Posted by: Red Dog (gwils@brdwlaw.com) on Wed Jun 30 07:05:50 2010

>You make excellent points. I was at a hitting clinic with four ex-MLB players. They were talking hitting and had videos of MLB players. They would show the video of a great rotational swing and then talk about mechanics associated with the linear swing. When I pointed out the rotational mechanics, they acknowleged them from the video but dismissed them in their teachings. The reason - they don't understand rotational mechanics. They swing rotational but teach linear which is the way they were taught. The difference is they had natural rotational mechanics. I watch high school players all the time who have good rotational mechanics because that is the way they swing. They are the best hitters, have the most power and are considered the Top Prospects. I changed my son over to rotational mechanics when he was 13 years old. I wish I had done it when he was younger. Now, in high school and playing travel ball he is perfecting the rotational swing and the results are remarkable. I agree with Jerry, we will never change the teaching techniqes of the majority. This past year, every time my son would be early on a ball (timing) the coaches would yell at him for "pulling his front shoulder out but when he let the ball get to the contact zone he would hit it hard but they would never notice that the front shoulder was pulling the bat around to contact. I tried to explain it and was dismissed as an ignorant father. I remember clearly a comment from one coach who saw my son hit in practice. He said, "You can't teach that swing; you are born with it". Total garbage, my son the time between Thanksgiving and Christmas hitting everyday changing his mechanics from linear to rotational. My recommendation is learn the mechanics of the rotational swing so that you understand them and you can identify then when you watch someone swing. At a minimum of age 12, start teaching your son to hit rotational. It will be a blessing when he gets to high school. The rotational mechanics will allow a 5'10" 16 year old boy to hit a baseball 350' - 375' with a wooden bat. Watch Dustin Pedroa hit the baseball.