Posted by: Major Dan (markj89@charter.net) on Wed Nov 21 05:46:11 2001

>>> Jack, you are on the money once again! You can apply the cue to rotational swings (sort of)... Essentially this cue is meant to help time when the hands release the bat head. If you release the bathead well before contact you get 'outside the ball'. If you release into contact, you stayed inside the ball long enough.
> But it makes much less sense from a rotational point of view. From a linear view, it is like the fence drill - don't cast early.
> But coaches love to talk about 'staying inside the ball'. At the last conference I attended, it was like the best cue in the world and everyone who understood it and believed in it, was a real 'insider'.
> ??? I was mysified... <<<
>
> Hi Major Dan
>
> I find about the same thing here in CA. Most of the discussions among batting coaches are just a rehashing of linear cues. But sometimes I am pleasantly surprised with at least a form of rotational thinking. I seldom enter into their discussions – just ask an occasional question. Do you find many coaches who think deeper than cues in your area?
>
> Jack Mankin
>

The vast majority of the 'coaches' I am in contact with unfortunately don't have a clue and throw out random cues.
The softball world that my daughter Jodie deals with is full of 'ignorance and arrogance' coaching. No one understands what Jodie is doing. They like her swing but amazingly try to 'help' her and never ask me what I teach her.
The Little League / local baseball coaches don't know anything and prefer it that way. I've been ostracized because my teams win too much and score too many runs. Instead of me running coaches training, they'd rather I didn't participate.
At the AAU level, we have coaches who have some knowledge but all I hear are linear cues.
Some of the local college coaches are different. Peter Hughes at Boston College talks a lot about staying inside the ball, but the mechanics he creates are more rotational than you'd expect and his teams hit for a lot of power. Bob Neville, Holy Cross softball coach, has a reasonably rotational style with some compromises (linear) he advocates due to reaction time issues. He is surprisingly close compared to most others.
Consider this - Joe Kerrigan, the Red Sox manager for the moment, wants to recruit Walt Hriniak as the Sox hitting coach. Hriniak is/was a Lau disciple and guru'd Boggs, Frank Thomas, etc. He also ruined Rich Gedman's swing, etc. And of course the Sox just picked up Tony Clark who is about as linear a MLB player as you'll find other than the slap and singles hitters. Their AAA team in Pawtucket boasts two 'prospects', Juan Diaz and Dernell Stenson, who are big strong guys with no top hand torque and 'slow' bats for power prospects. Diaz is a bull but I've seen him not catch up with AAA fastballs on a regular basis.
Jack, I fear that this internet baseball world is very cut off from the real baseball world. Different vocabulary, different world view, etc.
At the same time, the best players in the world use the techniques we talk about here, but even they usually describe them in linear terms.
Will the gap ever be bridged?