Ask 100 coaches about hitting and you’ll get 100 different answers. Hitting a baseball is such a complex task that there is really no specific method that everyone agrees upon.
Rotation guys like their ideas, linear advocates swear their method is the best. I believe in a combination of the two as the most effective method of combining power and average. For years, I was a rotation only guy. Then I came upon two resources that changed my mind. The first was chrisoleary.com. Chris has analyzed the big league swing with a somewhat scientific bent and demonstrates, using several hitters, what they have in common and what seems to work and what does not.
One thing that his analysis showed me was that virtually all big league power hitters shift their weight forward along with rotating their hips. Go to his site and see it. There are analyses of several hitters on the site. Then, when a player of mine tried it, he immediately added 30 feet and he was full rotation before using this method.
Another advocate of the combined method is Mike Schmidt. In 1993, he wrote a book with Robert Ellis entitled “The Mike Schmidt Study”. He discusses Ted Williams’ rotation method and Charlie Lau’s more linear oriented method (though Lau uses rotation as well, just not to the same degree). I highly recommend this book to everyone.
One of the great things about baseball is its history. Once of the worst things is that some coaches are mired in it. What I mean by that is coaches at all levels don’t want to constantly improve their methodology. “If it worked for them, it’ll work for you” kind of attitude. It is true, some things don’t change because they shouldn’t be changed. There is nothing new under the sun when it comes to fielding a ground ball, for example. And there probably will never be anything new.
However, when it comes to a relatively complex task like hitting, coaches should constantly add to their arsenal of methodologies. Not everyone is a power hitter and not everyone has the speed to hit like Juan Pierre or, for guys like me, Mickey Rivers. Constantly seek to improve…just like you ask your players to do.
Tags: baseball, batting, Charlie, hitting, Lau, linear, Mike, rotation, Schmidt, tips
