Posted by: grc () on Tue May 28 07:41:03 2002

>>> there are so many many factors in hitting the ball hard & far...vision....rotational mechanics on the inside pitch...."linear" on the outside pitch....and yes, strength.....does anyone really think mcgwire would have hit the ball as hard without his upperbody strength?.....why do so many major leaguers spend so much time in the weight room? <<<
> >
> > Hi grc
> >
> > You have stated many times that batters should use linear mechanics on outside pitches. For your statement to be taken seriously, you must know what linear forces generates the bat speed to hit an outside pitch 430 feet straight that Mark just described. We know by definition that a circular hand-path, rotation around a stationary axis and torque are rotational mechanics. So what linear forces do you claim develops that kind of angular bat displacement? – Please clearly define those linear forces, or if you cannot, then why do you insist they are factual? --- If you read it somewhere, feel free to post it here.
> >
> > Jack Mankin
> >GRC when I played my senior year of college I used linear mechanics on the away pitches and[ down the middle some of them] and I rotated mostly on inside pitches.I never hit a homerun to center or opp. field and only a few of my 20 doubles were opp. field,yet I was one of the strongest players in the country.Strength is great but it did not help me hit the ball far enough to opp. field or center,it was the way I used my body to create energy that hurt me the most.The big question is would my 400+ b.a. suffered and how much higher would my power #s go up,or would both avg. and power go up.



jack...first, there is the question of what is "linear"....."linear" is what you & some others decided to call anything that deviates from your ideal model swing...

having said that, i will summarize my position & then ask you two questions.....on an outside pitch, if the hand path is a near- perfect circle, one of 3 things will happen....(1) it is near-impossible to contact the ball at the point of bat upswing without the wrists rolling (the point where the wrists "want"to roll comes sooner in an outside pitch than inside).....(2) contact the pitch at the maximum point where the hands are still remaining flat will mean, in most cases contacting the ball when the bat is still on it's downswing....(3) you could simply extend the arms farther out from the body (less elbow in the slot), but then you have a weaker swing....

but if you simply hit the inside part of the ball you won't have to "sweep" the bat....the hand path will not be completely circular but it will not be "linear" either....it will be somewhere in between....the hips & shoulders will not turn as much (maybe 60 degrees)......and i have a number of clips that will show this.....

now my two questions......(1) you said "If you read it somewhere, feel free to post it here."......before i take you up on your offer i want to let you know that one of the first things i would be posting would be excerpts from mike schmidt's book, "the mike schmidt study".....any particular "ground rules" you would like to establish?....if so, i will respect them in appreciation of your offer..........(2) as i mentioned, i have a number of clips which would support my position....is there any way you can enable us to post clips?....


again, jack, thank you for your offer.....you really do have a great site, have performed a valuable public service, and i think i agree with much of what you teach except for this one particular issue.....

respectfully, grc....