Posted by: The Hitting Guru (hitman3527@aol.com) on Sun Feb 12 20:17:42 2006

> Jack. With regard to Don Mattingly, do you believe he used rotational forces from which to hit?
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> One would have to assume he had above average if not great batspeed as he was arguably the top hitter in the early to middle 80's. But as he changed his stance he appeared to at times have most of his weight against his back leg and glide into the pitch from a crouched position.
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> Lastly, do you think a rotational hitter who keeps both hands on the bat should be content to go to the opposite field if he is being pitched outside. I noticed later in Mattingly's career that when he was content to go to the opposite field, his stats were reduced substantially. I know that back problems played a part but never the less it appeared that centering the outside pitch for power was not easily done. The Mike Schmidt study also mentioned this point. (And if you noticed (if you observed Mattingly's career, you never see him hitting a homerun to centerfield.) In fact the only homerun to leftfield I remember him hitting was the one he hit above the 380 sign in Texas Stadium during his 8 game homerun streak to tie Dale Long's record.