Posted by: tom.guerry (tom.guerry@kp.org) on Mon Apr 15 10:06:36 2002

> Thanks for trying to help but I'm afraid you are caught up in the trap of trying to describe everything as either "linear" or "rotational". Real world: my brother-in-law plays AAA baseball and they don't use terms like "linear". They do teach "stay inside the ball" and these guys do hit for power. Apparently being inside the ball does not mean little bloopers to the opposite field. It's ok for you to express your opinion but I think you should attach a disclaimer to your statements stating that this is all theory that you dreamed up based on watching videos and not based on pro ball experience. Adios.

Max-

I never played pro ball.

However,even pros can not win if they are fighting against a sound theory.

Analysis of what pros actually do on video is hard to dispute.Admittedly this leaves out the all important "feel" component(how the body learns to internally control things and the feel associated with this),but it is still nearly impossible to succeed as a pro without rotational mechanics as Jack's studies have shown.Some are more rotational than others,but most who have continuing success are similar from launch to contact as pointed out by Epstein and others in addition to Jack.

There really is one best basic rotational type swing.There is no other way to sum up the body's energy and get it turned into a quick,fast bat.The faster you can do it,the more accurate it is-the miracle of human motor learning.These are the best mechanics.If you have them,only the mental side will keep you from succeding.If you don't you don't have too good a chance regardless of how strong your character/motivation/intelligence/experience.Since there is one single self reenforcine set of mechanics that accomplish this,it is a good idea to classify swings as simply rotational and non-rotatiobnal.Work on the nonrotational as a totally different kind of swing like bunting.

I think it is reasonable to classify the nonrotational swing as linear,because as Jack demonstartes,the main distinction is a handpath that straightens is unable to transfer body energy efficiently into turning the bat.This is a huge problem when reaction time is limited if you are swinging for power.

You don't have to look any farther than golf to see how the basic theory of how a swing is produced has converged into a single model with characteristic power generation and "transfer mechanics".