Posted by: BHL (Knight1285@aol.com) on Fri May 26 15:37:48 2006

> This debate can go on and on, but here is something to make note of. If you try to do so, for the most part you have to sacrifice the outside slider, curve, splitter etc. The reason being is that in order to pull the ball the head of the bat has to be out early. This affords less time in judging other outside pitches. Examples Soriano in the playoffs against the Marlins. Andre Dawson in his last playoffs. Shawn Dunston through his career. Unless you are Ted Williams or a player with enormous strength standing very close to the plate forget about trying to pull every pitch. If 9 out of 10 times your best shot is not out of the park, don't do it. This is why Dave Kingman was a below 250 hitter. A player without Kingman's strength would not have been allow to last.

Hi Hitting Guru,

Perhaps these mechanics on Batspeed.com will help one pull outside pitcges will considerably more authority than pulling an insider pitch. Remember, the arc of the inside pitch is shorter than the outside pitch. This means that an outside slider will be pulled with considerably more authority than an inside slider (wider arc = batspeed). As far as .250 averages are concerned, Harmon killebrew hit in the range for a lifetime average. People do not care as much about .300 averages or strikeouts as they do about home runs or RBIs.

This is just my take, though; feel free to disagree.

Best,
BHL