Posted by: Major Dan (mjordan1@cerner.com) on Thu Jan 24 07:51:30 2002

Hi,
> >
> > I'm new to this site and am impressed, yet feel overwhelmed. I coach a 9/10 yr. old Little League team and consider myself pretty baseball knowledgeable (perhaps only knowledgable enough to be dangerous!). My son is on the small side, but an excellent contact hitter, though last year hit too many grounds balls for my taste. I felt he had way too much top hand roll last year and this caused his excess grounders. I have had him working out religiously on the Griffey Instructo-Swing this winter. After reading comments on this site, I'm now worried that I've caused more damage than good, though from my take his swing is looking good. Here's my questions:
> >
> > 1) Does the Instructo-Swing do any good at all?
> > 2) Have I done harm to his swing?
> > 3) Are you familiar with the Shortstroke and what are your thoughts on that?
> > 4) If I purchase this tape, how long does it normally take before this new swing approach becomes "second nature?" Will it take longer given that I have to "undo" all our winter work?
> > 5) It is sometimes difficult to follow this rotational hitting process because of all the "technical" terminology used. If you had to pick ONE main thing to increase a good hitter's POWER, what would it be? Please don't use terms for which I will need a PhD! (I don't have one).
> >
> > THANKS.
> >
>
> I would certainly defer to those on here more knowledgeable than I but, I will take a stab at your question. If I had to pick one thing, I would pick two. : ) Sorry. I would try to get good separation with the hips going first. This is Epstein's big deal. The other thing is I would make sure to keep a tight connection between the bottom hand and lead shoulder during shoulder launch. This site does the best job I think of describing what happens from the shoulders out. And yes it does seem overwhelming at first. It gets simpler as you go but Jack is breaking new ground in terms of describing to a large audience what is happening in the swing. Therefore he has had to coin new terminology. So in addition to the difficulty of describing a complex motion with words, we also have to deal with new unfamiliar definitions right along with new ideas. Besides, how boring would it be if you weren't learning new things all the time? Stay with it.
>
> Mark H.

Order Jack's tape. (I don't get paid :)) Its much better to see what he is doing, you see the drills, you know what it looks like, etc.
Your son is young and will probably catch on quickly anyway regardless of what you've done so far.
An additional second tape is the Mike Epstein videos. His work on lower body mechanics is very good and compliments Jack's upper body work.
You won't need a PhD to understand the tape. Its actually fun and interesting. (don't apply ducttape unless you are a trained professional :)) Its just that some of us have been debating for so long that we forget where we started from.