Posted by: Jack Mankin (MrBatspeed@aol.com) on Tue Sep 8 20:29:30 2009

>>> I don't believe in a downward swing. That upward high/hard finish on a swing does give you carry. The principles presented on the web-site are good ones....bat speed comes from the hips and the swing starts from the ground up. But you cannot teach this swing as "all rotational". Most of the guys classified as rotational hitters, are power hitters who do not exhibit the best averages. You have freaks of nature like Puljos who are posses physical attributes that nobody else has.

If you swing rotational as described here, you bat is not going to be in contact zone any longer, it will actually be shorter. You are circling and pull the bat off the ball. How do you hit an outside pitch? How do you stay inside a sharp slider or slow curve to DRIVE the pitch? The swing described here is going to produce a dead pull hitter. Jeter is not a rotational hitter, he hits inside out which has some "linear" mechanics to it.

Again, my points are that there is not a purely rotational hitter or purely linear hitter. Hitting needs to be kept simple and not explained in physics terms. <<<

Hi South

You state, "bat speed comes from the hips." I noted you never mentioned the shoulders. How the shoulders are used in the swing is a major difference in linear and rotational teaching. Discussing the role of the shoulders may provide insight into which principles you teach.

With linear mechanics, the batter is instructed to rotate the hips while keeping the shoulders closed. They say this produces a short compact swing by allowing the arms to drive the hands in a straighter line to the contact (shortest distance between two points).

With rotational mechanics, the main purpose of hip rotation is its contribution to a more powerful shoulder rotation. The batter keeps his hands back and allows the rotation of the shoulders to swing the hands in a circular path to contact.

South, these are just basic descriptions but I would be interested in your thoughts on the two.

Jack Mankin