Posted by: Roger Moore (rmoore@doe.state.nj.us) on Mon Jul 9 12:30:49 2001

I believe in keeping the baseball swing as simple and as efficient as possible. When instructing/evaluating Little League through American Legion hitters, I start with their stride. I have found that those hittes with short strides can wait longer and adjust to pitches better. Thus, I like to have our hitters start with a wide base or stance - a bit wider than their shoulders. Hands and knuckles are comfortably lined up when gripping the bat - loosely at first; tightening up only when they start their stride. The back elbow is relaxed - at about a 45 degree angle. As they stride, the hands go back a bit and "torque" up - especially the bottom hand - but not to the point where the bat head starts "wrapping" around the back of the batter's head and start moving out toward the pitcher; doing so makes the swing too long and requires very, very precise timing. (Tough to achieve against a moving target, let alone a very fast moving one.) This is all part of the upper body torquing up a bit. Achieving this type of position, I believe, puts the hitter in a very good "launch" position. Then it is a matter of trusting your eyes as to when to actually "launch" the swing. Hope that helps, Roger Moore