Posted by: Jack Mankin (MrBatspeed@aol.com) on Fri Jan 22 10:53:52 2010

>>> i have a good rotational hitter, constantly being told when the pitchers get better he will not be able to hit the low outside pitches.

Where does this come from?

Deep seated belief among old guard coaches why? <<<

Hi Djc

Major League pitchers are very capable of consistently throwing low outside pitches. If what the "old guard" coaches belief were true, there would be no rotational hitters in the Major Leagues. Red Dog did a good job describing the problem with these coaches in his post below. They have no understanding of why rotational principles produce greater bat speed with wider hand-paths than linear concepts.

I had the occasion to witness this yesterday. I went to a local batting facility to reserve a training area for couple students that are flying in for lessons. I observed two batting coaches stressing to their students the importance of "keeping their shoulder in-there" and getting their arms to full extension at contact. One of the coaches held the hitter's shoulder still to make the point.

I am bewildered that with all the video of the best hitters available, coaches could still hold this view. Although I would not thought it necessary, I am going to produce a video of four good hitters concentrating on the relationship of lead-shoulder rotation to the acceleration of the hand-path. -- It should be ready in a day or so.

In the meantime, below is a post from the archives that discusses initiation mechanics (THT) and its impact on the plate coverage and bat speed. The post also contains video of a good rotational hitter hitting home runs on both inside and outside pitches.

Inside/Outside Mechanics

Jack Mankin