Posted by: Alan () on Thu May 16 10:22:32 2002

Hi Pat,
> >
> > Well, there you have it. Two different opinions. Alan says "go", and I say "slow", depending... on the factors I cited. That's what I love about this board. Intelligent, lively discussion, and good comparative opinions.
> >
> > One more factor to mention between Alan's girls and my kids: His are probably playing softball, facing pitching speeds between 40 to 55 mph, at 40 or 45 feet. My son and daughter are facing hardball pitching between 55 and 75 mph average, at about 54'. Any variation or uncertainty in their mechanics results in a quick trip back to the dugout. They can "fake it" against the slower pitchers, but when they come up against the 14yo's with good stuff, and two effective pitches (fastball, offspeed), they need to be focused hitters, and not doubting their mechanics.
> >
> > At 11yo, your son is probably hitting against 12 yo's throwing stuff approaching 60 mph at 45'(!!), who are approaching the top of their end-of-season form. Unless his bat is absolutely cold, I'd wait.
> >
> > Regards..Scott

Scott you have a good point about not wanting the kids to doubt their mechanics, although I'm not sure if you asked them what mechanics are they'd understand what your talking about. They do understand it a "new swing", that it's either working or not, and Scott is right if they have any doubt they could get worse.

My experience was varied with my two girls. One was a middle of the pack hitter that in her very first game dramatically improved to one of the top hitters in the league. She then started to slowly move back down to the middle as she started to put her "own" variation on rotational hitting. Of course as thier parent it takes a little while for them to get back to going with the program; just a part of growing up questioning that you really know what your doing.

The other one was a very good hitter with lots of power. When she first started you could just see it was just going to increase her power even further, but one problem surfaced. Her high school varsity coach was uncomforable with this style and you can guess what happened next. Let's just say conflicting information is a bad thing. We finally prevailed and got her on the rotational program and the ball is literaly jumping off the bat.

The reason I would make the change is at the very least (if they can concentrate on this hitting style) they'll have the same level of success they currently have with occasionally more power. As I mentioned in my first response it takes 2-3 months to fully sink in and when they get there they will be better with consistently more power. Remember the rotational mechanics are relatively simple, easy to pick up and their hand eye coordination is a constant. The one big advantage in this style is the looseness of the hands, wrists, and sholders which increases your accuracy of putting the bat on the ball versus when your tight.

Of course your at the end of the season, crucial games, mabey change is not a good thing right now.