Posted by: tom.guerry (tom.guerry@kp.org) on Mon Aug 20 11:37:55 2007

> > hello. i noticed that most of the farsthest homers hit in the mlb are on outside pitches. i have 2 questions. why is this? and how do you hit outside pitches with power?
> I would disagree,that the farthest balls are outside pitches,if you consider the last 3 inches of the plate away to be outside.However that does not matter,to hit the outside ball IMO you must look for it 1st and you prepare for a higher deeper load .Your lead arm straightens more and as you swing your rear elbow slots away from your ribs more than an inside pitch and your lead arm stays straightand the inside of the lead bicep stays attached to lead chest muscle thru contact,hips and shoulder rotation I feel start a little deeper and end a little earlier on this pitch,especially if it is hit oppo as opposed to dead center.When studying film of enough swings on balls in vs out and balls pulled vs oppo/center you can see the difference.Learning howto swing ,you can work the bag then tee and short straight ahead soft toss as you learn how to hit these balls at certain areas to certain fields and learn contact points as well as the connection needed and timing,they all interrelate.

great description rql.

I would add that the lead upper arm usually has to get up off the chest for outside and high locatiion. this can be worked on after outside low is being mastered as you describe.

if you don't get the lead arm up and keep the back shoulder up for high ball, you won't get a good enough torso load to square the high ball.