Posted by: Jeff (kidd@islc.net) on Tue Dec 28 18:24:58 1999

Hi everyone,

Some thoughts regarding the front foot:

He might not have been the first to preach it, but Charley Lau was certainly one of the first to popularize the notion of striding with a closed front foot. (It was one of his Absolutes.) But interestingly, even the father of w/s mechanics concedes that 1. it's difficult to stride while keeping the front foot perfectly square; and 2. the front foot is going to slide open anyway when the hips rotate.

No. 2 is particularly revealing in the context of rotational mechanics because it demonstrates one way in which w/s mechanics will suck away power that could be applied to bat speed later in the swing. (IMO, the answer to Dog's question is that it will almost certainly inhibit hip rotation, and thus torque and bat speed, to some degree.)

I don't think that necessarily means you should swing your front foot totally open while striding, however, as Steve Ferroli seems to advocate. The downside to a totally open front foot is that while it might afford maximum power, it's clear to me it limits your plate coverage. You'll have a hard time even making contact with a pitch over the outside corner, let alone hit it with any authority. IMO this is a point that has to be conceded since most agree you cannot stride "toward the pitch." You're stride will be completed before you have an idea where the pitch will be located, or at least before you can make a corrective move to account for that knowledge.

Lately, I've been contemplating another possibility that I picked up from a discussion at SetPro regarding pitching -- the difference between foot touchdown (when it touches the ground) and foot plant (when the front foot accepts weight.) As I see it, there are two ways to hedge your bets. Stride with your front foot somewhere between perfectly square and 45 degrees. Or allow your foot to pivot from square to about 45 degrees between touchdown and plant. The first option seems to work well with the hitters I've taught. I'm not sure the second one is entirely possible (is that what's happening to w/s hitters?)

Whatever the case, it seems to reach a point at which you can cover the plate AND get sufficient bat speed, you must keep the hips from opening too much too soon but also allow them to rotate beyond the shoulder line and set up the displacement and muscle stretch that I believe Jack was alluding to in a thread above this one. This might be something someone like Jack, who I presume has the equipment to analyze it, might be interested in delving into in more detail.

On a related subject, Jack, if you're reading this post, I was wondering if you saw Paul N.'s post over on the SetPro site regarding your arrow analogy. I bring it up because I think it relates here and brings up an additional question: Would the linear to rotational momentum conversion still be impossible even if there were a degree of hip displacement prior to the shift? In other words, you wouldn't be shifting along the hip line but tangential to it.

Just wondering, and keep up the good work. I'm looking forward to your video.

Regards,
Jeff