Posted by: Jack Mankin (MrBatspeed@aol.com) on Mon Jan 1 21:06:46 2007

>>> Hello everyone and happy new year,
Are there any coaches out there that agree that a quality baseball swing involves both rotational and linear qualities at certain points of the swing? I feel that it's up to the individual hitter (alot of the times with the help of his coach) to determine how much of one or the other are in his swing-thoughts to produce a quality swing. Going to the extreme with being too linear or too rotational will most definitely take away from the ultimate goal as a hitter. That goal being (taking advantage of pitches in a good hitting zone and laying off pitches that are tough to hit hard). Please respond. <<<

Hi Jimmy and a happy new year to you.

I would agree that there is linear movement of the body during the stride. However, with almost every great hitter that linear movement ceases before they initiate their swing. As the swing is being initiated, they rotate their hips, shoulders, arms, hands and bat-head about a stationary axis.

Jimmy, once the swing is initiated, can you think of any linear movement that would make the swing more productive? Also, where in the swing would you say it could be “to rotational?”

Jack Mankin