Posted by: coach13 (halour@netscape.net) on Tue Feb 20 06:33:26 2007

> > >>> All that you have verified is that a good swing looks a certain way. I never denied that the ball is struck on the upslope, what I do deny is that all good hitters actually try to swing on an upslope. You are making claims that you can not prove unless the hitter himself states that he is trying to do or feel what you claim. I do know Major League hitters and coaches, and I do know what they are thinking and trying to feel during their swings. And they are all different to some degree.
> >
> > How do you approach the situation where your hitter keeps swinging up under the ball at too much of an angle? Do you say "Swing up! But not that much!"? This is what I mean by feel. If that hitter feels like he is doing as you ask then you and he needs to make an
> > adjustment.
> >
> > I respect the work that you've put in trying to analyze the baseball swing, but the fact is that hitting is not only about analyzing video. I takes the hitter seeing himself and applying adjustments to his swing as he and his coach sees fit. Sometimes the adjustment is the opposite of what your theories are in order to swing the bat correctly. It depends on the feel that he communicates to his coach.
> >
> > You accuse me of dodging but all I am doing is being honest with the gentlemen in this forum. I am not claiming any absolutes as this site does. I do claim that I have somewhat of an ability to adjust my coaching styles and terminologies to best suit the individual
> > hitter from what I see AND what he feels.
> >
> > If strictly "rotational hitting" is the answer to all hitters prayers and you have the video to prove it, than why is there still so much debate? Can't you agree that there is debate because no matter how alike hitters are, they are all very different in how they learn and develop. <<<
> >
> > Hi Jimmy
> >
> > You started this thread by stating “Yes. And Mike was a firm believer in the level cut as opposed to the slight upswing.” – I stated that was misleading. Most of the best hitter’s bats are on an up-slope at contact.
> >
> > Let us get to the bottom line of your thread. - Can we agree that regardless of whatever most of the best hitter’s “intentions are” or whatever “sensations” they “feel,” video analysis shows that their bats are actually on an up-slope at contact? And therefore, when
> we work with young hitters, if video analysis shows their bat’s trijectories are not on an up-slope, we should point this out and help them develop the correct swing plane.
> >
> > Jack Mankin
>
> Jack,
>
> Yes we actually do agree that most of the time the swing appears to be on the slight upslope at contact. I make adjustments to the hitter based more on what the flight of the ball is doing and how he is impacting it, but yes if you just look at the swing plane and a
> hitter is swinging too upwards or too downwards on the video then we should definately point this out to them.
>
> The begining of this thread was more about using a combination of rotational and linear qualities within the swing, not so much about the swing plane. I am not saying that linear means perfectly straight lines and I am not saying that rotational is perfect circles, but a good swing involves both of these concepts. If you disagree with that than you need to ask some Big League hitters some important questions to further your knowledge of the swing and what they actually do to make it happen.
>
> Jimmy

Hi Jimmy
I am going to interpret your definition of linear from your previous posts to mean that the hands move prior to contact. If this is wrong please correct my assumption. There is no evidence to justify that the elite hitters use this technique. Even if they dont realize it. The more we deal with the reality of what we do to be successful, that is the more we understand what we are trying to acomplish the easier it is to master. I know not every que works with every athelite, but my example of the softball player now a head coach that at one time was a linear hitter and was given ques and drills to become a rotational hitter credits that having a clear understanding of the differance helped her become one of the elite hitters in the game. Again lifetime BA of .402 and slugging % of .779 is nothing to sneeze at in a game where pitching dominates.