Posted by: James (Jhool2@aol.com) on Sat Aug 5 18:40:28 2000

There seems to be a need for the linear swing. If a batter has two strikes or contact must be made to score a runner from third. The rotational swing due to it's nature seems to be less forgiving if the batter needs to adjust to a breaking ball. I teach the concept think fastball and react to the curve. Can a rotational hitter adjust his bat head to the breaking ball? Is there a connection between batting average and hitting styles?
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> > : well i feel that if a person can produce a high amount of batspeed early in the swing then that is what enables them to make the adjustments to breaking balls and two strike situations. If they produce good batspeed early then they can wait longer, so they wont be fooled. A true linear swing does not produce sufficient batspeed early in the swing and BY ITS VERY NATURE is the worst approach to hitting breaking balls (especially away) and protecting the plate. I think that you may be confused about what a true linear swing really is and the rotational/ torque swing taught on this site. Read around on this site for awhile and youll start to understand the difference. I do agree - think fastball react to the curve- but i dont see how that relates to the physical differences or as you said "bat head adjustments" The problem with the linear swing is that you have to start your swing earlier to make up for such a decrease in bat speed, so after the batter has realized its a curveball he then has to adjust his bat head MIDSWING which is very hard to do unless your bat is moving incredibly slow.....which in that case if the swing is truly linear is true.The only way the adjustment can be made in time is if the pitcher throws around 60 MPH....any more then that and the pitch will practically be by you before the adjustment is made, especially on the outside corner.
> > The major league swing taught on this site allows a hitter to delay his swing, recognize the curveball, and crush it as it enters the contact area....no mid-swing bat head adjustments here. While the batter waits for the curve to enter the contact area he stays back and closed while he torques the bat via top-hand torque, then rotates hard and crushes it. The preswing torque produced allows the hitter to wait much longer before rotating because the batspeed is actually being manufactured PRE-SWING (pre rotation). the result is great batspeed early in the swing and a devastated curveball. After little league the linear swing is good for 2 things.....strike outs, and broken bat dribblers to the pitcher. If your strong enough you may have decent results with some luckily placed ground balls through the infield....but after the pitching reaches 80 forget it. The better the pitching the less need there is for the linear swing. james...have you read "the mike schmidt study" ? schmidt seems to think that on outside pitches you can use weightshift (= linear)mechanics, rotational mechanics on inside pitches and a "hybrid" method on down-the-middle pitches....if you have read the book i would appreciate your thoughts.....and schmidt suggests that there are times when mid-swing adjustments have to be made, which could indeed result in what i would consider "defensive" (= linear) mechanics.....your comments would be greatly appreciated......respectfully, grc.....

Hi GRC.....no i have not read the Mike Shmidt study...but i should. I understand what you are saying concerning the use of a linear handpath/weight shift to protect the plate, or to hit the outside pitch. I myself have made mid swing bat head adjustments, and considered myself a linear/weightshift hitter fir many years....particullarily during highschool, I hit alot of grounders through the infield ,but as the pitching got better it bacame harder to make the adjustments. I have also felt that on a few occasions i had driven the outside pitch with a mostly linear handpath. I stress "MOSTLY LINEAR" beacuse i feel that it wasnt entirely linear. Ive heard Jack say this before that....hitters with a very linear handpath usually make up for the batspeed preswing....via top-hand torque. The torque produced helps to make up for lack of bathead displacement due to the linear handpath. I do beleive that a mostly linear handpath can be used in conjunction with torque, But not alone. Another thing that came to mind was i once heard someone quote Ted WIlliams. they said that one of the trademarks of Teddy Ballgame was that he could always put a full swing on every ball. I do agree with you that a linear slap swing can be effective when a batter makes a mistake and needs to correct it midswing...but that is not an effective way to hit.I wouldnt practice the protective/linear swing off my tee or in my training....becasue its not the goal of my swing training. Its just something that a player does that is different then his normal swing ,when he messes up in the batters box. I mostly wouldnt classify that as a "SWING TYPE". The hitter should shoot to discern every pitch and to stay in that zone of trust....so they can put a full swing on every pitch. I know that that is a very hard thing to do but it should be a goal to shoot for. Theses are just my opinions....no disrespect to GRC. Keep up the quality discussion. Thanks JAmes.