Posted by: The Hitting Guru (hitman3527@aol.com) on Sun Jan 1 18:59:50 2006

> Hi All
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> Happy New Year! – I would like to start the new year by addressing a topic I brought up In December 2005 but received no response. It concerns ‘bat speed’ vs ‘bat quickness’. I noted while visiting some of the other discussion boards that a good number of coaches believe that a batter my generate great bat speed but be slower getting the bat to the ball than a batter with less bat speed.
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> I have trouble understanding how two batters can launch the bat from the same position and the batter who generates less bat speed could get the bat to the same contact point quicker than the batter generating greater bat speed. Would someone help enlighten me on this subject?
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> Note: I define “launch position” as the position of the bat when shoulder rotation (and the swing) is initiated



I think the coach may have been trying to state in a round about way is that in order to be effective, some players with lessor batspeed may have to methods which are not ideal in order to get the bat on the ball. Or put in another way, what is most effective for each player is what works the best. Though the rotational method has been proven to generate the greatest bat speed, other methods have been used in some instances that promote as good or better results. A Chuck Knoblock was effective (.300 hitter) for a number of years by using a condensed version of the rotational method. I believe the player's physical strength has something to do with which method works best. If this were not true, it would not be necessary to have speed guys who are taught to keep the ball out of the air. Though I must say, the game winning homer by Scott Podsednik to win a playoff game (appeared to be hit) was hit by a rotational swing.
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> Jack Mankin