Posted by: Jack Mankin (MrBatspeed@aol.com) on Fri Nov 9 20:48:22 2001

>>> Hey Jack, hows it going,
I have always heard that your front heel should plant before you swing at the pitch, but in my swing I do an inward turn and dont stride, and i rotate back on ball of my front foot and just spin on it without planting the hill to start the swing, is this wrong, or should it be ok to do this, thanks <<<

Hi Hitman

If I understand you correctly, I would say we are in agreement. I do not lower the front heel straight down to trigger rotation either. When I use the no-stride approach, during the inward-turn, I cock the lead-knee back toward the catcher as a timing movement in place of a short stride. Cocking the knee toward the catcher causes my front-heel to rotate toward the pitcher. I then trigger rotation by rotating the lead-heel back toward the catcher. The heel rotates and plants as the knee rotates and straightens.

Note: With this method, the heel and knee rotates in opposite directions.

I prefer a more closed lead-foot and rotating the heel to plate over striding to an open foot and dropping the heel straight down. It fits better with my rotational philosophy. I tell the hitter that when he rotates the heel, it will lead to the rotation of the knee, hips, shoulders and hands. But those are not the things the batter should concentrate on. He should think – rotate the heel – rotate the bat-head. That’s what it is all about, bringing the bat-head around to contact. And with the proper initiation and linkage, rotation can make it happen in abundance.

Jack Mankin