Posted by: Chuck (Chuck10112@gmail.com) on Fri Sep 5 19:16:17 2008

Let me answer the first question.
"If they don't push with the rear leg then what do they do?"
They slide their hips toward the pitcher. I don't understand you guys. How can someone push with their back leg when their back leg goes from extension to flexion? When I push with my legs I extend I don't flex or bend my legs. So obviously it's a hip slide not a push.

Same thing when you throw, you slide your hips forward then turn. But you certainly don't push off the ground. Any pitching coach worth his salt will tell you that when guys try to push with their back leg their upper body ends up getting ahead of their lower body (before rotation) which kills velocity.

"Throw the barrel. Direct the energy through the ball not around it. The bat is going around the hands not the shoulders. The hands control where the barrel goes not the shoulders."

Dustin Pedroia is a great hitter and may even win the MVP this season, but the baseball swing may be the hardest movement to explain in sports. Some guys have had the movement mastered for so long that they don't realize how difficult it is to learn/explain. They give simplified/dumbed-down descriptions of their swing. Thats the description Pedroia gave, the dumb (actually completely incorrect) description of what he really does.

Pedroia doesn't throw his hands at the ball. Are you crazy? Have you seen that guy swing the bat? Pedroia stays well connected, not forcing his lead arm away from his chest (which is what he would do if he did "throw" the bat at the ball), and transfering the energy generated by his rotating body to the baseball bat. The bat rotates about the powerful and heavy body, not about the weak and small muscles of the hands.

The hands do determine where the barrel goes but they certianly don't power the swing.