Bat Speed -- Baseball Hitting Forum

Posted by: Paul () on Tue Oct 5 19:45:20 2010

> > This is a very deceiving type of hitting. I have been a hitting coach/instructor for the past 15 years and have always taught knob to ball, hands in front of chin at contact, hips to hitting zone, etc. Watching the video here and battling for about 2 years over this I cannot accept this teaching.
> >
> > Younger kids may get away with this style because the ball being pitched is not moving extremely fast or there is no movement on "offspeed" pitches at a young age. Once these kids hit high school and beyond, they do not know how to hit to the opposite field very well...we end up breaking their bad habits and having to explain exactly how mature of a swing this "rotational" style is.
> >
> > Albert Puljos is used as an example...ok, yes his video shows this "rotational," but Puljos also uses what you call "linear," which also use rotational hips. By mature, I mean most high school players are not able to adjust and change swings to match their count.
> >
> > I agree there is more torque with this hand path, but this hand path IS NOT successful in every count and every pitch. This swing is about the home run, not for a team average style of hitting.
> >
> > Ted Williams is also brought up in this discussion, but different era and style of pitching...have you seen some of the "successful" swings back then? Ok, off my soap box...last thing - plese check out www.sportskool.com and find Tony Gwynn's videos, also Ripken baseball...these are solid swings for average and opportunity to hit the long ball, after mastering seeing the ball and hitting for average.
> >
> > Thanks for your time everyone.

I make the argument, as does Mike Epstein, that rotational hitting is ONLY about hitting the ball hard. Stan Musial, a truly wonderful baseball player, had a very flat swing plane. He still would hit home runs. However, Stan Musial hit mostly line drives. He was truly the essence of a team hitter. Rotational hitting is not necessarily about home runs, it is about hitting hard line drives, and, with a little bit of luck, hitting home runs. Tony Gwynn had all of 135 career home runs. For consistency, emulate Ted Williams.

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> > > This is a very deceiving type of hitting.  I have been a hitting coach/instructor for the past 15 years and have always taught knob to ball, hands in front of chin at contact, hips to hitting zone, etc.  Watching the video here and battling for about 2 years over this I cannot accept this teaching.  
> > > 
> > > Younger kids may get away with this style because the ball being pitched is not moving extremely fast or there is no movement on "offspeed" pitches at a young age.  Once these kids hit high school and beyond, they do not know how to hit to the opposite field very well...we end up breaking their bad habits and having to explain exactly how mature of a swing this "rotational" style is.  
> > > 
> > > Albert Puljos is used as an example...ok, yes his video shows this "rotational," but Puljos also uses what you call "linear," which also use rotational hips.  By mature, I mean most high school players are not able to adjust and change swings to match their count.
> > > 
> > > I agree there is more torque with this hand path, but this hand path IS NOT successful in every count and every pitch.  This swing is about the home run, not for a team average style of hitting.  
> > > 
> > > Ted Williams is also brought up in this discussion, but different era and style of pitching...have you seen some of the "successful" swings back then?  Ok, off my soap box...last thing - plese check out www.sportskool.com and find Tony Gwynn's videos, also Ripken baseball...these are solid swings for average and opportunity to hit the long ball, after mastering seeing the ball and hitting for average.
> > > 
> > > Thanks for your time everyone.
> 
> I make the argument, as does Mike Epstein, that rotational hitting is ONLY about hitting the ball hard. Stan Musial, a truly wonderful baseball player, had a very flat swing plane. He still would hit home runs. However, Stan Musial hit mostly line drives. He was truly the essence of a team hitter. Rotational hitting is not necessarily about home runs, it is about hitting hard line drives, and, with a little bit of luck, hitting home runs. Tony Gwynn had all of 135 career home runs. For consistency, emulate Ted Williams.

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