Posted by: Shawn () on Fri Oct 26 13:17:00 2001

My son has always been taught to "Hit the inside of the ball" with the
hands forward. He makes good consstent contact. However, he
consistently hits to the right side without much power. I think it
may be a lack of full shoulder turn (Ike to Mike). He is using
standard hitting mechanics of "slapping the hands down" etc.
> >
> > Any opinions on the "Hit the inside of the ball" philosophy (hands
forward)?
> >
> > Thanks
> >
>
> Matt-
> welcome to the site. This site is all about what's wrong with the
'slap the hands down, push the hands forward' type of hitting. You
should read all the materials Jack Mankin has put here - you'll get a
good start on answering your question. Also look back through the
archives of posts. THere is a wealth of information here.

Matt,

This may well be the best swing I've ever seen, respectively to all
the greatest.

http://www.angelfire.com/games3/s_bell/hands.html

Trying to stay inside the ball isn't the problem. Trying to stay
inside the ball using only the arms/hands might be a problem.

RQL, started a thread on Jeter and hitting the other way (inside/out
swing). Jeter dangerously allows his back elbow to come forward ahead
of the hands, requiring lots of exentension to get the barrel/hands
back infront of the back elbow.

If Jeter didn't use extension he would never hit the ball. And that's
the biggest problem with the inside swing, keeping the back elbow
behind the hands. Teaching the inside-out stragedy swing, hit behind
the runner, which is mainly make contact and all hands/arms. Results
in problems with the back elbow leading the hands across the waist
line, elbow slot problems.

Slapping the hands down, well that's another story all together :).
Combining slap down and inside-out stroke :(.

Shawn