Posted by: jaymzinsa (jaymzinsa@yahoo.com) on Fri Feb 22 10:28:48 2002

Actually, my question is whether the front toe has to land first, prior to the heel dropping, or whether the whole front foot can just land on the ground in more of a clomping fashion. If I concentrate on the front toe landing first, it feels like I'm gonna pull my front calf. Thanks.
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> > If you clomp down with the whole foot you will not get front side rotation into the swing, limiting the hip torque from the front leg. You will also be commited to one swing timing of the pitch - you won't be able to adjust to offspeed pitches. You'll be limited to reading them immediately.
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> > You must be striding very hard to feel that much pressure on your calf at landing. Perhaps that is the problem.
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> Thanks, Dan. Kinda thought that would be the answer. The more I mess with it, I think the stress was actually coming from doing it in slower motion. It seems like some guys have the heel higher than others- can it be a difference in flexibilty?

Hi Chip, I agree with Dan in that you must be striding and landing hard to feel that much pressure on your calf and that clomping your whole foot down at once limits your hip rotation. I think the best example of how to stride and land on your front foot would be to watch/listen to Tony Qwynn. His main points are to take a short stride and land softly on the ball of your foot. How high your heel is off the ground is really just a question of what feels comfortable to you. I'm not the most knowledgable authority on hitting but I do know that a soft, balanced stride and landing are essential to initiate proper swing mechanics. Good luck, hope this helps. Respectfully, jaymzinsa.