Posted by: Major Dan (markj89@charter.net) on Thu May 2 11:51:24 2002

I don't think the fact it's unusual disqualifies it in any way.
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> A big problem with youth hitters involves what to do with the hands/arms. Hands too far back and you can have trouble staying inside. Hitches keep the hands from getting into a power position soon enough.
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> While there are no pros using it--there are pros that start from a low hand position and are very close to that position--like Bonds....
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> It certainly could be a stopgap to teach rotational mechanics--doesn't Mike Epstein have a drill like this?
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> And if you can hit well in games with it what's the problem? I was watching this game last night (Mets vs Arizona) and this rookie had a really strange stance (hands as high as I've ever seen. Other strange ones like Bagwell, Ripken, Sheffield, Oh .. Many really open stances that used to be considered weird.
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Tim-
I agree. Weird, different, who cares. To me this technique is not so much weird as a kind of compact, core, rotation-only swing.
I don't see why you couldn't get a lot of batspeed from this approach.