Posted by: Richard Schenck () on Wed Jun 12 07:38:15 2002

There seems to be a lot of discussion about how good one swings against a T or Swing A Way and in soft toss and then how difficult it is to take the same swing in the game. It seems to me that timing is the main difference along with pitch location. Has anyone suggested going to the batting cage and hitting against very slow pitching until you can keep your swing mechanics perfect and then gradually increasing the speed of the pitch step by step, not increasing speed until you've demonstrated proficiency at each level. Maybe 10mph increments until you reach the level you need to be at. Just dry swings don't do it for us. And jumping from dry swings directly into the frying pan doesn't do it either. Any comments? Anyone tried this?
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> for some people- it could be the mindset= thinking too much or trying to hit the ball too hard or too far(usually)=Really trying too hard. While doing t-work or soft toss doesn't require much thinking- you just hit the ball into a net where you can't tell how far you hit it. just go into the game, relax, think of the ball when in the box- ENJOY YOURSELF- HAVE FUN.

I must not have made myself very clear in my post. I'm more referring to a learning/training environment rather than pregame BP or practice BP or the mental aspect of hitting. I'm referring to something similar to Epsteins 1500 swings. Has anyone tried to teach or learn new rotational mechanics off a t at first, then soft toss, then short toss, then pitching machine at 40 mph then pitching machine at 50 mph, then 60 mph, then 70 mph, then 80, etc etc, then live pitching. There seems to be a point where the speed and the decision making override the ability to swing properly. It seems to me that that speed is where one has to work at. Maybe 1500 more swings at that speed. Then, once mastered he goes to the next level. Maybe kids could be graded by the speed they can handle. Like merit badges. (example: I've earned the 60 mph badge.). Now I know there are many other factors (location, offspeed pitches, curve balls etc). These are future merit badges. The learning process is very long. Too long probably. But as an educator, you have to learn one step at a time. Throwing a kid into the batters box without the ability to hit the fastball is like throwing a cowboy into a duel with a cap gun. If he can hit the fastball he can at least plan to choose fastballs, lay off offspeed and curves until 2 strikes. May not be a great hitter but thats where he's at at that moment in time. He at least could hit a fastball (within his speed level) if he gets one.