Posted by: Mark H. () on Sun Jan 26 14:35:42 2003

I’m new to the forum and before I put out my question, in reading through the past answers, I’ve seen what I call the hard headed baseball types trying to tell the Fathers of daughters that there is no difference between fastpitch softball and baseball (I must confess I was one of those hard headed baseball types before I came involved in fastpitch, remember there are bad coaches in both sports). First of all the argument between linear and rotational was settled long ago in fastpitch.

(Say what? What do you mean by rotational because I would say there are more fp coaches teaching what Mankin or Epstein would call linear mechanics than otherwise. I've watched a lot of Houston area fp, I've watched my kid play in Boulder, her team qualified for gold nationals etc so I've seen a fair cross section of fp and I see a whole lot more lousy swings in fp than good ones. I've also discussed the question on several fp and bb boards and there are plenty of coaches out there who would argue the linear side. And linear can be effective. Not optimal but effective if you concentrate on punch hitting opposite field a la Gwyann. If you are saying the pendulum is swinging toward rotational in fp, I would agree. But it's not there yet. Shoot, even in bb there are many instructors teaching linear hands. Overcoming that is one obstacle to making it as a pro.)


)
Because of the shorter distances (and testosterone) girls had to go to the rotational swing to have any chance in making contact,(with almost equal emphasis on women sports the development of pitchers in fastpitch is phenomenal). I have coached both baseball and softball for thirty years and fastpitch softball is a lot harder.

(I tend to agree that fp hitting is somewhat more difficult.)



A boy who is a gifted athlete can go a lot farther in baseball (even the majors) with poor mechanics.

(Who in the majors would you cite as having poor mechanics and what would you define as good and bad mechanics?)


A girl with poor mechanics can’t make a good U-16 traveling team.

(I saw plenty of lousy mechanics even in gold ball. In U16 or low to average 18A it really gets ugly.)



Power hitters are easy to find

(Where do you coach? Power hitters are ALWAYS in demand and low in supply.)

but the little gal who can hardly hit the ball out of the infield but can consistently slap bunt from the left side will make the team every time.

(A versatile lefty slapper/punch hitter who can fly is a beautiful thing. But a slapper who can't keep the defense honest with the ability to punch something sharp into the outfield will not get far against top defenses unless, perhaps, she has world class speed. For this type of girl I have no problem with a linear inside out punch swing good enough to put the ball through the infield on the left side to keep the defense from collapsing in on her.)


So for all those out there who think softball coaches are just trying to “protect their turf” you are doing an injustice to the Fathers who are trying to get their daughters prepared for top fastpitch softball.

(Keep in mind, slappers are a different animal. We are talking about a swing that drives in runs here. Certainly there is a place for the slapper and or contact hitter who excels on defense, but that is not what this board is usually studying.)



> Having said all that, there is still a lot of disagreement on what role the hands play in the rotational swing.

(A subject near and dear to Jack's heart. Keep talking.)


(Another topic that can be brought up at a later time is the difference between the grip that softball coaches teach and baseball)
> Theoretically if you take an ax instead of a bat and want the most power hitting that tree your top hand will be palm down and you don’t even (or can’t) roll your wrists. In swinging the bat obviously you have follow through which requires wrist turnover. Many coaches say if the palm is down you will pop up a lot.

(If you are used to making contact with the wrists rolled, I wouldn't be surprised if fixing that resulted in pop ups till you got used to it, but I would first look elsewhere for the problem.)




So give me some thoughts on hand position at time of contact and power vs. consistent contact. It might boil down to individual style.

(Nope. Early wrist roll is a fault IMO for any number of reasons.)


Mark H.