Posted by: Scott B (batspeed@integritycorp.com) on Wed May 15 10:42:10 2002

I agree with the Maj. If your son is hitting reasonably well, reinforce his linear mechanics until his season is over. This is not a trivial change. LM and RM are 180 degrees opposite in both how the body moves, and event timing.

My son was hitting poorly, but was still contributing, so I pretty much left him alone (though he's trying to improve his hip rotation on his own). My daughter wasn't hitting at all, so I felt we had little to lose. She's making progress, but s-l-o-w progress. We really need about two weeks with no at-bats to run drills (we're using a mix of Mike Epstein's and Mankin's drills) before she even hits off a "tee". But since we've got a game to prepare for every second or third day, we never really get the basics down. The biggest problem is the change in what event occurs first (i.e. hips open, versus "knob of the bat" going into the ball), and the change in momentum. My son is still "sliding" forward during the swing, which destroys his rotational momentum (i.e. axis of the spine).

Better to take a couple a weeks and just work on dry swings (Epstein) or bag drills (Mankin), before trying to hit a ball. As soon as the bat is in motion against a pitched ball (in practice, let alone a game), all bets are off. The player will do whatever he/she must do to get the bat on the ball, and most likely, that will mean driving the hands to the ball, rather than opening the hips and rotating.

Regards.. Scott