Posted by: Chuck (Chuck10112@gmail.com) on Wed Sep 10 20:41:36 2008

Honestly you're right, I don't see the point of doing such a drill. How can swinging a bat with one hand while keeping the shoulders still possibly prepare you for the real pitcher-batter duel where you'll actually take a full swing?

Forces the hands to do the work? The hands/arms really shouldn't be doing much work in the swing except holding onto the bat.

I think alot of major leaguers do some things that they simply believe helps them when game time comes, but from a scientific/practical viewpoint doesn't really do anything to help performance.

"The MLB player was an ametuer at one time, he was not born a MLB player, these are the cues they have been using forever."
Yeah these are the dumbed-down cues that they have been using forever. Some players interpret them correctly, produce good swings that work at the highest levels of competition, work really hard practicing everyday and eventually become major leaguers (Obviously there is some luck involved: staying injury free, getting the right exposure, and not getting discouraged even when things get tough).
My problem is that not everyone interprets these cues the same way/ understands them correctly. So this player who doesn't understand will produce a poor swing and regardless of how much he practices or how hard he tries he's doomed for failure because he keeps doing the same wrong thing.

This second scenario kills me because it's too heartbreaking to imagine someone putting everything he has into something and failing not because of bad luck but just because of a lack of understanding because he was never given a clear and specific explanation on what to do.

What I'm saying is that the guys who do make it into the Bigs are the ones who somehow figured it out and do it right. But just because they happen to have gotten that far doesn't mean that they know how to explain it precisely in a way where it's pinpoint and not open to misinterpretation.