Posted by: Jack Mankin (MrBatspeed@aol.com) on Mon Mar 23 11:52:39 2009

>>> Jack, Just a quick Thanks, for this site. My son made the middle school team. During practice on a little league field today he finally put one way over the fence 260. This is I believe to rotational and his hard work. He still has a tendency to lose some of his mechanics at game. The best advise anyone can give is you must dedicate yourself to work. <<<

Hi Coach Dad

Good to hear your son's hard work in perfecting his rotational mechanics is starting to pay off. I would add that taking a large number of swings per day is only productive when the batter is practicing to burning-in efficient transfer mechanics. Regardless of how hard a batter works, there is limited value in continuing to burn-in inefficient mechanics.

Rotational principles are far more efficient in transferring the batter's energy into bat speed than linear principles. However, most batters are taught linear mechanics and the more swings these kids take -- the deeper these mechanics are burned in. As you point out, it takes a lot of dedication and hard work to undo old mechanics and burn-in new ones.

I find it takes just a few sessions of bag and tee practice for most of my students to adopt rotational mechanics. But it takes much more time for them to exhibit those mechanics in the game. In practice, their attention is on their mechanics. In the game, their attention is on the ball and while concentrating on the incoming pitch, they initiate their most burned-in mechanics.

Coach, your son is very lucky he has you to keep his confidence up while making the transition. Many of my students do not receive that positive reinforcement. They must attempt to make the change while experiencing constant pressure from their coach to conform his linear teaching.

Jack Mankin