Bat Speed -- Baseball Hitting Forum

Posted by: Mark H. () on Thu Nov 14 16:16:48 2002

>>> jACK,THE WAY i SEE THE M.L. SWING IS THAT THEY ALLGET THEIR LEAD FOOT OUT IN FRONT OF THEM AND USE THE LEAD LEG TO DRIVE THE FRONT HIP BACK ,AT THE SAME TIME THE REAR KNEE IS DRIVING DOWN AND IN,PULLING OR PUSHING OR WHATEVER THE REAR HIP FORWARD.THIS ALLOWS THE HIPS TO SPIN WITH GREAT FORCE TO ACCELERATE THE SHOULDER TURN.YOU CAN SPIN BY SQUASHING THE BUG AND YET GET MUCH LESS SPEED INTO YOUR SHOULDERS.YOU CAN HAVE TOO NARROW OF SPACE BETWEEN FEET AT TOE TOUCH AND SPIN BUT LITTLE LEG DRIVE PUSHING BACK AND DRIVING FORWARD WITH LESS RESULTS.I BELIEVE IN SEPARATION AND LEADING WITH THE HIPS AND I BELIEVE THEY SPIN FAST IF DRIVEN BY THE LARGE LEG MUSCLES IN PROPER POSITION. <<<
> >
> > Hi rql
> >
> > I would describe good lower body mechanics just the way you presented it above. But just a few short years ago, that would be called ‘spinning’. Rotating around the center of the body was what determined ‘spinning’ to authors such as Jim Lefebvre and Charlie Lou. To them, the back-side must rotate around a posted front-side (like a door swinging). Otherwise, the batter would have an arcing hand-path and hit around the ball (Jim showed drawing of this).
> >
> > Rql, I guess when we use a term or cue, we should also give what era the definition comes from. These definitions seem to evolve over time.
> >
> > Jack Mankin
>
> Jack,
> I have a problem and hopefully you can help. I'm trying to use rotational mechanics as explained above, but as I rotate my front and rear hips, my front foot/ankle points to the pitcher and then rolls completely over as I'm swinging...the more hip and shoulder rotation I get, the more I roll my front foot/ankle over. I've tried to keep the front foot more flat and tight as I swing but it doesn't feel right. Putting more weight on the inside front foot helps some, but then I feel I'm too far out over the front leg and lunging. I've also opened my stance some. My coach says I'm losing a lot of power by turning the front ankle over as I swing and need to fix it, but he didn't say how. What can I do? Thanks.

I'll post a follow up question for your coach. I'm sure the ankle roll happens after contact. So how can it affect power?

Mark H.

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> >>> jACK,THE WAY i SEE THE M.L. SWING IS THAT THEY ALLGET THEIR LEAD FOOT OUT IN FRONT OF THEM AND USE THE LEAD LEG TO DRIVE THE FRONT HIP BACK ,AT THE SAME TIME THE REAR KNEE IS DRIVING DOWN AND IN,PULLING OR PUSHING OR WHATEVER THE REAR HIP FORWARD.THIS ALLOWS THE HIPS TO SPIN WITH GREAT FORCE TO ACCELERATE THE SHOULDER TURN.YOU CAN SPIN BY SQUASHING THE BUG AND YET GET MUCH LESS SPEED INTO YOUR SHOULDERS.YOU CAN HAVE TOO NARROW OF SPACE BETWEEN FEET AT TOE TOUCH AND SPIN BUT LITTLE LEG DRIVE PUSHING BACK AND DRIVING FORWARD WITH LESS RESULTS.I BELIEVE IN SEPARATION AND LEADING WITH THE HIPS AND I BELIEVE THEY SPIN FAST IF DRIVEN BY THE LARGE LEG MUSCLES IN PROPER POSITION. <<<
> > > 
> > > Hi rql
> > > 
> > > I would describe good lower body mechanics just the way you presented it above. But just a few short years ago, that would be called ‘spinning’. Rotating around the center of the body was what determined ‘spinning’ to authors such as Jim Lefebvre and Charlie Lou. To them, the back-side must rotate around a posted front-side (like a door swinging). Otherwise, the batter would have an arcing hand-path and hit around the ball (Jim showed drawing of this).
> > > 
> > > Rql, I guess when we use a term or cue, we should also give what era the definition comes from. These definitions seem to evolve over time.
> > > 
> > > Jack Mankin 
> > 
> > Jack,
> > I have a problem and hopefully you can help.  I'm trying to use rotational mechanics as explained above, but as I rotate my front and rear hips, my front foot/ankle points to the pitcher and then rolls completely over as I'm swinging...the more hip and shoulder rotation I get, the more I roll my front foot/ankle over.  I've tried to keep the front foot more flat and tight as I swing but it doesn't feel right.  Putting more weight on the inside front foot helps some, but then I feel I'm too far out over the front leg and lunging.  I've also opened my stance some.  My coach says I'm losing a lot of power by turning the front ankle over as I swing and need to fix it, but he didn't say how.  What can I do?  Thanks.
> 
> I'll post a follow up question for your coach. I'm sure the ankle roll happens after contact. So how can it affect power? 
> 
> Mark H.

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