Posted by: Front Leg???? Thats not it! () on Sat Jan 11 06:26:13 2003

The debate on rotational mechanics and linear weight transfer mechanics is as old as baseball itself. I'm not convinced it will ever be agreed upon, mainly because neither term really applies to my way of thinking.
> > Unfortunately the body is not constructed with a single pole in which to rotate upon, in fact, our legs, are like that of a tripod. They help keep us grounded and if one leg is straigter than the other we have hip or spine tilt. This straightning of the front leg is what generally turns a level cut into a slight upswing, or in some cases an extreme uppercut. The hip joints themselves do not turn, it is the torso, constructed from the base of the spine that creates the torque. However in an effort to add upper body torque, many hitters feel the strong need contribute excessive leg action (ie..hip thrust) to get the torso to turn. Normally it is young hitters that create this excessive leg action that never really feel the torso power. In other words they combine the torso turn with the leg thrust. This excessive leg action is what most hitting instructors have the hardest time seeing and teaching.
> > I have a real concern with anyone that preaches straight legs in the baseball swing, mainly because straight legs create angles and also lock hips, which contribute to bad balance. In any sport that I lock my legs I get beat. Lock the front leg early in a baseball swing..... and I'll get beat. Now I must say, great hitters do lock there front leg normally (not always), however, it comes with a price even for them, but the real issue is how they go about locking the front leg. Getting into that all too familiar "sit to hit position" is the art of a great athlete and generally a great hitter. In viewing Jacks video I see the kids just straightening the front leg, with never the notion of sitting to hit. But then I see the hitting instructor, getting a nice front knee bend, thereby, positioning the legs for all of this upper body torque. In golf they call it the "magic move." This magic move is a slight lateral slide while the upper body begins it unwinding (rotation). This to me is why the debate is never ending. Great atheletes/hitters can do both at the same time, but when either becomes excessive , then you have a issues in my opinion. This is why everyone looks different when they swing in my opinion.
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> > In summary the front leg becomes the core element of my teaching. If I can get a kid to keep this leg in contact with the ground at the initiation of the swing, but with good flexion and stability and I give this kid the best opportunity to be succesful. If I see kids locking legs than he or she will have problems, until they understand how the front leg is supposed to lock, by rotating laterally with athletic legs.
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> > The legs are stabalizers in a baseball swing, power drive is a distant second. When they are not in the best position for stability, they will fail and so too will the swing.
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> > In my humble opinion.
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> Coach-
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> Jack has been pretty good about describing the front knee action as landing with flex and straightening as the swing progresses,the more the torso turn,the more the straightening(inside pitch you turn the torso more on).
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> He has also given a workable definition of rotational and linear based on whether or not a circular handpath is created to efficiently transform torso energy into batspeed.
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> I haven't seen any other distinctions beyween linear and rotational that make sense.the throwing and hitting motions have rotation occurring at the same time that the center of gravity of the body and entire body are moving forward.Even in hitting,a little bit of this is necessary to get the body fully loaded/stretched and coiled.Same in golf.In hitting,however,as pointed out by Jack,this forward motion must stop( and no hip sliding) once the torso rotates to drive the circular handpath.

Gentelmen! Gentelmen,

The mechanics of the front leg has very little to do with the front leg and has everything to do with the head. The head........oh, forget it, you would believe it any way