Posted by: SteveT () on Tue Feb 29 11:10:07 2000

I have to disagree a bit. My opinion is that the downswing is hurting players more than it helps them- unless, of course, they are seriously uppercutting. The main problems with the downswing are a need for perfect timing and spacial alignment.

As for the position of the barrel at contact, you pretty much have to hit all but the highest strikes with your hands above the ball. The barrel remains above the hands during the approach, but if it stays above through contact your're going to have a weak tomohawk type of swing. And for low pitches (which will be the norm for good pitching), you certainly can't hit them with the barrel at or above the hands/ wrists.

I also think way too much is made of driving the knob to the ball. We need to think in terms of throwing the barrel at the ball- I see lots of weak pop-ups to the opposite field from the barrel lagging the knob for too long- it usually goes hand-in-hand with the hitter not getting his hips through in time.