Posted by: tom.guerry (tom.guerry@kp.org) on Fri Jun 21 15:26:20 2002

Hopefully Jack can respond to this one.
> >
> > In the swing mechanics section you state that the swing mechanics are the same for both. Would you believe there are some softball coaches who just don't believe this no matter how well my daughter is hitting the ball. Can you tell me if you analyzed the swings of any prominent softball players in your research. I need help and if you have any specifics on Lisa Fernandez (he knows her personally) that would really help. >>>I would bet that Mr Mankin has responded to your question posed by others in various forms many times.He answered that question for me. My answer will differ from his but softball coaches in general are behind the curve when it comes to mechanics.They are knob to the ball,hit it out in front,weight shifting,arm swinging, linear mechanics kind of people and they don't want to hear about rotational mechanics. They will tell you that rotational mechanics are for baseball players because they heard that somewhere.They don't understand rotational mechanics and when people don't understand something,they either learn it or make derogatory remarks about it which shows their ignorance.As for Lisa Fernandez,she is a linear hitter.It would be interesting to hear what she has to say about hitting techniques.If you find out,please post it.

Theoretically,there are many advantages in favor of the rotational swing for baseball and women's fastpitch.Culturally there is a great lack of understanding and resistance to these mechanics in fastpitch(what if all these bat companies had to make heavier bats with less profit margin for example).This makes the hardest thing to do in sports harder.I have not been to a Lisa clinic for more than 2 years.She is linear and will remain so as long as there is an emphasis on using the golf grip,extending the arms and snapping the wrists with the bat being a straight extension of the extended arms(this minimizes the wobble in the swing when the wrists roll before contact-the single worst flaw Jack found in his study).When I was trying to figure out fastpitch hitting I went to a number of Lisa clinics.She is very knowledgeable enthusiastic and accessible.We discussed mechanics on a few occasions.She could never explain the handpath to my satisfaction.She has gone through palm back/forth and palm up/down flip flops,but always preached "L" in both elbows and then extending the arms together,then snapping the wrists.This never worked or felt good to me.Nothing did until I discovered Jack's info and the circular handpath and the other info here.Then it all clicked.There are some successful people(coaches like Ritman @ Stanford) from baseball in softball and they may make the transition as they break things down and do video analysis looking for an edge,but they haven't figured this out yet.