Posted by: Scott B (batspeed@integritycorp.com) on Thu May 16 23:55:48 2002

> Scottmeister,
> My nit picking involves the wording that Epstein directs the player to raise the back heel. I'd have to consult the tape, but I don't remember any cue saying to "raise" the heel. Doesn't it just come up because it has to as a result of hip rotation? (Hey, I responded to your post on Mike's forum, but Mike must have considered it to be too much of a "chatty" thing to post. Don't even recall what I said, so it was no doubt just as well.)
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Hi Chip,

Nice to hear from you again.

Mike's 1-2-3 drill emphasizes the position of the stride foot as being "heel up", knee flexed, and weight forward on the inner thigh.

To quote Mike:

"The stride foot should be at a minimum 45 degree angle, open enough to allow the hips to come through (I recommend and teach a very short stride). He should land on his TOES, because when a player drops his heel, the swing is then triggered. The swing doesn't take place until AFTER the front heel plants! When it does plant, the player is then in the proper torque position (top half going back, lower half coming forward)."

You can review the entire copyrighted article in the "Collegiate Baseball News", March 9, 2001 edition, or here:

www.mikeepsteinhitting.com/images/collegiatebaseball2enh.pdf

There's no way of reading around it. Mike advocates weight being forward on the stride foot, on the front foot toes, to be precise, at the launch position. Jack Mankin advocates essentially the same thing, in my view, when the indicates that the front knee is "well flexed" just before launch, that the "lead knee has started rotating" at launch, and he hints at the role of the stride foot when he states "From the launch position to follow-through, what to do with his front toe, hips, hands, and so on, need never enter the batter's mind". AFTER LAUNCH, the swing is on autopilot, but if you review the frames B, C, and 1 on Jack's "Swing Mechanics" documentation, I think you'll clearly see the stride knee flexed, and if the front foot were visable, the hitter would have his front heel up at launch.

In fact, the front heel usually comes up a bit at the "inward turn", regardless of the hitters mechanics.

Regards.. Scott