Posted by: Marcus Boyd () on Thu Jul 29 07:15:44 2004

> So is the back elbow still in contact with the hitter's side at contact on middle and inside pitches? I happen to be very skinny, so keeping my elbow tucked in at my (thin framed) side creates a very short swing and when I keep my elbow in, even on inside pitches I hit them on the end of the bat, and I cut my swing short of extension in the follow through. So is the back elbow, lead arm, and hands supposed to cast out a little (not sweep out) as the swing goes on? All my hits this year are on outside pitches, where I can extend my arms out and use more of an arm swing with less hip rotation, remember my earlier post I said I had an all arms swing with limited hip rotation.

Dougdinger,

It sounds like a very simple problem to me. Most hitters don't realize that hitting the ball off the wrong part of the bat is more a timing problem (assuming good mechanics) than anything.

If you're standing in the batter's box where you can reach pitches over the entire plate with the bat, you're swing is a bit early when you're hitting an inside pitch off the end of the bat.

Think about the circular hand path. It will bring the bat head around in a circular path, too. That means the sweet spot of the bat will cross the plate in an arc (not a straight line). To see where you need to make contact on a particular pitch (inside, outside, etc.) get in the batter's box and do a slow-motion rotational swing. See where the sweet spot of the bat comes around to meet an inside pitch. See where it would meet an outside pitch.

This is a very simplified method. Your mechanics would have to be very sound, but this will give you a better idea of where your ideal contact points will be. Note that you will hit an inside pitch a bit in front of your front knee, while you will want to hit the outside pitch farther back toward the catcher.

If you will think about it, you probably are hitting the inside pitch too far in front of your front leg. If the pitch is just a tad bit farther toward the catcher, would you have hit it on the sweet spot? It's worth exploring.

Marcus