Posted by: Mark H. (mark_h45@hotmail.com) on Mon Dec 3 14:52:50 2001

I've recently become a convert to Jack's hitting principles - largely because of the startling success my son had immediately after watching the tape. Last week I purchased Mike Epstein's tapes (thanks Mark H.) and watched them over the weekend. I initially was quite confused, but am trying to distill my confusion into specific questions.
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> > > 1. Front leg - Mike starts his (step #1) swing at the point the front heel comes down and the front foot is pointing towards the pitcher. Jack starts with the movement of the front knee back towards the catcher. Are these concepts in opposition to one another, or is Jack stimply starting at an earlier step that includes the heel drop as a later portion of the hip turn?
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> > > 2. Mike appears to teach a sort of "throwing of the hands at the pitcher" (ie; fence drill) that appears in conflict with what I got from Jack. One of the strengths/differences of Jacks work that I saw is that the bulk of the hand/shoulder rotation occurs on axis such that all obtainable bat speed is created by purposefull hip/shoulder/hand rotation before contact, and what the hands do after contact is meaningless. Part of Mike's hand movement focus seems to be on events that happen after contact. Am I observing what I think I'm seeing? Can someone add clarity for me?
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> > > Some comments about Mike's video. I like the simplicity of his 1, 2, 3 teaching method. His observation about watching a point out in front of the batter instead of "head down" was illuminating. I also think his focus on the front arm going up fits nicely with Jack's teaching about the back arm going down. Finally, as far as I can remember, Mike never directly mentions/refers to the importance of the shoulders in a strong swing, although his teachings seem to rely on them.
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> > > Responses encouraged.....
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> > Dan,
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> > Did you enjoy the stop motion comparisons of hitters past and present?
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> > As far as the step and trigger I think they are just getting to the same place a different way (triggering the front hip so both hips end up pushing in different directions creating the proper axis) but I stand to be corrected by my betters on this one if necessary.
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> > As far as the fence drill portion of Mike's tape, it leaves me scratching my head as well. Looks VERY linear to me. Perhaps Jack understands the handpath better than Mike, or anyone else, and perhaps Mike understands the lower body better than anyone else? Mike talks about a tight connection but...that fence drill!
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> > As far as his teaching method, I think it's a VERY good way to start. Once I felt I was solid on Mike's stuff, I would tackle Jack's tht/bht. But that's just my feeling. Once again, I stand ready to be corrected by the more knowledgable and experienced on here.
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> > Mark H.
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> I did like the stop motion sequences - it validates that great hitters do have a common swing. While I got your ear - a question - Mike really has his students take a long stride (the length of their bat) which feels like a bit of a cookie cutter approach to me. My son is stocky and inflexible (and 12 years old) - a shorter stride works very well for him, and a long one doesn't seem to be appropriate. Your feelings?
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> D

Once again, someone may correct me on this, but I think what he is trying to do is make it very difficult to lunge and thus force you to turn on a stationary axis. Plus, he says that people naturally tend to stride out to whatever their natural walking stride is. If you can avoid the pitfalls and still stride shorter, I'm guessing that would be fine. After all, Mike points out that these are just drills and that your style will wrap around the drills if you do them enough. When his board opens back up, you should address that question there as well.

Mark H.