Posted by: Jack Mankin (MrBatspeed@aol.com) on Tue Oct 24 19:48:46 2006

>>> If I wanted to have a load like Albert Pujols, and kind of turn my front foot in instead of lifting it like other strides, what are the key parts you must do in order to do this right? <<<

Hi Mike

The key to doing it right is to understand why Pujols finds his lead-foot action adds to his power and bat speed. The way he rotates his heel as it lowers is what we teach in our instructional dvd.

Pujols generates great bat speed because his mechanics accelerate the bat-head around the entire swing plane (180 degrees of rotation). The average hitter’s mechanics accelerates the knob but the bat-head trails behind the hands and he attempts to develop his bat speed in the last 90 degrees of bat-head rotate (from the lag position to contact). There is no way a batter can generate great bat speed with a near static bat at the lag position (pointing toward the catcher).

Below is an excerpt from a post I wrote on this topic.

Jack Mankin
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To be honest, I have had very few students whose major problem is with their lower body mechanics. I spend a lot of time teaching the batter how to prepare good Launch and Contact positions (all the points shown in your training booklet). I have the batter address the heavy bag with the correct contact position. Then I have them use their legs (mainly the lead-leg) to rotate back to a good launch position (lead-heel up pointing toward third base). Then rotate around a stationary axis back to the contact position. This rotation is activated by the rotation of the lead-heel rotating back toward the catcher as it lowers and the lead-leg begins to extend. Then they rotate back and forth from launch to contact. Once they are fluid with their movements, they can start incorporating their timing step.

I impress upon them that all swing mechanics (lower and upper-body) has one ultimate purpose – to accelerate the bat-head around the swing plane to contact. That is what they should concentrate on – not the legs or hips or accelerating the hands – Think, rotate the heel, rotate the bat-head. -- First in an arc back toward the catcher then around toward the bag. -- No tension, no explosion – loose, smooth, ever accelerating movements.

The student’s bat-head acceleration seem to sync with hip and shoulder rotation better when thinking of accelerating the bat-head rearward than when thinking “hips first” or similar leg type cues. At least this is true for my teaching. --- This is the same method (and thought process) I used to teach John the basics of rotational transfer mechanics he exhibits in the video. John’s main problem was (like many others) his muscles were so tight from years of relying on linear mechanics, it took a long time to loosen him up to swing freely.

Jack Mankin