Posted by: Jack Mankin (MrBatspeed@aol.com) on Mon Feb 25 22:43:10 2002

>>> Does your swing need to be adjusted to cover the outside pitches? I was told this weekend that you should swing the same as you do for �middle of the plate� pitches, just wait on the ball, and hit it later to the opposite field. True? Can someone talk on this a bit? <<<

Hi Bill

Waiting for the ball to get in deeper and hitting it to the opposite field is a technique taught by many coaches. I think it stems from the fact that most batters use linear principles and will normally have their hands ahead of the bat-head at contact. The farther out the pitch, the more the hands tend to lead with extension types of mechanics.

Note: An outside pitch is no closer to the strike zone at the back of the plate than is was at the front on the plate. In fact, from a right-handed pitcher to a right-handed batter, the ball is probably angling away as it gets deeper.

With rotational mechanics this technique makes absolutely no sense. The bat-head is traveling at its widest point when the bat is perpendicular to the ball's flight path - hitting back up the middle. The farther the bat-head trails behind the hands (i.e., hitting to the opposite field), the less outside reach the bat-head has. --- Thus, the wider the pitch, the wider the hand-path must be in order to hit the ball in the opposite field.

Jack Mankin