Posted by: BHL (Knight1285@aol.com) on Fri Jun 15 07:44:35 2007

> I'm sorry but, what are you talking about; "the cause , not the effect?" The batter decides to swing, the heel of their front foot lands, which triggers the hips. How in the world could the hips do anything before the heels hits down!!? The very, very, begining of launching the swing, is the heel of the front foot. Period, that's it.

Hi John,

I agree with both of your statements. I will add that there is another factor involved in the amount of leg bend in the "L": guessing location. When a hitter guesses low, but gets a high pitch, they will still have more flex in the back leg. Inversely, when the batter looks for a high pitch but is fed a low pitch, the hitter will exhibit less of an angle in the posterior leg.

While I also believe that heel drop starts hip rotation, timing factors this as well. If a batter looks for a fast pitch but gets a slow pitch, the hitter might delay planting the heel until later in the swing. On the other hand, if an off-speed pitch is anticipated, but the hitter receives a 100+ mph pitch, the batter might rush to drop the heel. Sometimes, due to the location of such pitches, the hitter attempts an adjustment so rapidly that the front heel never lands, weakening hip gyration. This means that the batter will exhibit a poor, if any, "L."

Other opinions are welcome.

Best,
BHL
Knight1285@aol.com