Posted by: Mickey (drmick3@cox.net) on Wed Apr 6 16:56:18 2011

Batspeed: Question: What are the cues for rotational hitting

> Hi all,
> Just curious, what are some of the best cues for rotational hitting?

Hi, Steve
I think that there are four (5) cues where you want to start.

There are two (2) cues that create loading that are most critical, and
often misunderstood, even by advocates of rotational hitting They
happen simultaneously or they won't work.

After the batter is comfortably in his (her) stance, looking at the
ball just leaving the pitcher's hand, a right-handed batter should AT
THE SAME TIME

1) reach his right hand toward his right (back) shoulder AND
2) allow his left (lead) foot to lift, taking almost all the weight
off it.

That will rotate his shoulders at least slightly inward AND toward the
third base dugout.

Now, if he decides to hit the pitch, after loading:

3) he should plant his foot and TURN his hips, PULLING his upper left
arm and bat back to wherever he sees the ball,

4) he should continue to turn his legs and hips around a point midway
between his feet,

5) as far as he physically can.

Those are the simple cues, and you could just stop reading and try
them.

However, most find that individual roadblocks occur and you have to
take each separately and work them out. When you do it helps to have
some understanding of what the cues do and what "disconnected"
movements cause them to fail. A good cue is a simple thought or
movement than can simplify the swing by taking care of 3 or 4
roadblocks at once.

Cues 1 and 2 above happen VERY QUICKLY, and are hard to see if you
don't know when and what you're looking for. For example, go to the
following link to see Albert Pujlos batting.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=l3Ro4Y55RDE&NR=1

Look at the lighter "V" color on his back as his right elbow stays
back while is left knee cocks inward. You'll see that change as his
back turns to the right and very quickly turns back to the left AS HIS
COCKED KNEE SNAPS BACK FORWARD. The "V" indicates that his upper
torso is not only moving back slightly but also rotating back toward
the right. This happens quickly and doesn't look like much;
consequently, a lot of younger hitters don't bother with this cocking
of the shouters, but they lose the vast majority of those coiled back
muscles if they do, just waving at the ball as it goes by, hitting
weak grouters or pop ups.

Notice also that the angle and bend of the right leg and knee DOES NOT
STRAIGHTEN OR SWAY BACK, like you see in many hitters who shift their
weight back to their right side. Rather, Pujlos KEEPS HIS RIGHT LEG
BENT AND ANGLED TOWARD THE PITCHER WHILE QUICKLY COCKING AND UNCOCKING
HIS LEFT KNEE as HIS LEFT FOOT COMES OFF THE GROUND! You have the
impression that HE WOULD FALL OVER if he was slower in cocking his
knee to the right, and quickly uncocking it, just before his left foot
lands. Older, striding-styled hitters stood more relaxed and upright
on their right leg, then started their left leg striding towards the
ball, ultimately landing in much the same position as Pujlos. However,
they don't have as much coiled-up power in particularly their right
leg around the hip and knee cop as does Pujlo. Here's a link below of
Manny Ramirez that you can compare to the Pujlos video clip above to
see this difference.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4e7p6nvA6po&NR=1

If you let the Pujlos clip run and watch one swing after another,
you'll get some idea of the rhythm and smoothness of the transition
from the rotating back, and then forward of both the shoulders and
hips in real time. I always get the impression of great hitters that
their right elbow is moving back on a line from the pitched ball and
suddenly but smoothly the whole body's forward rotation reverses that
elbow direction and everything flows back down that line toward the
ball. You don't get that impression of a continuous, reversed
acceleration back to the ball in other forms of hitting, but more of
a definite hitting forward toward the ball, not a continuous reversal
of energy.

Now, I'd like to explain why this works, and then continuing to list
some of the disconnects that either 1) dissipate power and bat speed
or 2) misdirect the bat so that a powerful swing misses the ball
altogether.

This only works if the batter does not think, AT ALL, about turning
his arms back toward the ball, but just lets his upper body and bat
keep going away from the ball, letting the planting and turning of his
lower body back toward the ball stop his shoulders, and greatly
accelerate his entire upper body and bat in the opposite direction,
back at the ball.

Regardless of whether this is torque or not, it smoothly stretches the
muscles in the upper torso and arms EVEN MORE and begins to rotate the
shoulders, arms and bat, back toward the ball. It also automatically
cocks the wrists, and if the batter has started out with a high right
elbow, it straightens his left wrist so it is neither cupped nor bowed
out.

If the bat starts out lower without a high right elbow the wrists are
typically not cupped much, if at all, but everything else is the
essentially the same. Believe it or not this is a simpler motion for
younger hitters to imagine hitting the ball in the middle. All Linear
coaching emphasizes "hitting down" with the arms so much that they
want to start younger hitters with a high right elbow and bat so they
can hit even more down at the ball. The problem is that if they want
the young hitters to wind up hitting the ball in the middle they are
forcing them to imagine a downward chop that will suddenly level out
at the last minute, and hit the ball right in the middle. Some Linear
coaching just forgets hitting the ball solidly in the middle and tells
them to hit down so lots of grounders will be produced, and strike
outs diminished.

These lower hands, without a high elbow, are simpler but they do make
hitting high pitches harder if the batter wants to maintain rotational
speed and power. That's because the bat doesn't start as high and
cannot descend as STEEPLY, "while at the same time" rotating the hands
in a curved path to maintain bat acceleration to the ball. It also
eliminates the extra space that great hitters use to overcome the
inertia of the bat's weight and get it moving quicker from a dead
standstill. In addition, since rotating around a spot half-way between
your feet "can" increase undercutting the balls's path, that extra
space higher to start out decreases the odds of undercutting and
strike outs.

Incidentally, a SIXTH CUE is to imagine ROTATING AROUND A VERTICAL
LINE MIDWAY BETEEN THE FEET.

The DISCONNECT is to slide forward with either the lower or upper
body. That's why you don't transfer your weight to the outside of your
left foot, like you do when you're playing golf.

If you keep rotating around that midpoint it can naturally result in
the stiff left leg a lot of rotational coaching talks about supporting
the further rotation to level the bat out and give the impression that
the rotating axis has tilted back somewhat.

Again, trying to stay simple in my cues, I would recommend rotating
as far as possible around that midpoint between the feet, since as
long as you keep rotating against an ever-increasing stiff left leg,
you'll get the flattening out of the downward arc and increase the
time the bat is traveling along the ball's downward plane to hit it
right in the middle. The longer the bat is on, or close to,the ball's
downward path, the less exact the timing has to be for the bat to
connect solidly with the ball.

Steve, I hope the above cues, the description of why they work, and
how their disconnects cause them to fail is helpful. I believe you
have asked the most pragmatic question, in the most succinct form, to
head us in the right direction.

Thanks, Mickey