Posted by: Scott W. (stwinton@netzero) on Wed Jul 19 15:41:21 2006

> > This post got lost in the shuffle. I thought it would be worth running it again.
> >
> > OK Hitting Guru, Jack,Anyone? Please tell me "what is level" in a level swing??? The bat? the shoulders? the hands? the hips? the head?
> >
> > I see this as just another overstated batting cue nobody can really explain? I don't have a single clip or photo of any of those things I stated above as "being level" throughout or even at Point of contact. So what am I missing?
> >
> > While I'm at it. How many times did Harold Reynolds say on HR Derby night "see how so & so is staying behind the ball?" What as opposed to staying in front of it??? He should have stated "what was staying behind the ball" so a kid watching it could know what the heck he meant. I happened to have a room full of Babe Ruth age players watching the derby and none of them could tell me what he meant either?
> >
> > How about- "kept his hands inside the ball" Really?
> > So how many players have ever kept their hands outside a ball and hit it??? Point is (again to kids and many coaches) every hitter at Point of contact absolutely has their hands inside the ball!!!!
> >
> > Sorry, had enough with these stupid unexplained comments we keep hearing that nobody does a decent job of interpreting. So I can't wait for some good explanations from this site.
>
> Hi
>
> Hands are level but the bathead goes up up and through the ball plane.
>
> Stay behind the ball means that most of the body (if not all the bady) is closer to the catcher then the ball. If the ball gets closer to the catcher then this the player will begin to hit the ball the other way and not hit it as far (for homerun derby purposes).
>
> Hands inside the ball refers to not taking your hands towards the ball and thus having your bathead end up on the opposite batting box side of the ball and hitting the ball on the handle. This may also be referred to or be the result of taking the knob of the bat towards the ball.


Think of 'inside the ball' in terms of the bathead...ideally you want the bat head to stay inside the baseball right up until contact, then you release the head to 'square up to the baseball' ideal contact would lead to a backspin linedrive that does not hook or slice.

When guys talk about being around (the opposite of inside) they are talking about hitting rollover GB's or hooked flyballs/line drives.