Posted by: Major Dan (markj89@charter.net) on Fri Nov 9 07:03:09 2001

> > Major Dan gave you some good advice. If you are not developing good bat speed, you can be almost certain there is something missing with your mechanics. It is next to impossible to help someone solve a problem without actually seeing his or her swing. If you can send me a video, I would be glad to point out areas where you could improve.
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> > Jack Mankin
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Carlos-
you stand the bag up. A 70 lb bag is 42" tall. You can swing from somewhere above the waist down to the bottom of the strike zone. If you stand it on some bricks or a cinder block you can add 6" - 9" of height. You just need a minor amount of bracing so it doesn't fall over sideways. Tie it to a lally column or post in the basement with bungee cords for example or nail 2X4's to the wall (vertically) to make s 'slot' about as wide as the bag to stand the bag between.
It is important to stand 'up in the box' so to speak as you swing: in other words, get the front foot up even with the front of the bag and close for 'inside pitches' and farther away but at least even with the middle of the bag for 'outside pitches'. This foot placement is for no-stride or after stride foot landing.
If you stand too far back from the bag (away from the 'pitcher'), you will have to either lunge your upper body or push your hands to reach the bag.
The idea, instead, is to hit the bag when you would contact the ball. Jack's tape explains this very well. But I've seen lots of kids at our indoor facility hit the bag (unsupervised, untaught) by standing back too far and all they are doing is working on linear mechanics by mistake.
> I agree. I plan on sending you a tape. I think that is going to be the missing link, so to speak.
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> But I'm not sure about Major Dan's advice (swinging into a heavy bag that's set on the floor). I definitely appreciate the tip- but I'm 6'2" and it seems like the bag would be a little too low. I'll try it, though.
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> Thanks!