Posted by: Mike Stringer () on Sat Feb 12 13:59:47 2005

> Hi Mike
>
> Having the elbow in the “L” position at contact is the correct position for hitting the ball fairly straightaway with pitches from the middle-in. However, the farther outside the pitches are and the more the ball is pulled, the straighter the back-arm must become. I have seen many clips of Big Mac, A’rod and other hitters with their arm nearing full extended while pulling outside pitches.
>
> Mike, I am certainly not suggesting a batter should try to get the back-arm extended at contact. I am saying that extending the arm more is necessary to pull the ball or on outside pitches – doubly true when pulling outside pitches. Below is a post from the Archives that provides more information on this topic.
>
> Jack Mankin

Jack, I apologize for not giving you the video I was talking about. You can find it here: http://mlb.mlb.com/NASApp/mlb/team/player_media.jsp?player_id=134181

As you can clearly see, the pitch is right down the middle, and Beltre hits it to right-center (the other way).

I would agree that the back arm needs to straighten on an outside pitch, but this pitch was clearly not outside. If you compare the same type of pitch to someone like Barry Bonds, Shawn Green, or Sammy Sosa, you will note that their elbows are tucked in.

After seeing this video, would you say that Beltre's back arm straightened too much at contact? He consistently does this, and consistently hits home runs. I'm confused, to say the least.