Posted by: South () on Sun Sep 6 20:06:52 2009

I practiced the "fence drill" almost everyday when working on my hitting mechanics. I was a very successful hitter with plenty of pop at 5'8. I've been accused of teaching linear mechanics then told in the same breath that my swing is rotational. Growing up learning from well-learned hitters at Florida State, I was never taught linear hitting or rotation hitting. They are not seperate, they both exist in the swing. Hips bring the hands into the hitting zone with the barrel of the bat staying over the shoulder through this rotational. From this position you can hit any location by whipping the bat to the ball. Hands extend through contact to give you carry. (you should talk about impulse here and allowing longer time to hit through the ball...same as in golf) Every hitter that I have coached that learned rotationally has bad upswing, drops bat head below ball to swing up, and does nothing but pop the ball up. Sure, video and pictures can be gone through and your rotational ideas can be used to explain why their swings are good, BUT that doesn't mean that is how you teach the swing.

Using the fence drill WILL develop better hitting mechanics!! Bat Lag will lead to more bat speed and increase ability to get soft hits due to hitting inside half of ball.