned not to make judgments of a hitter’s mechanics at the cage or from regular speed video. In many cases, I found that my first impression of a swing is quite different than the conclusions I make from a frame-by-frame analysis.
>
> Jalal, if you have game video of your swing, I would be happy to give you my frame-by-frame analysis. I use two VCRs. One is showing the swing one frame at a time while the other is recording at regular speed. I use a sound-mixer to add my comments as I toggle back-and-forth through the swing.
>
> I need both a frontal and across the plate view. If you are interested, I will e-mail my mailing address.
>
> Jack Mankin


Jack

Ok here's a homer I hit off of Jerome Williams in 2003. It's the one that says Jalal's atbat. http://www.bmp18.com/index.php?page=/Pictures. I'm going to have to look for a side view shot. It may take me a day or so.

Now back to my first at bat in the Big Leagues. I made a cardinal sin, I didn't use my own equipment in my first at bat. I used Ramon Martinez's bat which was lighter than my bat. Reason being, I knew the only way I was going to get in the game was via a pinch hit. I was watching the scoreboard all night and Schilling was running it up there 95 to 97 mph. Being that it can be chilly in San Francisco, I didn't want to be late in my first plate appearance, so I used a bat that Ramon gave me. Mistake.

See the year before (this is inside information) I was in Triple A with the Phillies. Curt Schilling was on the Phillies. He got hurt and came down and did a re-hab start with us. I made an unbelievable catch during the game and he didn't forget it. (Just like a typical pitcher) Also, he knew I was great friends with Phillies Player Kevin Jordan and they were close as well.

When I came up to bat I got a standing ovation from 43,000 people and Curt knew my story. This is where it gets interesting. In the heat of a play off race, and all that was going on (9/11 and Barry chasing the single-season homerun record) he threw me a cookie. You know what a cookie is, right? A cookie is a 90 mph 4-seam fastball right down the pipe. When he let it go I said to myself that's my pitch. To this day, I firmly believe I would have hit that ball in the bay had I used MY (heavier bat), not Ramon's lighter bat. That changed my destiny! It remains to be seen for better or worse, because I got only 10 at bats in the big leagues with one hit. I'll take it though!!

I popped out to right, hitting the ball off the end of the bat, an inch further down with my bat that would have been right on the sweet spot. Bye, Bye Baseball. Well it was a blast and afterwards all the players said they wanted to tell me to use what got me there, plus my adrenaline was going to kick in which it did and my bat would have felt like nothing.

Just some advice to all you Batspeed participants, it really doesn't matter how fast you swing the bat. I know guys with slow swings that can flat out hit. It really comes down to what's going on inside of your head. For the most part the successful baseball players I've played with including myself no how to handle failure. The sooner a young hitter figures this out the better hitter he will be, PERIOD!!
Jalal Leach, CEO Baseball Mentoring Program Inc.
Associate Scout for the Colorado Rockies
ww.bmp18.com