Posted by: george stanley (saint_george13@yahoo.com) on Sun Dec 2 07:20:37 2007

> gerge said :
>
> "to open up your front foot & thus your front side before the foot strikes the ground will
> result in a loss in torque power generated"
>
> I would say that most good mlb power hitters start opening the front foot (externally
> rotate front leg) and the front hip BEFORE stride toe touch while at the same time NOT
> "opening the front side".
>
> They open the front foot and hips BUT at the same time keep the hands and shoulders
> back to avoid "flying open" and pulling off the ball.
>
> They do this by well synched upper and lower body actions that turn the body back and
> create coil which usually does NOT usually involve keeping the front foot or even the hips
> closed.

hi tom!

it is true that a lotta good MLB hitters open up their front foot while the front foot is in the air..however concerning your justification of their order of implementation & dismissal of my claim of lost torque... i am sorry to have to disagree.1st of all "not opening up the front side" cannot be achieved if you are opening up your foot prior to landing..NOT KEEPING THE FRONT FOOT OR THE HIPS CLOSED IS A FATAL ERROR in my book. when you open up your foot prior to landing, the number of degrees your foot has opened up are degrees of torque you will no longer be able to torque your foot after landing, therefore they are degrees of lorque lost as compared to degrees of torque you WILL generate if your foot lands in the closed position. it is not a matter of opening up the front side, rather it is a matter of lost torrque you can generate once your fot is screwd into the ground & starts your lower front side torque, which by the way is moe important than upper body torque.. most hitters do not realize their leg is at least 3 or 4 times stronger than their arm.. & you can generate far more power initiating your lower body torque FIRST & letting your lower body torque fire your upper body torque, rather than doing what so many MLB hitters do, which is implement an open wide stance which negates ANY lower body torque & then using a long backstroke windup & flailing with just their arms & shoulders (ala jeff bagwell.. then it turns out he's ruined his shoulder & can't play? gee, that's a big surprise!!.. NOT!). they might as well be sitting on a barstool, for all the power they are generating with their lower body.. which is very little.. THUS THEIR BATSPEED IS NEVER WHAT IT SHOULD BE.. & these guys start to fall out of the starting lineup & eventually out of the league at least 3 or 4 years before they should.. poster child: paul konerko, who this last year has turned into a one dimensional hitter... he makes his living on the down/in pitch to the exclusion of all others..BA down to a very ordinary .260,(60 points lower than the year before) with countless blows in clutch situations, lotsa useless bases-empty HR's, lousy RISP BA.. the pitchers have a very good book on him the last year, & he does not realize what little idiotic useless adjustments he makes are the wrong ones. late in the season he went from starting out with his hands behind his back shoulder to starting out with his hands over his right nipple.. what this did was INCREASE the drawback distance to the launch position, THUS MAKING HIM EVEN LATER TO THE BALL THAN BEFORE!! I call him one of the ever-expanding group of MORONS WITH MILLIONS.. at age 31, unless he figures it out for himself, or the coach figures it out for him,(yeah,right) i see him on a very slippery slope of decline right out of the league.. he's already useless to the sox.
he spent the last week of the season trying to get his 30th HR, & failed his team on numerous occasions when a base hit in the 9th would have won a ball game, he was cranked up trying to hit EVERY pitch in the seats..sad. he ain't the only one, though. lotta that goin around.
##

hey tom!
where do i start?
1st of all, the front toe & front hip are by definition PART OF THE FRONT SIDE, NO?.. YES!! .. so to open up a SOME of the front parts is to open up a part of the front side, no? YES!!!... IN THE SAME SENTENCE WHERE YOU SAY OPEN UP THE FRONT FOOT & FRONT HIP... "WHILE NOT OPENING THE FRONT SIDE" IS A CONTRADICTION IN TERMS... HOW CAN YOU NOT OPEN UP THE FRONT SIDE WHEN YOU ARE OPENING UP PARTS OF THE FRONT SIDE?? HELLO?..
FACT: opening up the front toe & front hip, which in fact are part of the front side IS IN FACT OPENING UP THE FRONT SIDE..
you are not making too much sense, buddy!...
also you have lost sight of the timing involved...
1. plant both feet before generating lower body torque. to open up ANY PART OF ANYTHING BEFORE YOUR BASE HAS BEEN SECURED WILL RESULT IN LOSS OF TORQUE. TO OPEN UP PREMATURELY, THAT IS BEFORE YOUR FRONT FOOT STRIKES THE GROUND IS TO LOSE POWER YOU COULD GENERATE BY WAITING UNTIL AFTER THE FOOT IS ON THE GROUND..
you'll figure it out!!