Posted by: Brian - BatSpeed.com (support@batspeed.com) on Thu May 6 23:09:07 2004

> Brian, Actually, you are way off base and wrong in your post.You seem to think that I am a fan of Lau and Hriniak, which is wrong. I am a fan of Ted Williams.You are right that I have my own ideas on rotational hitting.As far as Jack being the first person to use the word linear, I will take your word for it.Linear is a useless word when helping a hitter, so why even use it? As far as what major league coaches teach, I don't think that you have any idea. The great hitters in the big leagues did not learn their swings from you or your dad, and since it takes the average kid about 4-5 years in the minor leagues before getting to the big leagues, maybe you should give some credit to the hitting coaches in the minor leagues.As far as raising the mound......unless you hit in the 60's at the major league level, you are not qualified to make the statement that you made. If the guys of the 60's were playing today, they would be lifting weights and taking creatine just like the guys do today. Since your dad really likes George Brett and you don't care for Lau Sr. as a coach, how do you figure that Brett ended up being a Hall of Fame hitter when Lau Sr. was his hitting coach? Your last question puzzles me as I have never been a fan of Lau Sr. but you seem to think so. As far as saying what the guys of the 60's and 70's would hit today, that is a very arrogant statement......how the heck do you know what anyone would hit.
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> Doug

Doug, I’m not going to use the term broken record yet, but I have not heard anything relating to your understanding of swing mechanics or how to teach the swing, and the only thing that I’ve heard is your repetitive statement that only major league players are qualified to teach the baseball swing. Notwithstanding such a pretentious statement, it is untrue. I may not know what every major league coach teaches, but I know what Reggie Smith of the Dodgers taught because Jack had a meeting with them discussing swing mechanics, and if I recall correctly it occurred in our living room. I know what Merv Retman (sp?) of the Padres taught because Jack had several meetings with him. I know what Dusty Baker taught because we had many discussions with him also. Unfortunately, all of these coaches had no clue what type of batting mechanics their players actually used. In fact, they had admittedly not even used frame-by-frame analysis to review their players swings, and Merv and Reggie thought it was interesting to see a swing in frame-by-frame for the first time. They merely relied on what they thought they were seeing in the batting cages, which is not an effective way to understand swing mechanics.

This is much like the feeling that I am getting from you. You don't understand the difference between linear and rotational as it has been defined for you, and you simply fly by the seat of your pants on the notion that you allegedly played at a high level and, therefore, only you and other pros are qualified to teach batting. Such a belief is naive and fails to understand that most coaches at all levels were misinformed as to the mechanics used by the great hitters until very recently. Now, recently, some pro coaches understand the swing as a result of using frame-by-frame analysis (and probably learning material from the internet). Some coaches are now able to make changes in a batter’s mechanics from game to game when a flaw develops. However, I can clearly see that most coaches do not understand the swing because at least a couple of players on every pro team have major flaws and these coaches are unable to identify and/or correct it.

To be frank, even if you made it to pro ball, I think its fair to say that you did not properly execute the swing unless you hit around .300 and 30 homeruns. Minor league players and those who make it to the pros but don't last very long are usually victims of poor swing mechanics. If you want to send us some videos, we'll quickly tell you if your swing mechanics prevented you from excelling to the top.

If you don't see the differences in batting mechanics and statistics during the 60s - 80s verses the mid 90s - present, then you need to first understand the difference in linear and rotational swing mechanics and then start reviewing some videos from the past and present. There has been a major transformation in swing mechanics over the last 10-15 years, along with a dramatic corresponding rise in statistics.

Your belief that it all relates to the pitching mound, weights and drugs is unfounded. Regardless of how strong a player is or how many steroids he pops, you cannot hit the ball if your mechanics are not good. Many very strong players have gone into bad slumps and/or retirement when their swing mechanics deteriorated, such as Canseco, Ron Gant, McGwire, and many others. On the other hand, when a player starts using proper rotational swing mechanics, he will be able to hit regardless of his size, such as Bret Boone who went from a 10-15 hr/year hitter to 30+ and he is only about 5'10" 190 lbs. Thus, the excuse of small stature is not very compelling either.

Do you seriously believe that George Brett used the mechanics taught by Lau Sr.?

Brian
BatSpeed.com