Posted by: Steve (steve@legendsoftexas.net) on Fri Apr 8 17:59:42 2011

Hi Mickey,
thanks a lot for the detail. that's heady stuff! I think you hit on many important points. First the load (inward turn) I agree is crucial. would you think that hands to the back shoulder, or simply turning the shoulders in would be more effective? the reason I ask is that its possible to just move your hands to the shoulder by themselves without really turning the shoulders inward. in fact that's what a lot of the hitters on my son's team do when we say "hide the hands". they don't load as one unit with the shoulders/hands.
also, id like to touch on the position of the back elbow. it seems like it feels more natural for the young hitter to keep their elbow down, but I think from all I've learned that starting initiation with a raised elbow then lowering it into the slot will help the head of the bat accelerate sooner as it travels backward first before it sweeps into the plane of the pitch?
it is hard to teach this stuff to kids, because like the reason for my post, I haven't seen a lot of effective cues that kids can understand.
love the discussion and finding ways to improve kids mechanics!
Steve