Posted by: grc (grcrackel@yahoo.com) on Thu May 25 18:51:41 2000

Tom,
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> The pure "inside-out" swing has little to do with driving the outside pitch- it is a technique used to take an INSIDE pitch the other way.
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> My experience is that what grc is saying has some merit. If pure rotation is used on an outside pitch the hand path becomes problematic, has to be just right or one of two things happens- either the barrel drops under the ball or you pull off the ball.
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> I also believe more WS technique is in order for an outside pitch, regardless of which method generates the most batspeed. My opinion is that while batspeed is extremely important, there still is far more to actually hitting the ball than how fast you can swing. Also, I think if batspeed is the number one goal, it's important to actually measure the differences associated with the various swing techniques we're discussing rather than speculate on which one hits for more power. Anyone who has done so please post some numbers so we can discuss. tom....i re-reviewed jack's post and i think with some hitters his methods could work...but remember that most major leaguers do not have the strength of mcgwire...and ted williams was tall, lanky ahd had longer arms, giving him more "reach"...but for most ml's you have to have favorable bat angle and hit the ball "where it is pitched"...you suggest that using ws mechanics to hit the os pitch the opposite way involves more arms and less hips, and if this is your suggestion, you are absulutely correct!!!we would all probably agree that boggs, gwynn, carew used more arms and less hips...there is no way of getting around the fact that unless you have extraordinary raw strength or "arm reach", the most efficient way to hit an os pitch is as previously described...regarding the fence drill, i think this notion should be banished from instructors' vocabulary..i think it encourages ws mechanics on all pitches including inside pitches ....shoulder turn....true, ws = less shoulder turn = less hip turn, but which is needed for the favorable bat angle as described in previous post...most hitters who "rotate" on an outside pitch will, regardless of batspeed have an unfavorable bat angle...thay will pull the ball, maybe pull it hard, but on the ground....one final thought...at some point in time, the bat reaches it's maximum possible acceleration...on an is pitch, the bat is traveling a greater distance and so has the chance to reach that maximum acceleration....on an outside pitch, the bat travels less distance and does not quite have the distance needed to achieve maximum possible acceleration, even if jacj's theory were correct....therefore, it is futile to focus on batspeed on an outside pitch when you will never have the distance/time needed to achieve maximum possible aceleration....so.....to hit the os pitch, you have to conceed the loss of some bat speed (and to some extent, loss of favorable trajectory of the batted ball, I.E., less potential for line drives)and instead focus on the techniques that will still get you line drives but not as far.....it is well documented that balls hit the opposite way are hit only about 85 % as far and we must accept this...you see lots of homeruns the opposite way, but how many of them are "bombs"?????