Posted by: () on Mon Jun 25 17:13:09 2001

Thanks to all that responded to my fastpitch question. Heres 1 other. Besides swinging down into the ball another style im hearing being taught is called the Flat Bat style. It seems to make sense to me. Maybe not for great power but in making contact for base hits. Your bat is held more parallel to the ground, which allows you to be on the same plane as the pitched ball with even less movement it seems than with the bat straight up.
> > > > Its hard for me to describe but to those here that know fastpitch softball, im sure you have saw it...
> > > > When used with this rotational therory taught here, it seems like it would work great .
> > > >
> > > > As I said im not looking for the homerun power that it seems is being mainly disscussed here, but strictly for basehits, line drives, making contact.
> > > >
> > > > Your thoughts on this style would be greatly appreciated.
> > >
> > > Bsh-
> > >
> > > The flat bat style is effective for some things.It was popularized on vdeo by Tim Timmons.Knowing what we know now from the work of people like Jack and Paul Nyman,it can be an effective way for kids to experience a circular hand path and suppress unwanted arm action/premature extension.Kids keep the bat level on theshoulder and initiate the swing with hip/torso turn.If this is also the riht plane for the pitch,they occasionally get quite good power(especially effective for beginners in the pure riseball era).There is poor posture plane adjustment,however,so the usefulness of this technique is very limite.It is most important to have the bat on plane at initiation.Look at where the bat is when the front foot comes down and torso turn starts the hands forward.Ideally,the bat should be lining up with the lead arm which should be in the plane matching the trajectory of the pitch due to posture adjustment(bend at waist/lean back).Flat bat is ok for high pitch.Vertical bat for lowpitch.Many players have it flat in the stance,but where is it at launch?
> > >
> > > Keeping the arms under control and maintaining the circular handpath is necessary for the body to rotate around a stationary axis,otherwise the hand/batpath will cause lunging.This is why Mike Epstein teaches lower body mechanics with the bat resting on the back upper arm.This is a much better way to accomplish the useful part of the flat bat drill/style.
> >
> >
> > tom.,
> >
> > am curious, even though i'm not a softballer.
> >
> > this "flat bat" technique, is it similar to the stance by Ed Sprague (i mean the way he held his bat)? even though Sprague raised his bat back to, i guess, what we would term a "normal launch" position before swinging. would softballers just simply swing the bat at the ball from this laid back position?
> >
> > another interesting comment by you on Epstein - "This is why Mike Epstein teaches lower body mechanics with the bat resting on the back upper arm." years ago i saw an interesting article at webball.com referring to a Paul Petricca and a technique he called simply "torque". i used it as an aid in trying to teach my son, how to use his lower body just like you suggest Epstein does. in fact, my kid even experimented by using it in a few games when we noticed on tape that he was using an excessive amount of pre-swing movement and actually over-coiling. this is all so co-incidental because of advise given by Tim Olsen at his site, recently, to someone having problems. Tim recommended he cut down on pre-swing movements for more bat control and to be used when in a slump.
> >
> > i'm sure you must've read the article at webball, but if you didn't and for the benefit of others listening in - check out:
> >
> > http://www.webball.com/skill/battorq.html
> >
> > note: major dan suggested that Epstein pirated ideas from Jack. this idea of Petricca's might not be original, but.....
> > have not read or seen Epstein's material, but have an idea of what it's about. is his stuff worth it? or is it a re-configuration of other people's ideas? a stigma still remains with me relating to the "Hank Greenburg" story.
> >
> > ray porco
>
>
> thanks for the help.
>
> ray porco

Ray-

I think Mike's stuff is excellent.It is also available on-line,so you can read through it.Go to the forum part of the website and click on Mike's columns and read through these,then let us know what you think.