Posted by: drluggo (drluggo@earthlink.net) on Tue Nov 21 09:04:45 2006

Wanted to start a new thread so this doesn't get buried inside all the other ones on this topic. I teach kids to rotate their back foot and want to make sure I am getting it correct!

Chris O'Leary provided us with this link:

http://imageevent.com/siggy/hitting/pro2?p=60&n=61&m=12&c=4&l=0&w=4&s=0&z=9

Maybe I am confused about what exactly is meant by "squish the bug" but if it means rotation of the back foot I fail to see how Pujols does NOT do that in this clip. He clearly starts his hips rotating before the swing as is taught in rotational swing techniques and as his weight shifts forward and his back hip comes around, this brings the rest of the back leg inlcuding the knee and the foot to a 90 degree rotation so that when he finishes the swing his entire lower body is facing toward the pitchers mound. (Granted the back toe does not come the full 90 degrees and probably does not need to. This may have been an outside pitch as his head appears to look toward right field after he hits)

During the swing his back foot does come up slightly and he is on his back toe at contact and actually places a good amount of weight back on that foot to start his first stride.

This shifting of weight BACK to the back foot would not be possible if the following had occurred:

1) foot came completely off the ground
2) foot did not rotate at all
3) foot rotated too far.

I am a fan of teaching rotational hitting and I am having a hard time understatnding why this rotation of the back foot (or what is commonly called "squish the bug") is deemed a contrast to this theory.