Posted by: skip (piks5@sbcglobal.net) on Wed Apr 4 18:24:53 2007

> Hi Skip
>
> You state:
> #
> “Grab a bat. In slo=mo do an exagerated knob-to-ball lin. swing. As you approach contact, pull the front shoulder open the way you should for the rot. swing taught here. Notice that you have virtually NO plate coverage. Outside pitches, no chance of contact. Middle-in, weak glancing hits off the end of the bat. In short, he's "flying open" with the front shoulder.
>
> My older son is an agressive powerful HS hitter. When he goes into a mini-slump and mis-hits fastballs off the end of the bat, he always somehow cures it willing himself to somehow keep the shoulder "in" until contact,”
> #
>
> Although I would never advise a “linear knob to the ball” swing, keeping the lead “shoulder “in” until contact” may work for your son. However, I hope you are not saying that the better hitters keep their lead-shoulder “in” during the swing. All the best MLB hitters have their lead-shoulder rotating as they initiate their swings and obviously have no problem with plate coverage.
>
> To clear up any misunderstanding, here is the Griffey clip I used the a post below -- http://www.youthbaseballcoaching.com/mpg/griffey_ken1.mpeg – Would you point out in his swing what you mean by “keep the shoulder "in" until contact?”
>
> Jack Mankin


Jack, You are of course right. I erred in not saying that "keeping the shoulder in until contact" was what you aptly call a "cue" on this site-- a mental prompt -- which should always be distinguished from what you actually want the body to do in response to it.
In his case, this cue just keeps him closed a little longer.
I haven't filmed his swing since he was 12. Somehow he gets great batspeed seemingly without the bathead travelling far enough to pick up steam. Soon I will tape him to satisfy my curiousity about his hybrid lin/rot swing. I got to see where the b.s. comes from. It's just a blur.
Skip