Posted by: donny (donnybstr@aol.com) on Tue May 11 18:47:28 2004

Jack, please tell me what you think of the following excerpt:
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> > Another one of the most debatable areas of hitting is the topic of hand path. If you’ve been around baseball then you have probably heard phrases like, “Hands to the ball,” or “Knob to the ball.” Both of these phrases have come to be accepted as accurate descriptions of a hitter’s hand path. But are they really accurate statements? Here is where we run into a conflict between new and old philosophies. The main focus in any discussion of hitting should be how to effectively maximize bat speed. Without bat speed, “good” mechanics are virtually useless. Consequently, we want our hands to follow the path which is going to result in maximum bat speed. This is where the old theory of “hands to the ball” becomes questionable. Let’s assume that we are attempting to hit an outside pitch with the mindset of “hands to the ball,” or “knob to the ball.” In this scenario, your hands get separated from your body in order to go out to the pitch with the knob of the bat. This causes depletion in bat speed and power. Why? Because the further your hands get from your body the longer it takes for the bat head to accelerate. Therefore, in order to maximize bat speed your hands must rotate together on the same path with your hips. This allows the bat head to accelerate as quickly as possible through the zone.
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> Your premise is incorrect. If the goal is maximum batspeed you are very likely to end up with an unusable swing. The goal should be to develop a swing that allows maximum bat quickness and maximum control (ability to get sweet on sweet). Bat quickness will allow a hitter to have a longer decision period. That is the best a coach can give a hitter. IF, you can also develop high batspeed AFTER developing bat quickness and control, THEN you have something. But, placing bat speed as the #1 goal will kill a hitter. As he goes up the baseball survival chain he'll be exposed rather quickly. You see them all the time. Big fast swings than can't hit the sweet spot or at least not very often. I, as a coach, wouldn't not feel very good if I were responsible for that.
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> Once a good swing is learned, strengh, reps, practice, weight training etc will help with the bat speed. But trying to get it first before a good swing is the kiss of death.
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> On my summer team last year (16U) the guy with the 10th best batspeed (out of 12) was our best hitter and had the best power numbers. Why? Because he was very quick to the ball and was able to get sweet on sweet regularly. Many of the others were swinging in the air all too often.

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Teacherman ..you make some good points. My son doesn't always get off the best swing each time but he strikes out swinging about 4/60 at bats. Staying alive when they peck the corners has little to do with max bat speed. BUT, I dearly love to see a perfect cut on the good pitches. I still don't see it enough....much work to do to get there and probably more to learn.