How do you support your ideas?

Although I am in no way nor do I aspire to be a Hitting GURU, How about Results?!!!

good question.

I think you go with whatever fits best with as many reliable sources without contradicting what they say unless it is scientifically impossible.

It is difficult for science to absolutely rule things out,so you have to take care decding for example the bumble bee can fly,but the rise ball doesn't rise.

important data that must fit in my opinion includes:

what is seen on video
yeager's ground force plate data
zig's motionanalysis data
*****'s computer simulations
Epstein/Williams descriptions
Hodge's kinesiological joint motions sequence info
Mankins tht and chp.
similarity to overhand throw
similarity to old fashioned golf swing.

DMAC once said about video:

http://www.baseball-fever.com/showthread.php?t=57236

"I will tell you what video does support. It supports the tipping of the bathead and the running start, as there are a ton of guys in the big leagues who do it, and that it has gone on for generations of players. It will also show that guys who have flat bats and a dead start are few and far between in the major leagues.

"My own personal opinion is that most guys on this and other sites get angry with each other due to one main reason.........they came aboard knowing very little about the swing, or baseball for that matter. They then aligned themselves with an instructor and what he teaches is what they learn. They then defend it with all their heart and soul, and pooh pooh anything someone else puts on the table.

"Mark [Hansen] always says to check the big leaguers in slow mo (regular and frame by frame too for me), and that is good advice, except some don't want to check the big leaguers unless the big leaguers are doing what the poster has been taught by his instructor"

I am with you Floridafan. Results are what counts. I would never teach my son to swing like Vlad G.

But I wish he could!!

CoachB,

For me, my theories are supported first and foremost, by my experience in the game. My father was a scout and I played D1 Ball and am currently in pro ball. On top of that, I have done a lot of video study and tried to implement what I see from the game's best into my own game. I have been doing this for years and hope to continue to do so.
From my successes and failures I feel that I have a very informed and quality opinion of how to hit and how to teach someone else to hit. I have seen quality results from my approach and have talked with countless others that have had much success in pro ball.

This may be off topic here, but Doughnutman, why not teach your kid to swing like Vlad? Don't you think that you can learn something from watching him? I know I have.

great thread tom a MUST READ...

beemax, I understand. Having the ability to "do" is an important element I now lack. Of couse, I can still hit a fungo with the best of them.

I think whatever works for the individual is what they should use. It's not so much black or white. I don't believe like some that there is only one right way.Vlad to me is a pitchers nightmare cause he's gonna take a pitchers pitch and go yard with it.It took me some 40+ years to figure out the whole world can't be wrong all the time.Now I do believe there are some constants like w/ pitching that need to be, but after that each will have there own style and from there the proof will be in the results.

Feedback, results, before and after videos, and the number one...smiles!!!

Good points 2Diamonds. Every hitter is unique, all of has have our own style. And there is always an execption to mechanic. I do believe however, that there are some things that all good hitters share. A quiet front side is one. When taking an approach at the ball, that front shoulder, front hip, front foot, all have radar lock on the ball. They are also quick to the ball and long through the ball. But fellas, trust me in this, and dads listen up! Don't waste too much time working on mechanics, work on trying to hit the ball on the barrel. Hitters waste too much time on mechanics, there is no secret trick to hitting. You load up, see the ball, and try to center it up. Good hitters will hit, bad hitters wont. I have seen too much focus on mechancis and not enough emphasis on attacking the ball and being a tough out!

Agree

Beemax,
Now that I think about it I do tell him to do some of the things Vlad does. Stay smooth and swing hard being two of them. I am sure their are a lot more, but I let his coaches do the detail work.
But he doesn't have the skills yet to take a ball 3 inches off the ground and a foot inside and hit it out of the park. He needs to be just a tad bit more selective to be successful at this stage.

I love watching Vlad hit.

A combination of listening to others and trying to filter out the sales pitches, seeing what works and doesn't work for my son, trying any new ideas out on myself for a while first and watching people who have been successful as instructors.

So I sent my son to a couple people who I thought were good instructors even though I certainly didn't agree with everything they were teaching (I didn't tell him that). The first was able to help him get a fundamentally sound swing but imparted a philosophy that was more consistent with the astroturf era and tended to lead toward a bit of lunging and pulling off the ball at times, i.e. ground balls are good. The second helped get him off some of that and since then we've tried to incorporate some of the concepts of Paul N's that either have worked or were implemented at the same time that he grew a lot and gained a bit of power. These days the main thing I focus on with him is for him to figure out how to hit the highest percentage of line drives in BP and not to accept ground balls or high fly balls during BP. That tends to translate into success at the plate.

We've also figured out what tends to work best for him as an approach to hitting, which for him is to be a first pitch fastball hitter, but we don't overemphasize that because even first pitch fastball hitters don't drive first pitch fastballs every time even if they do get them.

CADad, wow, you added a very important element that I left out. Yes, the hitter's perception and understanding are very important. As many of you know, I subscribe to Steve E's theories. In saying that, I ask my child what she thinks about this or that. It is amazing to hear their perception of what takes place in the swing. Naturally, it is helpful using any theory that they have a common language that they understand so they can communicate their "feel" better.

Thanks for your contribution to this thread! Thanks to all else for keeping this a very productive thread.