Posted by: Jack Mankin (MrBatspeed@aol.com) on Mon Jun 4 20:16:16 2001

>>> Jack,You have said tht is for pulling the away pitch,at least for McGwire,and I believe I used it when I played for certain times when I wanted to pull the ball like when we had a man on 2nd and no outs[lefty] and 1st holding a runner and 2nd playing for 2 giving me a big 4 hole.I would start the top hand back and around to hit the outside part of the ball to pull it,though these were not my crushing shots they did get the job done on balls just past center of the plate.The other times I felt I used a type of tht was when I had power to the opp. field.Though I'm not sure if both hands drifted forward at 1st for just a couple of inches or not but I believe that while my hands were back and a ball was up and away I had a close connection to shoulder turn and the pop of my top hand as my bottom would pull.From what I recall I had more power to opp. field with the tht but I do believe I used it for situational hitting to insure a pulled ball.It makes sense though that my opp. field power was never the long hr's that I could pull merely by distance the bat got to travel before impact.Does any of this seem to make sense to you. <<<

Hi rql

Yes, it makes sense. Your post regarding tht is close to what I experienced with my swing. I do not believe a hitter should always attempt to pull outside pitches. Getting the bat perpendicular to the ball’s path would be a better choice. If the batter is a little early the ball will be pulled. A little late and he still has the bat speed to hit the ball hard to the opposite field. --- Mac has backed off the plate and treats all pitches as more outside. It will be interesting to see what happens if he is continuously dealt inside stuff. Can he look outside and still turn on an inside heater?

Jack Mankin