Posted by: () on Thu Jan 23 13:32:05 2003

Barry's size doesn't hurt him but it doesn't give a full explanation of his numbers. His mechanics might.

Or like I've heard before, "He gets a pitch to hit." Bonds eye and his "Hit Zone" or "red zone" is extremely defined. He knows his limits, he knows the exact pitch he wants...And the pitchers know it. Which makes him doubly deadly...So people decide to walk him 198 times.
Being a newbie here and seeing Epsteins site and some video examples of his students versus the McGwires of the world, I see that the rotational theory has some merit.
I was a product of the old school "go to the pitcher" formula. But as many people will do, people use bits of diffent tactics in their as their custom solution. I also torqued beforehand.
As a coach now with the younger kids (10-11) I can see the value of a No-Stride setup. The big thing fro kids is to keep their hands and eyes on the same target...As often happens while striding, the head moves and the hands don't compensate.
I've seen (as Epstein says on his site) a Tee-Ball coach put the tee right on the plate (its designed that way ) and the the child either grounds out, stands to close and can't properly extend their arms to hit with authority, or simply tops the ball for a grounder that may or may not make it to the mound.
At the time, watching my daghter, I was thinking that her stance and where the ball was was all wrong. The ball needed to be placed in front of the plate to where optimum power from the bat could be then transferred to the ball.
It is no accident that Adam Dunn, Mcgwire, Giambi, Piazza all have facets of Rotational mechanics in their swing.
I appreciate the opportunity to learn.
Thanks
Todd Reece