Posted by: S. Procito () on Tue Sep 24 09:17:25 2002

Hi, any opinions on the shortstroke trainer?. I bought 1 a couple of yrs ago 4 my 13 yr old daughter. we tried it for a little while and she was hitting with no power and a lot of groundballs. I stopped using it. I just started using it agin to see if maybe i did not give it a chance or she was not set up in it properly. Again I do not see power, maybe a little quicker hands. Any advice?. Her main problem on the swing is that her front shoulder seems to open with her front toe pointing more towards pitcher.


The short stroke is a "contact" swing. Its not about power. It's a short downward stroke with no torque in the body. The reason it is popular is because the kids who go to teachers who teach it are usually not making any contact at all. So, any contact is an improvement.

Your daughter is probably not starting her swing by turning her hips. That's why her shoulders are "out front." Her shoulders are not following her hips, they are probably leading her hips.

The toe of her front foot should be pointing in the general direction of the pitcher. If not, she will be twisting her leg/knee when she turns her hips.

S. Procito