Posted by: Scott B (batspeed@integritycorp.com) on Thu May 23 09:54:00 2002

I'm relatively new to this site.
>
> However, I've got some pro baseball
> experience(Angels organization) and I'd like to
> think I'm a little knowledgeable about the
> swing.
>
> I'm interested in some opinions on this topic.
>
> Would you say it's fair to say that rotational
> mechanics maximize bat speed but minimize
> the amount of time the barrel of the bat stays
> in the hitting zone? Therefore, rotational hitters
> will hit for more power but will often strike out
> much more.
====================================================
Actually the opposite is the case, and its one of the primary reasons I've changed from a "Linear" (LM) to "Rotational" (RM) mechanics coach. We teach hitters to "swing down" to get the bat to the impact zone as soon as possible. We emphasise using the wrists, taking the "knob of the bat to the ball", whipping the bat head, throwing the bat head at the ball, etc., all to develop batspeed, shorten the length of the swing, as well as to create some back spin to lift the ball.

However, since a pitched ball descends at a downward angle (slight to sharp, depending on the type of pitch), and the bat head is descending at a downward angle, the bathead is only in the impact zone for about 3 inches or less. If the path of the bat is adjusted to match the path of the ball, the potential impact zone is significantly greater, as long as perhaps 30 inches. Generally speaking, this means that the path of the bat relative to the ground will be slightly upward (depending on pitch elevation). (This is not the same as the infamous "upper cut swing" problem, which is actually caused by a collapse of lower body mechanics, not because of dropping the rear shoulder, etc.).

This appears to be true both in theory and in experience, as the kids I'm coaching now immediately started making better contact, even on marginal pitches.

I think it's possible for very good hitters (e.g. Tony Gwynn) to use LM successfully, but RM has very clear advantages in terms of:

* Lengthed contact zone (swing starts lower, and later)

* Increased bat speed due to better communication of lower body torque up into the bat (rotational torque, hips to torso to shoulders to arms to hands to bat)

* Increased time to react to movement of a pitched ball, due to the fact that the hands stay back longer (hitter opens his hips first with RM; with LM his hands move first, and hips rotate through last).

Both Jack Mankin's documentation on this site, and Mike Epstein's (www.mikeepsteinhitting.com) address the specifics.

Regards.. Scott B