Posted by: john (ajjdad@hotmail.com) on Tue Aug 26 13:52:36 2008

I'm not disagreeing with your statements regarding"all the great hitters." I'm not saying the fence drill or, ANY drill for that matter, is the end all.
But the fence drill is just that; a drill.
Personally, I'm not the biggest fan of drills in general.
IMO, what happens and, I've seen it, is that a player gets frustrated with poor results after Dad or, his coach, have thrown countless pitches to him. Again, I've seen this, the only possible solution, is to find a new drill that someone else is using and, hope that it will be the answer to making junior a potential MLB slugger after all.
I think if a kid, and that's who I coach, have some semblence of natural, athletic ability, not to mention, HAND EYE coordination, then some drills can be useful.
Ted Williams quoted, I believe, Rogers Hornsby, as saying that "great hitters are made, not born." What Ted didn't say, is that all of the great hitters were blessed at birth with a genetic advantage over most.I coached two teams this year, one regular season, one Jimmy Fund and , I can now say when I look back, that a good majority of those kids, regardless of how many pitches or, drills you throw at them, haven't gotten it, don't get it, and won't get it.
That's obviously why an incredible high percentage of little leguers, don't even play high school ball, never mind becoming MLB players.