Mike Epstein Coming to North Texas

WHO IS MIKE EPSTEIN?

Member, first United States Olympic baseball team [Japan, 1964]

Still holds highest lifetime batting average at the University of California, Berkeley [.384]

Class A California League Rookie-of-the-Year and Player-of-the-Year, League MVP [1965]

Class AAA International League Rookie-of-the-Year and Player-of-the-Year, League MVP [1966]

Sporting News and Topps Minor League Player-of-the-Year [1966]

American League record, most putouts, first baseman one game, 32 [versus Chicago White Sox, 1967]

Hit three home runs in one game [versus Chicago White Sox, 1969]

Won prestigious Major League “Player Win Average” award in the American League, given to baseball’s most productive hitter. (Willie McCovey won it in the National League) [1969]

One game, career-high eight runs-batted-in [versus Baltimore Orioles, 1970]

Tied Major League record four consecutive home runs [versus Washington Senators, 1971]

Member, World Champion Oakland Athletics. Led team in home runs [1972]

Came in third in the American League home run race [1972]

Washington Senators club record, most home runs by a left-handed hitter, season, 30 [1969]

Coach, San Diego Crush, 3-time Amateur World Champions [1991, 1992, 1994]

Coach, San Diego Area Code Team [1995]

Minor League Manager and Roving Hitting Instructor, Milwaukee Brewers, [1993]

Minor League Hitting Coordinator San Diego Padres [2000]


Hitting columnist, Collegiate Baseball Newspaper [2001-current]


Elected to Rochester Red Wings (AAA) Hall of Fame [2004]

Quote from the Greatest Hitter Who Ever Played:

"Mike played for me for three years when I managed the Washington Senators. He was always a keen student of hitting. I see Mike frequently and have parried batting technique and theory with him — both the physical and mental sides — on many of those occasions.

I'm a tough guy to please and impress, but I believe Mike comprehends and teaches the science of proper hitting as skillfully as anyone I have run across in all my years of baseball."

-Ted Williams

If your player is a hitter, then you should make every effort to attend this seminar. The younger your player, the better. My son spent a week in lessons with Mike in Denver. It is the best hitting instruction he has ever received.

Mike will teach hitting and swing principles that are in direct contrast to what many hitting coaches (private, HS, & college) are teaching today. Then he will back up his principles with video samples and clips of major league hitters (Bonds, Jeter, Garciaparra, Joe Crede, others...) that show these principles in practice.

Mike's teaching is endorsed by bbscout, a well respected member of the HSBBWeb community and an MLB scout employed by the Giants.

You will not regret attending this seminar.

FACT: High school hitting production has been off over 30% since the introduction of the minus 3 aluminum bats. The culprit lies in your son's hitting technique.

FACT: Fastpitch hitting production has always been non-existent. The culprit lies in your daughter's hitting technique.

FACT: There are only TWO proven hitting techniques: rotational and linear. Rotational hitting is the technique used by 95% of baseball's Hall-of-Fame hitters. Are you being taught rotational mechanics?

FACT: More and more high school and college fastpitch coaches are switching over to rotational mechanics and are seeing a huge difference. This will be the technique of the future for fastpitch hitters. Everyone is tired of seeing pitchers dominate the fastpitch game.

FACT: Mike Epstein Hitting, Inc. is the acknowledged world leader in the instruction of rotational mechanics. We literally wrote "The Book" on rotational hitting ("The Epstein Teaching System: How To Hit Your Potential In Just 7 Days!").

FACT: The Epstein Teaching System™ has been responsible for over $30 million in player signing bonuses and over $100 million in professional contracts over the past eight years. In addition, we have been responsible for hundreds of college scholarships.

FACT: Former 9-year major league slugger, Mike Epstein, has the only written Letter of Recommendation for hitting instruction from the legendary Ted Williams.

AGREE! DBG... agree...

quote:

Originally posted by FortWorthCats:
FACT: High school hitting production has been off over 30% since the introduction of the minus 3 aluminum bats. The culprit lies in your son's hitting technique.

Nope. It's the pitching that has gotten better.
{Disclosure: This post made by a pitcher's dad.}

And BTW, this is the HS baseball web. Fastpitch softball probably has its own board somewhere.

quote:

Originally posted by Texan:
Nope. It's the pitching that has gotten better.
{Disclosure: This post made by a pitcher's dad.}

And BTW, this is the HS baseball web. Fastpitch softball probably has its own board somewhere.

And the HS strike zone that resembles a 3'x8' doorway (Disclosure: written by a hitter's dad).

KD, slap some dap on me!

quote:

Originally posted by T-Bird Dad:
And the HS strike zone that resembles a 3'x8' doorway (Disclosure: written by a hitter's dad).

Hope Texan son's team gets that blue this weekend!

quote:

FACT: High school hitting production has been off over 30% since the introduction of the minus 3 aluminum bats. The culprit lies in your son's hitting technique.

How can one really claim to know exactly how much high school production has dropped?

FACT: Whataburger tastes 80% better at 3:00 AM after consuming beverages all night.

Kevin-

Very simple. Do a search under NCAA. They are the ones doing the studies... And if you do not think that the production is off since the change, you are lost - or in a closet... or live in Missouri...

I never said I didnt think production was off, I questioned how one can put a number on it as this instructor has. There is no national database of every hs team stats as there is for the NCAA. There is absolutely no way to accurately come to a numerical value for production increases or desreases on a national level for high school players. There is however a way to measure dropoff on the NCAA level.

I do think high school production is off, but I dont really think it is a bad thing nor do I feel it is a result of poor hitting techniques that plague young players. Strictly looking at the available NCAA data that is available, one sees a pretty obvious inflation of overall batting average in regards to specific events that directly effect the game ie the changing bats.

Kev-

Read carefully. The instructor didn't put a number on it... the NCAA along with a National High School Coaches Assoc. did. Yes the H.S. part was a random sampling across the nation from different regions, the NCAA is exact - both showed the same data. No one put an exact number on it - that is why the NCAA said over 30%.. that is what is called an estimation... exact would have been more like 31.29%

No one said it was bad thing that offense has dropped off - but if you do not think the the offensive numbers in the NCAA prior (say previous 5 years) to the advent of the -3 bats were much greater than that after (say the 5 years right after) you are lost. The numbers were unbelievable....

ever hear of Gorilla Ball? That is what was dubbed that was going on in the NCAA in the 90's... all they did (over night) was add two (2) ounces to the HANDLE of the aluminum bat and numbers have never been the same.

You can't blame the bat, you have to look at the batter - and his/her mechanics...

But that's JMO.......

I have seen the numbers, and here is a chart that details that information:


You are right, there is a huge difference between wood bats, -5 bats, and -3 bats. Its remarkable. Where you and I differ is the culprit of this. I personally believe that players are getting exposed as bad hitters by better bats, not their mechanics. I've seen players in the Houston area that are highly regarded high school and college guys swing metal one round and wood the next off of BP and get owned. Yes they made adjustments to their swing, but they could not handle the wood. A coach once said to me, I can't make a donkey into a thoroughbred but I can make a donkey into a pretty good donkey. Thats what I think bats do. Wood bats will show you who's a donkey and who's a thoroughbred. Some players can make adjustments in their approach but I would say most cannot. The woods elimate the cheap hits (off the handle, off the end, a near barrel hit) that metal bats still shoot into the gap which cheapens the game. A coach can attempt to improve a player's swing until he is blue in the face but if the player is not capable of making the adjustments then what was the purpose? The coach may not have put a number on it, but he does claim he can fix it and I just don't think that is possible and gives players or parents false hope.

Kev-

I think we agree and are looking at from two different angles...

mine is the bat does exploit the batter - because if you can swing and hit a metal bat, and then cannot swing a wood bat, well as TEd Williams said: "It ain't the arrow, it's the indian." And in this case the Indian's mechanics... I believe most hitters do not hit as well with -3's or wood, because of poor mechanics - they have aluminum mechanics; ALL UPPER BODY! Hands "go get the pitch" "Squish the bug", level shoulders - they drag the bat to the point of contact (linear) which is going to be much harder and the bat head will move much slower... therefore over time, they fail...

however... all M.E. is stating is that he can help a hitter reach his overall future potential by giving the player a blue print for proper mechanics... initiate your swing properly, make proper on-the-fly adjustments, and let physics do the grunt work of increasin/maintaining yourbathead speed.. i.e. angular momentum, equal and opposite reaction, Cent. Force, etc...

No one is claiming to make everyone a major leaguer... but reach a higher level of play, yes. And he woks with and has worked with many MLB players and college guys... Giles bros, Chavez, Wiggington, Mauer, Ch. Jones, etc, etc..

I don't know your background in the game, but some players are gonna play at a certain level because they are great athletes... but if you can help a kid make LL All-Stars or a JV'er make Varsity, or a Varsity guy get a college scholarship... or a college guy to get drafted one day... what is wrong with that... if the parent thinks that there kid is going to the BIGS because of stats.. well, they are lost and blind anyway... ask FLA...

all anyone is ever trying to do is make a donkey in to the best donkey possible - and if a player is starting his swing with his hands, and you can teach him to properly use his hips/core to get it started... you are off to a good start... but, the is JMO.....

i probably own 20 hitting videos. The Epstien video is good. I do not like teaching high school kids to step to 45 degrees to initiate the hips however. I think thats a tough concept..I do like his torque drill and wiehgt transfer stuff however. Worst video i've got is the hitting instructor for the Red sox..Its aweful.

Roy -stepping with toe pointed to about 45 degrees (or slightly more) does not initiate the swing, the dropping of the front heel does... the 45 degrees is so it is made easier for hips to clear as thoroughly as possible (not to get blocked)... same reason a pitcher lands with front foot about 90 degrees ... doesn't initiate pitch, helps hips clear as much as possible through the balistic movement of pitching a baseball...

i understand that, but also believe heel drop occurs naturally as does the foot opening to 45.. Pitching coaches teach stay closed until stride foot lands. It opens instinctivly in my opinion. I just refuse to teach kids to step to 45..I tried it 1 year..like staying closed with toe as long as possible better. He is the only one i know that teaches those two elements in the way he does. I don't give lessons though. Would probably be easier in that setting.

Hobbs- Are you in Austin?

Bumpity bump bump

Bumpity bump??

That would be a slight bump followed by a full bump.

Anyone have any feedback on how they liked the clinic?