Posted by: Steve (stephen.laflamme@bestbuy.com) on Tue May 4 05:12:45 2010

> > While I knew that Jack disagreed with Epstein on some points, I thought they were of minor significance. They are in fact points of major significance. My son's "Epstein" swing was characterized by major bat drag as in Epstein's "Enforcer" or fence drill, and his results were nothing to brag about. What really opened my eyes was Jack's video with 4 MLB hitters, their back arm positions and THT. If you watch the video on Epstein's home page you will see a college hitter with alot of bat drag and a far different swing than the 4 MLB hitters. My son began working on correcting some of his flaws (bat drag, staying inside the ball too much, hitting by forward extension, etc.) this winter, but really began to catch on just before spring. So far, he has raised his average by at least 100 points compared to the previous couple of years. Recently, he hit a ball in a game, 75' farther than any ball he had previously hit in a game. The focus now is working on consistency and really burying the old habits for good, because they do crop up in some ab's. Part of the challenge is attempting to do this while playing for high school coaches whose concept of the swing bears no resemblance to that described by Jack or Epstein. I would love to show them some of the videos. Now that I have the chance to watch more and more high school hitters, the common flaw that I see in most of them is inefficient swing mechanics that produce bat drag. Many hitters can turn on an inside pitch and hit it decent. Very few high school hitters can drive the outside pitch to the opposite field with authority. What usually happens is their front shoulder flies open, they lag the bat, and they hit a weak flare the other way. Learning how to accelerate the bat barrel with PLT and THT before the shoulder flies open is the answer, and you will not learn this from Epstein. I will close by saying that Mike Epstein and his son Jake are very nice people (my son actually has a ball that they autographed), and very professional with great intentions. When it comes to some key aspects of the swing, I think they are simply wrong and I side with Jack.
>
> Chuck

Hi Chuck,

I appreciate you sharing your experiences, and I can definitely see a different swing with a lot of Epstein hitters. Am I crazy, or do the photos and videos he puts up as a vision of good on the site show deeper ball travel at impact and less extension of the back arm then his students display? Which swing do you think has the bat stay in the zone longer?
Anyway, I'm doing the epstein course, like you, for the convenience, the week-long immersion in hitting, and for the mental side and approach they teach as well; confidence, composure, and a great approach at the dish.
Incidentally, the college hitter in Mike's video on his homepage is Brooks Beisner, who will play for Auburn in the fall and played JUCO for some school in Fla last year. It will be interesting to see how he progresses.

Steve