Posted by: Captain Kim () on Tue Jan 23 15:44:25 2007

Hi, Mr. Mankin. I'm new to this forum. I made a purchase to your DVD series earlier this month along with Mr. Charley Lau Jr.'s DVD.

I've studied the DVD, and tried Charley Lau's linear mechanic first. After getting used to his mechanic, I was able to make a consistent contact against the automatic fastball machine in the local baseball center that shoots the ball 84 to 87 miles per hour with line drive power. To be exact, this "pulling the knob to the ball" was the best point on linear mechanic that Mr. Lau has ever made. I just recently turned 16, and some coaches really like my hitting skills. And it's not that the fastball machine would shoot the ball to middle;the ball comes out in any directions in the strike zone.

Later, I was actually curious and took some advice on rotational mechanics on your DVD; I've practiced them. Soon, I did apply rotational mechanics against the fastball machine. I did make some good contacts that ended up with good power, but mostly, I didn't make a good contact (which would've resulted weak groundout in real situation) or missed it. It could've been some advices that I've missed or misunderstood from lack of my English skills, or... something else that I'm not sure of.

To be exact, I'm thinking linear mechanic is actually helpful of making straight contacts and sending balls to all fields. According to Mr. Lau Jr's DVD, some players, coaches spoke out on how they were benefited from his linear mechanics (George Brett, Cito Gaston and Tony Kubek). Although I've seen some rotational mechanics in major leagues (Albert Pujols has excellent swing), I think it kind of differs depending on different players. I don't know exact point of writing above paragraphs on linear/rotational mechanics, but I just wanted to tell you my view, that's all. I might change my mind soon though.

I have just moved recently from South Korea, and I'm kind of short on English. Here are some terms on your DVD that I didn't understand.

1. Before start bring your bat head to contact, your arm must be on plane of your swing. Or was it your bat must be on plane of the swing? I didn't really catch that, but can you kind of translate what 'getting into plane' means?

2. What's the easier way to understand 'Torque'?

3. Why would you choose rotational mechanics instead of linears if you want better contact? I'm kind of new around here, so I'm not familiar with things.

Thank you, and I'll appreciate your answers and readings despite I'm not really good on English

Captain Kim