I cannot begin to tell you how disappointed I am when I read through this thread. I have only recently exchanged information with Howard on this site and what we both teach are very similar styles but not exactly the same.
Both Howard and I come on here to help players and parents understand what the current methods are in todays BB and SB games to create high level hitters. Thats right I teach boys as well as girls and I teach them the same swing. Why. Because in todays game there is no difference between what the MLB player does and what the NPF player does or what the Olympic player does when they take a cut at the ball. The form and mechanics are the same at CONTACT with the ball. This also includes a large number of college teams who are now changing there methods of hitting the ball. One of the prime examples would be here.
http://imageevent.com/siggy/hitting/northwestern2006wcws;jsessionid=kqg71vc8u1.zebra_s
I hope you all remember this team as they KICKED OSUs butts all over the field that year. This was a good hitting team. Guess everyone forgot them? Let you in on a little secret. They use what Howard and I both teach. A high level swing with a slightly upward swing path that creates a consistent swing plane to the ball and generates tremendous power with a high average. So, if your not interested in that kind of hitting then keep doing these things here:
Grip - Line up the knocking knuckles
Keep Hands High
Squish the Bug
Throwing the barrel of the bat to the ball
Taking the hands to the ball
Taking the Knob to the ball
Staying inside the ball
Staying on top of the ball
Swing DOWN on the ball
Keep your head in
Stand TALL.
Roll your wrist
Take a long Stride
Front arm Down
All of these Cues could mean any number of things to an instructor or a coach. Myself included. AND I HAVE TAUGHT THEM TO KIDS. So, how did I go about realizing that what I was teaching wasnt working? Because my teams were hitting about 275 with very little power. Your saying well 275 isnt all that bad. Here in Texas that SUCKS. You better be hitting around 300 with power if you want to compete unless you have superb pitching. Many teams have higher batting averages than 300 at all levels.
So what made me change? It wasnt because of my team average. I happen to be attending a college look tournament with my daughter who was a pretty decent pitcher. She went up against this team and got lit up like a Christmas tree. Many balls to the fence and many into the gaps. Here was the kicker. She was throwing good pitches to these girls and they would just flat drive them all over the field. Didn't matter where the DD pitched the ball. The other part of this was these were not BIG girls. And everyone of them did something I had never seen before from a softball team. They all set up the same way to hit. We lost 7-0 and the DD was embarrassed in front of a lot of college coaches.
At that point after the game I went over to the other teams coaches and got into a discussion with them about their hitters. They gave me the name of the guy who taught them how to hit and I got in touch with him. From that point forward I started to look at hitting in a totally different way. I have spent the last 7 years studying hitters and hitting styles and there is no better style than what Howard or I teach. We are to some degree the same with some minor variations. That is because this is what the player in today's game use for success.
Go back and look at the stats for MLB in the 70s and 80s and compare them with the stats of today's players. The power and average numbers are not the same. So what was different? For one a guy by the name of Charlie Lau. Charlie figured out that if you swing down on the ball and your playing field is AstroTurf the ball will get through the infield a lot faster. So he started teaching players that method. Which was much different that the reigning guru of that time. Ted Williams. A number of those cues above were developed based on Lau's teachings. At the time they were valid for MLB. So what did we all do? Adopted those methods. They are alive and well today and still used by many coaches and instructors in both baseball and softball. Problem is the AstroTurf is now GONE.
Jump 20 years forward. The stats do not compare. The Reggie Jacksons and the George Fosters would be average HR hitters in today's game. Why? Because the swings have changed and so has the athletic ability of the players. This applies to both BB and SB. Yes, you can throw out the steroid argument if you want but you still have to make solid contact with the ball for it to go yard.
When Caytlin Lowe goes yard on Jenny Finch and just about knocks it out of the AZ stadium in 2004 during the Olympic tour you know that all of that 5'4 and maybe 110 pounds was doing something right with her swing. I will let you figure it out.
I have stayed away from these kinds of statements on this site intentionally. I didnt want someone to accuse me of being mister know it all about hitting. Just like Howard is being accused of now. If you take the time to study and do the duediligence of figureing out what works best for young players, then form an intelligent decision, based on what the best in the world do today. You might get to an honest conclusion.
Until then your waisting the your time. Even worse your waisting the time of your players or students. The sad part is they only have so many years to improve to get to reach their goals. And they dont know or care about any coach or instructors hitting agenda.
Sorry for the long post but this one hit a sore spot.
Elliott.
