Posted by: tom.guerry (tom.guerry@kp.org) on Wed Mar 27 08:28:53 2002

Hi,
> I am a first year coach of a 12 year old team. I have been recently following the rotational batting approach, and purchased and viewed the video. I had been taught the linear approach with moving hands towards the pitcher first. One question arises in my mind. Even though a rotational swing may result in higher bat speed at contact, does the young batter lose reaction time? That is, if the young batter starts with his hands towards the pitcher (while still rotating his hips) will he be able to start his forward bat movement quicker and therefore be able to meet the fast ball more often (make contact), even if with less bat speed?
> Thank you in advance for any insight on this aspect.
>
> Joe H

Hitting is timing.Hitting requires getting the sweetspot on the ball.The sweetspot gets to the ball much quicker with rotational hitting which harnesses the energy of the big muscles of the lower body.The quickest way to get the sweetspot to the ball is with the hands staying in a circular path with as short a radius from the center of rotation as possible.The closer in the hands are the faster the body can spin and transfer energy from the bottom up.Pete Rose was an example of this short handpath radius being as quick to the ball as possible.

Scientifically,the shorter the path of the sweetspot to the ball(launch to contact) and the higher the batspeed over this path,the lower the timing error.You need to find the best combo of shortswing and batspeed for you.