Posted by: Jack Mankin (MrBatspeed@aol.com) on Wed Aug 30 21:52:06 2006

>>> if you spin on your back foot. you are acting in a pure rotational manner and are at risk for outside pitches and low inside pitches.

But remember every player has flaws in their swing that they have mastered, like George Brett and his sometimes wrapping of the bat behind his head. and Barry Bonds and his sometimes unstable front foot at contact. and Manny Ramirez with his barred front arm. <<<

Hi Zig

In your posts you mentioned “spinning” and “barring the lead-arm.” These are commonly referred to as serious flaws in the swing. However, I have a problem understanding why either is considered a flaw. I will outline my reasons why I do not think they are flawed and maybe you can show me what I am overlooking.

“Spinning” – It has been a long held belief that in order to generate power, the body must rotate about the lead-side (like a gate swinging on hinges). If a batter rotates about the center of the body (like a revolving door) he is “spinning” which produces weak results. – Zig, my problem is that all the best hitters heads remain still as their shoulders rotate under it. This means their shoulders are spinning about a fairly stationary spine (like a revolving door). If their shoulders were to rotate about their lead-side (like a gate on hinges), then their spine, neck and head would also have to swing forward with the back-shoulder. – If the best hitter’s shoulders are spinning, why is it called a problem.

“Barring” -- It has been a long held belief that having the lead-arm straight during the swing leads to casting and a host of other problems. – Zig, my problem is that many of the best hitters have their lead-arm fairly straight. I just studied a good number of the swings at - http://www.youthbaseballcoaching.com/swings.html . About half had a fairly straight lead-arm. I seriously doubt that many good hitters are using a flawed mechanic. Could it be that many coaches opinion may be flawed regarding the lead-arm?

Jack Mankin