Posted by: () on Thu Jun 21 21:59:59 2001

I was taking batting practice today, and I realized how important lead arm extension was. I focused on getting my lead arm extended across my chest during my "trigger" and keeping it extended throughout the entire swing. Doing this, I realized that you have to use rotational mechanics. It is impossible to "crack the whip" when you don't bend your lead arm. You have to use the legs and torso to PULL the bat through the hitting zone.
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> > > > I also noticed that I had a tendency to want to bend my lead arm a little on a high pitch. To fix this I focused on making contact out in front of my body with my lead arm extended.
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> > > > I really think this is one of the keys to rotational mechanics. Look at Ken Griffey of Mark McGwire hit a ball. They always make contact with a extended lead arm.
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> > > to hit a high pitch you DO need to bend the lead elbow
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> > I disagree with the idea that you have to bend the elbow on a high pitch at all. To demonstrate this, stand beside a plate as you would if you were hitting. Take a swing as if you would on a high inside pitch using rotational mechanics and extending your lead arm and stop at the probable point of contact. If you rotate around a stationary axis and open yourself up enough, you can see that it is easy to hit a high pitch into fair territory while extending your lead arm across your chest.
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> sorry, won't work


here are two pics of Ken Griffey Jr. swinging at a high pitch with his lead arm extended :

http://www.kgjonline.com/gallery1/pic104.html

this pic was taken just a split second after contact, you can see that his lead arm is fully extended.

http://www.kgjonline.com/gallery1/pic143.html

if that picture didn't convince you, this one has to.