Posted by: StevenV (steven@ars-inc.com) on Wed Jun 28 17:30:57 2006

> > > Hi,
> > > I have read many posts and found this forum to be a great resource of hitting.
> > >
> > > I video taped (http://www.sdlightning.org/movie/jess-hitting.html) my daughter's hitting off a pitching machine set at 50 MHP (she usually hits at 60 MHP; same distance). Would you be so kindly as to provide comments and insight to her hitting form?
> > >
> > > Thank you very much,
> >
> > Diego,
> >
> > How old is your daughter and can you give me the specs. on the Easton bat she is using? Two observations from my viewpoint. First she may be straightening her lead arm a little early, resulting in lost bat speed / power. If she kept a little elbow flex in the lead arm during rotation through the ball you may find more pop and bat speed. Also, the video looked like the bat she was swinging may be too heavy. On some swings the ball actually looked to hesitate or push the bat back some at impact. Some of the best instruction and mechanics are ruined with too heavy of a bat. Other than that the swing to my eyes looked pretty darn good.
> >
> > Steven V.
> > > Diego
>
> Hi Steven,
> Thank you for your time and comments! Jessica is 14 and her bat size is 32/22. Your observations regarding her bat speed is one of my concerns. Perhaps, as you suggested a 31/21 may be more beneficial as well as a quicker torso turn toward the ball. Also, I was thinking of raising her right elbow slightly during her 'negative' turn may help to increase her bat speed.
>
> All comments are welcome!
> Thanks,
> Diego

Diego,

The decrease in bat length and weight might make a big difference in swing speed. A 32 inch bat seems a little long. Also the longer the bat, the longer it takes to get through the hitting zone.

Also I think you are talking about the negative turn the same as pre launch or what some folks call a coil. If this is correct you could have her try a slight elbow raise to see if that creates more inertia which relates to more bat speed. The only thing you need to be mindful of is that she doesn't get disconnected by raising her back elbow. This is part of the same discussion that Jack Mankin and I traded comments on. Both the straight lead arm, as well as the elbow raised are fine as long as during the swing, everything eventually gets reconnected (in the slot) during the rotation and through contact.

Best I could tell the majority of her swing is fundamentally very much in tact and should give her great results.

Best,

StevenV