Posted by: Jim D (j-monro@hotmail.com) on Tue Feb 23 10:44:39 2010

> The rotational swing is a fluid and smooth swing that produces great batspeed and power. Recently, my son and I learned that our drills and segmentation of the swing mechanics actually messed up his swing. You become so oriented or fixated on THT, CHP, rotation around an axis, Hook in the Hand Path, rotate through contact and getting the bat on Plane, that you forget that all these things happen quickly and in a smooth and fluid manner. You don't do them individually or try and learn the swing in a segmented manner. If you watch Jack's videos you will discover that THT and getting the bat in the PLP is very easy. Once rotation starts the swing should be on automatic. The rotation is quick and bat is brought to contact so fast that you can't compartmentalize the swing. Once we realized that and saw the flaw in our changed training methodology, we quickly changed our focus and training. Immediately, we were able to get back on tract and started hitting the ball with power and on plane. My suggestion to the readers is, "Don't make THT or these other fundamentals of the rotational swing to complicated or mechanical that it works against the hitter".
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> Another point, ten days ago my Son's swing became non functional and he could not hit the ball solid. I could see that his swing had changed but did not know what he was doing wrong. We discovered his swing flaw by videoing my Son's swing and watching it frame by frame. He was lowering his back elbow when he hid his hands and before he arrived at the PLP and that set him up for disaster. He could not get the bat on plane and the bat would cast out from his body because his top hand was pushing out and forward. He started doing this when a former MLB Player and an Assistant High School Coach told him to keep his rear elbow down at practice and to swing more linear. The only thing that went down was his hitting ability. My Son did not tell me this until I asked him why he changed his swing. I guess that is why you never own a swing you just borrow it for short periods of time.

Hi Red Dog,

I agree 100. I'll first speak to the issue concerning the expert teaching that we encounter as our boys move from team to team, coach to coach, instructor to insructor, etc. In order to avoid the dibilitating effect all of that expert instruction has on a young developing player, I have decided to educate myself in the truths of hitting & pitching. Thanks be to Jack for all of his work. My boy is 11 y.o. and he is learning what I'm learning. He sees right through all the propaganda. He nods politely and hammers the ball. He knows more about hitting & pitching (both rotational)than 90 percent of the adults that claim to be qualified to instruct him. People freak about his CHP, but relent when they see how he hits.
We're working on development of PLT & THT (he needs early bat speed). These are the weak aspects of his rotational swing. To your point; As his scrawny body matures, he consistently becomes more fluid and hits harder.

Jim D