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I have been watching MLB clips and stride landings with the " stride to balance on the front toe" theme.

We might be making too much out of this front toe deal. I have kids that try to hold too much weight on the toe and THEN drop the heel.

I think any time the foot lands the natural way it is toe to heel because it is made that way with the Achilles tendon as a shock absorber.

BUT, front leg firm up seems to occur as the heel is DOWN. IT is almost impossible to shift into the front side with the heel up (as Epsteins "swing begins when the heel drops" command can erroneously suggest"). Maybe it is my misinterpretation and not his intent.

I am not just splitting hairs with mental gymnastics here. I am having to go back and lower these landings to get the front leg to firm up and accept some weight. I guess it would be similar to tell a pitcher to stride and land/hold the weight on the lead toe. While you don't want him to land heel first; you don't want him to land and hold on the toe either. That is what some of my batters have interpreted the heel drop to mean. Any thoughts?
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It has been my experience that teaching a player to drop his heel leads to problems. The hitter strides too much onto his toe with his heel being 6+" above his heel. As his heel slams down, his head moves and front shoulder pulls out early inevitably.

I would rather focus on striding soft on his front foot (to the ball of his foot). This is a fairly natural move and, if you have to spend an inordinate amount of time teaching this move, you have larger problems with the hitter.

Just my opinion.

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