Posted by: grc () on Sun Mar 25 18:17:44 2001

jack, et al.....my son is almost 19, plays for a junior college....i asked a scout ( he is with a major league team) what he thought of my son's swing....he said my son's "approach" was just fine but that he had a "long" swing...what did he mean by "long"?....he said that my son's hands are too high and the bat is "wrapped", resulting in a "long" swing...in fact, he cited this "long" swing as the probable reason my son hits mostly to the opposite field....for the record, when my son's stride foot lands, the hands are over the toe of the back foot, the hands are roughly arm-pit level, and the bathead is at a 45 degree angle (straight up to the sky = 0 degrees, straight at the pitcher = 90 degrees)...i guess my question is how serious should my son take a pro scout's advice?...my son has been slumping, but i'm not so sure it has to do with a "long" swing...he has worked hard to perfect a swing that seems have many chacteristics of a major league swing....it doesn't seem to make sense to make drastic adjustments based on one scout's opinion and yet, afterall, he is one of those guys who makes a judgement as to whether or not a kid is worth following or not......comments from you and others would be greatly appreciated.....respectfully, grc....
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> Interesting, where does your son play and what type of exposure does he get? I am a hitting coach at a California JC and would be interested to speak more to you about your son. I would say that some scouts are good and some are bad, just as some coaches are good and some bad, some players are good and some bad etc.. If your son has bat speed that is what is truly important, of course he is a little long, he can be with an aluminum bat, my suggestions would be to use a wood bat in all practice situations and make sure he gets it loaded early, otherwise who cares if he hits to right field, isn't that a valid and successful place to hit a baseball? I would ask anyone out there to tell me a hitting situation in which a right handed hitter needs to hit a ball to the pull field. As far as his hands being too high as long as he gets to the launch position and gets his foot down in time then where he begins from is irrelevant. Good luck hope that helps. Marc
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>marc...thanks for the response.....actually he throws right but hits left....subsequent to my posts i put him on film and it does appear that i discovered a flaw that is causing him problems ....i'm making a seperate post regarding this flaw, but in short, what he is doing is overdoing his inward turn of hips and shoulders....when his stride foot lands, his front shoulder is facing the shortstop...this is apparently what is giving the illusion of a "bat wrap"...illusion or not, though, it's something i think needs to be corrected....and apparently a video camera in slow motion can actually spot some things that even a scout can not spot!!!!.....p.s. to marc: if this scout feels my son has a "wrapped bat", why would he invite him to play (not try out but PLAY) for his scout team?....what motivation does a major league team have in sponsoring a scout team since, afterall, the competition also sees these players??.....respectfully, grc...