Posted by: rql () on Sun Sep 13 12:40:51 2009

> I have been reviewing the debate and the examples used on this site describing rotational hitting. I agree with south, that the rotational and linear hitting are not independent but a good swing uses a combination of the two. My physics is a little rusty, so my questions will be in laymen terms. 1st, if you drive the bat down towards the catcher to start the swing, then you have to redirect the bat to the ball, how is this going to increase bat speed, and would this not encourage more pop-ups and fly balls? why not just lay the bat back like Ripkin did and take the first step out. 2nd it my experience with hitting (18 yrs worth), if you rotate your shoulders with your hips you have the tendency to pull off the ball, now jerry stated that there is less shoulder rotation when hitting an outside pitch, how do you teach high school kids this. Are the majority of baseball players, at any age, going to have the ability to recognize what location the pitch is going to be quick enough to decide how much shoulder rotation is envolved, and if you teach them to reach across there body to hit the outside pitch, would this not encourage casting their hands(getting them too far away from the body)creating a longer slower swing?. When i watch todays big time hitters a few pop out, Pujols (arguably the best hitter in baseball at this time) stays close until the last possible moment. At contact he then explodes through the ball with shoulders and hips working together to provide power. He also drives the knob of the bat directly to the ball. Which method is he using? His swing is short and compact at impact, then it gets long as he hits through the ball. Josh Hamilton has one of the prettiest swings in the game, he also hits for power and average. While watching the espn baseball experts break down his swing, i noticed that his hips and shoulders start the swing, in doing so the two bring his hands into the hitting zone. From there he drives the knob to the ball then throws the bat head to the ball, then drives through it. If you swing with hips and shoulders only, your swing will be longer, thus making the batter swing sooner on faster pitching. would this not cause that batter to be susceptible to a change-up? if he is out front with his hips and shoulders already through the zone, how does he keep his hands back to hit off speed pitches? what do the hands do and when in rotational hitting? Also, are you giving up bat control for a little more bat speed? which is more inportant, putting the ball in play consistanly, or hitting it a little harder with a less amount of balls being put into play? I have always been told the quickest way somewhere is a straight line, so how does takning your hands from the starting point(point A) dropping the bat head(point B), then taking the bat to the contact point(point C) increase bat speed. Im not arguing, just curious.<

gamer unfortunately you do not have a grasp of the totality of the biomechanics of the rotational swing,just for example you have always been told quickest way between to points is a straight line,the fact that you accept this as an absolute limits your ability to see a new possibility.