Posted by: Joe A () on Mon Aug 13 06:57:48 2001

What do you do when your coach wants you to swing with bad mechanics?
> At my practice I couldn't hit, cause I never got a single ball in the strike zone (seriously). My assistant coach thought it was a mechanical problem. He wants me to swing with a long swoop (arms extended at contact), and have a long stride which is supposed to get momentum to get hip rotation or something. He also told me not to turn inward, just step and swing, and to throw my hands forward the same time I rotatr my hips. I used to, never hit past the infield, never will again, cause he must have been sleeping when I smashed a frozen rope and it blew past the RF, next AB I alsmost took the pitchers head off.
> He thinks in my league if I use what we call "poor mechanics", we all should hit 350-500' balls. Ha ha ha.
> He told me to swing and stop at contact. He said I'd be hitting the ball on the neck (he showed me, not true, those liners last game?!). He thinks if I have my arms extended I'll hit the ball on the barrel which is kind of funny cause if I have my arms extended at contact it'll kinda hit my arm which kinda hurts cause I got hit there last game.
> He also told me not to bring my hands close to my body. I told him I bring my arm to my side to put torque on the bat, but he doesn't believe me. His words "you don't want to shorten your swing up". I argued about that for a minute but never persuaded him.
> Also he told me I was rotating my hips too early, I should rotate and bring my hands forward at the same time. I told him I rotate my hips which BRINGS my hands forward (in a circular path of course) into the contact zone. He thinks I won't be able to hit 500 footers like this. I mean, I'm sorry I don't take steriods and creatine like Bonds and Sosa, I'm also sorry I'm only 5,9" 135 ibs and 17 yrs. old! I'm sure by the time I'm 30 and have this technique in my muscle memory and been lifting weights for 13 years I'll be putting them well over the fence. Does McGwire hit 500 footers, don't think so! He can come close once in a while but you need the winds assist to do that!
> I got 3 playof games left, I'm just worried after each game he'll keep telling me to do this and that! What am I supposed to do? I'm trying to get to the big show!! One coach on High School Baseball Web told me when I'm making $5 million a year I can do whatever, but I won't even be able to make $200,000 (minimum MLB salary) if I've been swinging like that all through the minors!!AAH!
>
> just had to get that off my chest. i told my dad.He said THE GREATEST ADVICE I think I've ever heard was "Don't listen to that guy."

Max,

You put a lot of stuff in that post so it's not easy to respond without seeing whats happening. But one thing did tip me off to something you might want to check.

You said that if you had your arms extened at contact the ball would hit your arms. This should not be the case. This tells me you may be way too close to the plate. Theres no way a ball over the plate could hit your arms when you swing.

When you are too close to the plat all your mechanics are affected. You instintively know you dont want your arms out there so you pull them in during the swing. This could also restrict your hip turn and upper body turn.

So, just as an educated "guess" on my part, check how far you are away from the plate. You may be too close.

Good Luck
Joe A,