Posted by: John D (JohnD@Dresslar.com) on Thu Feb 16 09:54:19 2006

Jeremy, great post. I think Hudgens has been bashed so much recently by the rotational adherents that he feels a need to misdescribe rotational hitting in order to have something to shoot at.

In fact, with some kids I coach I use the degree to which they come up on their rear toe as a sign of whether or not they are rotating vigorously enough.

I'm not sure your son's coach is doing the kids a disservice. My son plays at the same level, and I see kids with decent swings who get no pop because they slow down their swings just before contact in order to "aim" the bathead at the ball. So, they get popups to the second baseman. Preaching followthrough can help remind them of the need to keep their power going all the way through the swing, even though -- as you say and The Final Arc points out very well -- the followthrough in itself does not affect the flight of the ball. The risk of this instruction, though, is that the kids will focus on the followthrough at the expense of a more important cue, such as keeping their hands connected until their rotation is almost complete.