Posted by: Mark H. () on Tue Dec 18 09:38:45 2001

Whether your view agrees or disagrees with my view on the optimal way to contact an outside pitch, I will probably give a great deal of weight to your view on the matter, given your pro experience as well as your background in kinesiology. In fact,I am quite open to being persuaded that my view is incorrect , and I hope the "rotationists" have the same open mind. Now with the question.
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> > > I feel that an outside pitch should be contacted on the inside part of the ball (maybe an inch or so to the right of the center & assuming a left handed hitter). I think the hands should be leading, the bat head trailing behind the hands, & the ball should be contacted closer to the plate. For example, if a hitter contacts an inside pitch 18 inches in front of the plate, the outside pitch should probably be contacted even with the front edge of the plate. The hitter should have the feeling of sort of "pushing" or "shoving" the hands/bat toward the outside part of the plate. I feel that trying to "rotate" on an outside pitch will frequently result in a weak ground ball to the pull side.
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> > > Again, if you think I am completely off-base, I am quite open to reconsidering my position. Your thoughts, please.
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> > For you serious students of the game,I would recommend familiarizing yourself with the setpro site/forums if you haven't already.Paul's explanations/interpretations of visual/motor learning are extremely important.Boundaries need to be set in terms of positions to emulate,etc.,but the individual's body also needs to be free to create its own best biomechanical solutions to the problem of hitting.The better this is understood the better you can try to walk the line between too much/too little structure and too much/too little info.Jack ,especially from the analytic side and Epstein from the implementation side do a good job of defining necessary fundamentals.
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> Tom, with all due respect I REALLY would like to hear TROY'S opinion. I am familiar with setpro & Epstein, as well as Jack, and all of those views are worth consideration. However, this particular post was directed by me to TROY, and given his unique qualifications, I would like to hear his comments before getting sidetracked. Please, Troy, I'm thanking you in advance for your comments.

Are questions not open to all for discussion perhaps best handled by email?

Mark H.