Posted by: tom.guerry (tom.guerry@kp.org) on Fri May 24 08:40:43 2002

Scott B in a previous thread said:
> ===So, not surprisingly, I taught my kids to swing level to the plane of the ball, to keep the hands inside the ball, and to drop the back knee (i.e. like an "L") to meet the height of the ball on low pitches.===
>
> What are some other basic tips to give to young players to allow them to swing level to the plane of the ball?

Swinging on plane is well addressed by Epsteins cues on how to work the front elbow at and after launch,however,this needs to be done in the context of learning the entire progression of the swing.In other words,work on it as a part of the swing,not in isolation.In Epstein language,hips lead hands,match the plane(the most closely related to your question),keep the hands in.In Jack's terms this means you have to learn to rotate around a stationary axis create good connection so the torso drives the handpath in a circle/arc and use the hands and arms to apply torque steadily from launch to contact while preserving the circular handpath.If you do this,the bat will swing out in the power plane perpendicular to the spine.This is where the forces you are trying to harness are going to make the bat swing.How early or late you launch and the handpath radius set up at launch will adjust for inside out.Body posture/degree of bend at waist will make up/down adjustment.Always swing perpendicular to the spine(or said another way,with good mechanics the bat will always fire out in the plane perpendicular to the spine where the big body forces encourage it to swing).

I like Epstein's timing strategy and tactics as well.Hitting is timing.Timing is sustantially different for inside and outside locations.Up until 2 strikes,anticipate either in or out as the situation demands and be disciplined enough to wait for this pitch.Within this half of the zone,you then learn "on the fly" up down adjustment to match the plane.Work the front elbow up for the low pitch.Work the front elbow down for the high location.Or "stay on top" for the high location.For kids who are just learning to stop lunging and swaying and figuring out how to rotate,rotation is much fuller for the inside pitch and for the low pitch where the increased degree of bend at the waist gives a fuller feel of rotation as you "work the elbow up".I would recommend learning the feel of rotation well for this low inside pitch before learning to adjust for the high/outside location that requires standing more upright(correcting posture so there is less bend at the waist so when the bat swings in the power plane it matches the pitch plane).This "spine angle"(golf term-golfers are the masters of rotation but can set the posture at set up with club length selection since it is a still ball sport) needs to be set early-at just after launch) and maintained through contact.