Posted by: Mark H. () on Wed Jan 22 11:56:46 2003

Jack,
> > I have a question concerning the technique you teach. I purchased your video and am implementing the batspeed style, but I have two concerns.
> >
> > 1) It appears that your style causes the batter to dip the back shoulder at point of contact. This is clearly pictured in your training booklet. When we began practice this year several of our HS coaches commented that my son was now dipping his back shoulder which could cause an inordinate amount of grounders or pop flys.
> >
> > 2) Please explain how the batter covers the high pitch with the lead elbow elevated. This appears to be a nearly impossbile physical feat. I noticed that in the video John is hitting mostly pitches at or below the waist, what about shoulder high pitches?
>
> The bat rotates perpendicular to a stationery axis to generate greatest batspeed. The angle of the axis is determined by pitch location. Lower pitch, more body tilt so the bat can remain perpendicular to the axis and still get to the contact zone. On a high pitch the axis remains more upright (vertical) so the bat path can level out to get to the high pitch. The lead elbow will work down on the high pitch. The key here is your posture which makes the biggest adjustment to pitch location.
> >
> >

Good answer but a couple of points occur to me. One, why would you want to swing at a shoulder high pitch? That would be ball one, etc. The older you get the lower the zone is. Prepare for that. Two, study video clips of MLB players (the best hitters in the world) and see what their shoulder does. If your HS coach is suggesting something different from what you see the best professional hitters in the world doing (while studying them in slow motion video clips), who do you think is probably right?

Memorize this and repeat it to yourself every time you hear hitting advice. "Compare EVERYTHING ANYONE tells you about hitting to slow motion video clips of the great hitters". Protect yourself and your kid from well meaning people.

Mark H.