Posted by: Jack Mankin (MrBatspeed@aol.com) on Thu Oct 5 15:39:03 2006

>>> I find a drill that works well on youger players is using a canvas fold out chair behind the T. It forces the hitter to avoid the chair and swing parralel to the ground (flat). This creates a smooth swing and forces the bat head to stay up. If the hitter touches the chair with the bat then they are aware of the bat head dropping. <<<

Hi Danny

Hopefully the chair is a few inches shorter than the ball on the tea. As this clip of Chipper Jones ( http://www.youthbaseballcoaching.com/mpg/Chipper01.mpeg ) shows, the best hitter’s bat-head is not traveling flat with the ground as it approaches contact. The bat-heads downward path bottoms-out 12 to 18 inches before contact and is an up-slope at contact. --Chipper would destroy your chair if it were the same height as the ball.

Jack Mankin