Posted by: Jack Mankin (MrBatspeed@aol.com) on Thu Jan 22 15:17:26 2009

>>> My son plays baseball for a fantastic training facility. His entire team is being taught a different style of starting their swing.

Instead of the traditional "load back and push back to the middle" they are being shown to lean forward, towards the pitcher, actually pressing forward! From there they step and swing and still swing with the weight on the front leg but their body centered, and later transfering weight to the back side (as in a usual swing).

Is this something anyone has heard of? My son seems to like it. He was always very good at hitting, pressing back.

If you didn't see the press, you wouldn't knwo anything changed. The swing is still rotational and strong. The weight never transfers back prior to launch however. <<<

Hi Willy Boy

I am not sure if they want the body's axis still leaning forward during rotation, or if they just want good weight on the lead-leg at foot-plant. Arron had a fairly vertical axis, but most of the better hitter's axis of rotation is tilted rearward. However, I do teach my hitters to have ample weight on a well-flexed lead-leg at foot-plant.

The post from my Archives and video clip below explains some of my thoughts on this topic.

Hips drive legs - or - Legs drive hips

Giambi -- momentum & lead leg

Jack Mankin