Posted by: Andy (devilsbaseball19@yahoo.com) on Mon Apr 17 08:08:50 2006

I think propronents of the "swinging gate" theory assume that the front hip remains rather stationary, instead of being pulled backwards as Jack describes. If you look at this clip of McGwire http://www.youthbaseballcoaching.com/mpg/mac03.mpeg, we can clearly the the front belt loop being pulled back toward the catcher at the same rate that the "M" on the front shoulder is being pulled back. The back hip is not being driven towards the pitcher, it is being pulled around by the rotation of the front hip, and will stop when both hips are square to home plate.

I ulitimately think teaching "front hip closed" is taught for the same reason that "swing down" is...people try to combat one extreme with another. If someone "pulls off" the ball, people think they must train them to keep the front side in...like teaching a golfer to combat a slice with a hook.