Posted by: grc () on Sun Nov 13 13:36:34 2005

> A hitter starts off by having his shoulders perpendicular to the pitcher. At contact, his shoulders are now facing the pitcher. How did he end up in this position? Did he not rotate? To me, this linear thing is an expression that is being overused. I see what people call linear mechanics as hands extending away from the trunk of the body. How much should the hands separate from the trunk or if they even should, depending on pitch location. To me video shows that on middle to in pitches, there is not much separation if any in a lot of cases. The hands follow the same route as the shoulders which have to rotate in order to end up facing the pitcher. What is the great mystery here? I am willing to bet that the mechanics of players such as Ichiro and Michey Mantle for example would be very similar. The actual wording used to express verbal cues can obviously be very different than what is really happening. This doesn't mean they don't work.

i think what you are missing in the linear vs. rotation thing is WHEN....of course all hitters rotate the trunk and shoulders...what distinguishes the linear hitter from the rotational hitter is WHEN the rotation starts...

the linear hitter's hands will start slightly before rotation of the trunk, the rotational hitter's hips will start slightly before the hands...

we are talking about only a half-frame or so difference in which starts first...it is not at all obvious to the naked eye but is obvious on slo mo tape...

what difference does 1/2 frame make?...the difference in a homerun and a base hit...