Posted by: Joe Hernandez (coach2hit@yahoo.com) on Tue Jun 6 20:00:28 2006

Mick,

You don't need a video to know if you are stepping out. Anyone can observe that for you...surely you can take a look during batting practice and see where you are stepping. But if you are "constantly" making contact to the opposite field then "bailing-out" is not the issue. For sure, if you were stepping out on inside pitches and hitting them to right field you would know!

Do yourself a favor and video tape yourself. Just buy a tape and ask anyone at a game with a video recorder to do you the favor of taping you during an at-bat.

Do you understand what is meant by the "impact line"? A pitch on the inside corner is hit quite a distance in front of the plate. This will vary depending on where you stand at the plate. Go to the library and just take out a book on hitting...most will show you this. A ball down the middle is hit further back, and a ball away is hit still further back. If you were to draw a line between the inside pitch and the outside pitch you then have established the "impact line". When hitting the inside pitch you then need to hit the ball sooner, before it reaches the plate. Envision the ball as a clock, you want to hit the inside pitch at 3 o'clock. An outside pitch is hit deeper in the zone and at 9 o'clock. Between these two points of the impact line you can hit the ball in an infinite number of locations.

Understand that a "hitter that tries to pull too much or tries to overpower the ball is usually a poor hitter" as stated by Steve Garvey.

There is so much more that I would need to know in order to give you "correct" feedback. Things like balance, stride, weight transfer, etc. I think you would do well to video tape yourself and have someone that really understands hitting take a look at it...perhaps Jack Mankin. Just make sure you video tape yourself from the front, back and side to get a complete picture.

Good luck!

Joe Hernandez


> >
> > I'm not clear on your questions. On your first question, are you asking why it is you cannot pull the inside pitch? And to your second question, are you asking why you pull your head off the ball? Just want to be very clear before I attempt to respond.
> >
> > Joe Hernandez
>
> I don't pull the ball hard and I tend to hit the ball off of the sweet spot toward the end of the bat. I mishit the ball by 1-2 inches consistantly twoard the endcap. I think that I might be bailing out slightly, but I can't be sure. People watching me swing don't see it, but mishitting the ball by 1.5 inches on a fast swing is hard to see unless you have video. Which we do not....
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> I'm just looking for ideas on why I can't pull the ball hard and why I'm mishitting. I'm fairly sure they are related. Any advise given is welcome. I can always eliminate any advise that isn't accurate. It would be much easier if I or one of my mates had a video device.