Posted by: Jack Mankin (MrBatspeed@aol.com) on Wed Mar 8 01:02:46 2006

>>> Mike, what you do NOT want him to do is to simply spin in place. You want him to drive his energy into a firm front leg, which drives the rear hip around and forward. Think of the front leg as the hinge on a gate, and his rear hip as the other end of the gate that swings forward. Notice that most good MLB hitters have almost no weight on their rear foot as they make contact; this proves they're not spinning in small circles in place. <<<

Hi John

I place a high value on your opinions of swing mechanics. I do however have a different view on the issue of “spinning”. I agree that there are good hitters, especially those with longer strides, that rotate their back-hip around a more posted front-hip – like a gate swinging. But I have also noted that most of the best hitters with short or no-stride have their front-hip rotating rearward at the same rate the back-hip rotates forward. This means their axis of rotation is the spine rather than the front-hip. Therefore, they are, as Mike stated, rotating in a “tiny circle – like a screw”

John, I am sure you agree the head remains still during rotation. This means the shoulders are rotating as in a “cylinder” like a revolving door rather than like a gate swinging. I have often wondered why ‘spinning” the hips would be considered a flaw when “spinning” the shoulders is an absolute must?

Jack Mankin