Posted by: Jack Mankin (MrBatspeed@aol.com) on Sun Apr 9 10:43:38 2006

>>> Tony Gwynn once said, "the more you stay inside the baseball, the better hitter you will be". Do you agree with this or disagree. I know staying inside of the ball means trying to hit the inside of it so it alwasy keeps the barrel on the ball. By tucking your back elbow, does this keep you inside the ball?

Is "knob to the ball" and "staying inside the ball" the same thing? If not, what are the differences between the two? <<<

Hi Mike

I know of no one who advocates taking the hands “outside” the ball. Both linear and rotational coaches will say the hands should stay “inside” the ball. The difference is the hand-path they exhibit when you asked them to demonstrate the cue. The linear coach’s mechanics looks similar to clip - http://webpages.charter.net/nickkio/HandstoBall/Linear05.mpg – while the rotational coach will exhibit a CHP more like this clip of Rose - http://www.youthbaseballcoaching.com/mpg/Rose.mpeg

Both mechanics keeps the hands “inside the ball.” Below is a post from the Archives I wrote on this topic.

Jack Mankin
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Re: Re: Major Dan: Inside the Ball Question

Posted by: Jack Mankin (MrBatspeed@aol.com) on Mon Feb 10 15:07:51 2003

>>> This thread on 'staying inside the ball' never did reach any sort of resolution.
I will throw out several questions that need to be addressed in order to have this discussion:
1- is 'staying inside the ball' and 'keeping the hands in' the same thing?
1A - if not, what does 'staying inside the ball' mean?

2- what is relationship between transfer mechanics and 'staying inside the ball' (that is pretty close to Phil's original question)

3- if good transfer mechanics = staying connected, does staying connected necessarily make the hitter 'stay inside the ball' ? <<<

Hi Major Dan & Teacherman

I think Major Dan asked the key question, “what does 'staying inside the ball' mean?” I really have had a problem identifying the real purpose of the cue. From a normal position in the box, the ball is around 24 inches or so from the hands at contact. And since for most of the strike zone the hand-path also reaches its' widest path at contact, there is virtually no way the hands could even approach going “outside the ball.” So, “what does 'staying inside the ball' mean?” What is it suppose to accomplish?

In my opinion, when the cue was originated, it had nothing to do with staying connected. I think the “keep your hands inside the ball” cue is an old holdover from linear mechanics. It was intended to take any arc (or loop) out of the hand-path so the hands could go directly (straight) to the ball. --- For a batter to produce the most productive circular-hand-path, the first direction of the hands can not be back at the pitcher. As I show in the instructional video, the first movement must be perpendicular to the flight of the ball or parallel to the catcher’s shoulders. To me, “Keep your hands inside the ball” and “ The first movement of the hands must be perpendicular to the flight of the ball” are contradicting terms.

Jack Mankin