Posted by: tom.guerry (tom.guerry@kp.org) on Thu Sep 27 08:49:00 2001

>>> Often what is called 'pulling the head out' is really a recognition and misdiagnosis of the shoulders opening too early. Seeing a hitter miss an outside pitch as the bat swings toward third base (right handed) and the head ends up looking somewhere above and foul of the foul pole, can lead one to think the head has pulled out early.
> In fact the entire upper body is well ahead of itself. Thus the 'keep the front shoulder in' cue.
> And that is really a sequencing error - shoulders ahead of hips.
> This may apply in this particular case, maybe not. <<<
>
> Hi Major Dan
>
> On the outside pitch you described, I see the problem a little differently. I see the hands being extended out away from the batter’s body with very little shoulder rotation. On a good swing at an outside pitch, the batter allows the hand-path to be accelerated from shoulder rotation and the bat’s reaction to top-hand-torque -- not by keeping the shoulders back while extending the hands with the arms.
>
> Jack Mankin
>

My pet theory based on the visual evidence of what the back foot does is as follows.Each swing has consistent timing for a given pitcher.Stride foot comes down at same time(assuming no situational adjustments).Separation occurs before and after toe touch.Recognition of unique pitch happens just prior to stride toe touch.Inside pitch requires turning on the ball.Body rotation is maximized by early deceleration of the hips(early meaning sooner after toe touch)sending momentum upward as evidenced(in right circumstances)by reactive torque going down back leg causing toe drag.Body rotation is less and later for outside location.Hip deceleration is delayed.Toe drag commences later(longer after toe touch)and is of less duration.What happens to handpath in the meantime for the outside pitch while there is a relative delay before hips decelerate? Ideally top hand torque continues and a longer swing radius is set.Feel/proprioception/"control" is probably mostly in the upper body program and the hands which demand the proper type of lower body action and timing-top down control of a ground up sequence.

I agree with major Dan that "pulling off the ball" is often early(premature) shoulder rotation caused by lack of separation so that the hands don't "stay back", and there is less timing error built into the sequence as a result of a more "en bloc"/one-piece rotation of the body.

Another cause is "poor connection" where the shoulder has to pull out to compensate for the premature arm extension and extension of the bat which then has to be dragged back across the body.