Posted by: Jimmy () on Fri Jan 5 14:53:27 2007

> > > Jack. Not that I disagree with anything in your post, but I believe the most
important thing in hitting the outside pitch is that the hitter has to able to wait and then
fire into the
> > pitch. This means the hitter has to have the batspeed/and confidence necessary to
believe he can hit the ball when it about to almost pass/pass his front shoulder. The hitter
cannot be afraid to jam himself. Derek Jeter, Manny Ramirez, and David Ortiz (to name a
few) do this very well.
> >
> > Guru,
> >
> > Great point! Do you believe that the hitter is stationary as he waits to fire into the
pitch?
> >
> > Jimmy
>
> ---------------------------------------------------------------------
> For a hitter who uses a wide stance (no stride) Jim Edmonds, Paul Molitor (spin hitter)
the stationary position work best. We should remember that the hitter who has/uses a lot
of upper body strength he may only be concerned with getting the bat to the ball. Thus he
is not necessarilly trying to maximize batspeed or power. His main focus is consistency in
its simplest fashion.
>
> Stationary positions are better for the hitter who cannot hit when they are fooled by
pitches. But for the player who uses the CHP and is a lot of athletic ability his results are
not compromised by forward momentum and in some instances may get an extra ummph
into the ball.
>
> For most hitters they need to be stationary in order to hit the ball hard. But for the
hitter who can keep his hands back, he can be off balance if he has exceptional
coordination. A couple of hitters who were especially good at this were Roberto Clemente,
Vlad Guerroro, Ichiro, and Babe Ruth.
>
> This is hard to believe if you did not witness it. But Joe Crede (Chicago White Sox) hit a
pitch outside off the plate (4 inches off the ground) (seemingly with one hand coming off
the bat) and hit it over the left center field wall at U.S. cellulare field. That was simply
unreal. But as shown on the replay, though his entire body moving forward his hands
were all the way back as he fired into the pitch.

Guru,

Do you see the similarities between a pitchers wind-up and a hitters load?

Jimmy