Rotational Hitting

[Pops]

Results

Seasons Greetings,

I thought that I'd post some results from my daughters efforts. Since learning the Mike Epstein hitting system through camps, lessons, and hard work she has improved her abilities tremendously this year.

Prior to learning the Epstein way of hitting she had an early season .230 batting average. She was a decent hitter but there was room for improvement. She finished summer ball and improved her late season batting average to .475. Then in the Fall her middle school team which I coached participated in a hitting clinic given by Epstein instructors prior to our season.

As a team we had a .310 batting average and a .530 on base percentage for the season including the playoffs. Individually my daughter had a .590 batting average and a .630 on base percentage.

Needless to say I'm very happy with the results and would recommend Mike Epstein Hitting to anyone looking to improve their ability at the plate.

Best Regards,

Pops

 

[CoachB25]

Pops, congratulations on the success of your daughter.

 

[Pops]

Thanks

Hi Coach,

Thanks for your kind words. My daughter will be moving up to 14B this coming season, 9 tournaments including 1 out of state. She's working really hard to improve and I'm very proud of her efforts. Her off season training is going very well and I expect big things in the new year.

Best Regards,

Pops

 

[CoachB25]

Hi Coach,

Thanks for your kind words. My daughter will be moving up to 14B this coming season, 9 tournaments including 1 out of state. She's working really hard to improve and I'm very proud of her efforts. Her off season training is going very well and I expect big things in the new year.

Best Regards,

Pops

Pops, mine's 15 and should be a first year 16U. However, she "played up" last year and so this is her second year. Her team is playing 16U A. She is returning off of an injury and so, we'll see how everything goes. She does hit every day which I hope will get her ready. We play two indoor tournaments in January. Again, good luck with your daughter.

 

[Wellphyt]

Pops, glad to hear your daughter is doing well. I've used the Epstein videos to teach my daughter and I have been happy with the results. I started her at age 9 and she is now 12.

As far as the negative comments you've read on here about Epstein's knowledge and teaching approach, I would treat it as healthy skepticism. I think you will find that some of the core movements of the swing that are being debated here are biomechanically correct and will happen naturally.

For instance the consenses on here is that Epstein doesn't teach tilting towards the plate, yet my daughter does it naturally. So does the girl in my Espstein videos. I've also seen still photos of my daughter's swing at contact and her back foot was up on it's toe like most rotational hitters.

Scapular loading is probably the biggest difference, but even that wants to happen naturally when my daughter weight shifts forward during her stride. For right now I prefer that she keeps the bat against the side of her back shoulder and just turns her front shoulder in slightly as Esptein teaches. Only because at this age I believe her motor skills are such that there is too much that can go wrong if her back elbow gets too far away from the slotted position. I view it as a minor temporary compromise that can be easily changed when her motor skills improve. Epstein says that he doesn't care how a hitter positions their hands as long as they can get the back elbow slotted at the proper time.

The hip drive is the hardest thing for me to get my arms around. I've watched lots of videos of MLB players and I'm still not sure exactly what I'm seeing. I do know my daughter definitely leads with her hips and she definitely gets on the ball of her back foot when her hips trigger Other than that I don't know. I figure at some point in the swing kinetic energy takes over and things just happen naturally.

My daughter hits the ball hard for her size, and mostly hits line drives. I've also had coaches tell me she has a very quick bat. Two of her 3rd base coaches told her that she always faked them out because it always looked like the ball was almost by her when she started her swing.

I've been to Englishbey's sight and his swing looks pretty similar to my daughter's and all the other video clips of rotational hitters I've seen. I plan to order his videos soon. I don't think you can ever get to much good information.

 

[lvtwft]

My thoughts..

Rotational hitting in my experience is best kept in slow pitch( not in its hybrid form ).
I like bat speed, but there is more to a swing besides how fast you can do it.( claims of rotational hitting you get more bat speed with the rotation)
You have a lot of bat drag not lag in your rotational swing. Your bat is trying to catch up to the rest of your body, when that happens you dont get as much force behind your swing as you would say with Mike Candreas swing( more linear ).
Lets use Boxing or MMA as a way to explain my thoughts here.
A Jab (rotational hitting) is effective, but does not all the time give the KO you are looking for. A Cross (linear hitting) gives you more power but might be a little slower.
IMO, it is easier to hit with power and be able to hit outside, low, high,off speed pitches, fast balls with the Candrea approach..
So with your question above I like Mike Candrea the best...he has some great drills that help you understand his way of thinking and his approach..



Here is a link to Candreas approach and videos of his swing.

BACK TO HOME PAGE

 

[coachdan]

You must be refering to Candrea's old stuff....He now teaches Rotational hitting.

 

[Mark H]

IV,

The terms rotational and linear have become near useless as each new guru attaches a new meaning to the term.

 

[skeptic]

Rotational hitting in my experience is best kept in slow pitch( not in its hybrid form ).
I like bat speed, but there is more to a swing besides how fast you can do it.( claims of rotational hitting you get more bat speed with the rotation)
You have a lot of bat drag not lag in your rotational swing. Your bat is trying to catch up to the rest of your body, when that happens you dont get as much force behind your swing as you would say with Mike Candreas swing( more linear ).
Lets use Boxing or MMA as a way to explain my thoughts here.
A Jab (rotational hitting) is effective, but does not all the time give the KO you are looking for. A Cross (linear hitting) gives you more power but might be a little slower.
IMO, it is easier to hit with power and be able to hit outside, low, high,off speed pitches, fast balls with the Candrea approach..
So with your question above I like Mike Candrea the best...he has some great drills that help you understand his way of thinking and his approach..

By ANY conventional definition, Candrea's approach is rotational. The RVP mantra "linear start to a rotational finish" is jibberish. OF COURSE the stride is linear. No one has EVER inferred or stated that rotational hitters don't stride. But jibberish that the phrase is, even Candrea describes the swing as mostly rotational.

As Mark intimated, the words rotational and linear have simply become marketing terms. RVP / Don Slaught / Candrea and Enquist are NOT an exception. "linear start to a rotational finish" is THEIR marketing message. And that is all it is - nothing different or revolutionary about what they are describing.

You are right that the key consideration is swing QUICKNESS. Elapsed time from swing launch to contact. Separate concept from bat speed (power). But related. Start with building the quickest possible swing - 15/100's of a second or less. Then add as much power as you can. That is the approach of MLB hitters, who sacrifice some power in favor of quickness. But still have an awful lot of both. Their swings are almost universally rotational by any conventional definition. Mainly because a rotational swing is far quicker than a linear swing. More powerful, too.


NO GOOD rotational swing has bat drag. If the hands ever trail the rear elbow, they are stll tied to the rear shoulder until the hitter is around the corner.

Your bat is trying to catch up to the rest of your body, when that happens you dont get as much force behind your swing as you would say with Mike Candreas swing( more linear ).

If you believe this, you REALLY need to study physics and the kinetic chain. And take a look at how a whip works (understanding that the crack of the whip is the tip exceeding the sound barrier - 650mph. Even though the hand holding the whip is moving about 25mph.)

 

[Pops]

Falling Short

Hi lvtwft,

I think your boxing analogy falls short. Rotational hitting is not like a boxers jab, it is like an upper cut. You match your bat to the plane of the ball, your front shoulder is elevated slightly higher than your back shoulder and you use your back leg to adjust your bodies height and drive your hands through the ball as you swing. That's a knock out punch.

After three sessions with Epstein certified instructors I've seen my daughter drive balls over the infielders heads deep into the outfield. A jab would only produce an ineffective line drive that would be easily fielded by the infield 80% of the time.

Re: Candrea, he is a great coach so I mean this respectfully. What happened with his team in the Olympics? I assume he was overseeing their hitting. Where did it go against the Japanese in the Gold Medal game? Only Bustos hit well and all Ueno had to do was intentionally walk her and the USA offense was done. And as I recall Angela Tincher no hit them while she was still in college.

Best Regards,

Pops