T1B

WTF you talkin 'bout Wilis? It sounds like a bit much to lay on my 10-U girls softball team. If I can get them to "hammer down", "extend their arms", and turn their hips "squish the bug" while not stepping out the box and keeping their heads from looking down the LF line i'm happy.

I've always liked linear. It promotes consistency. Baserunners tend to know the batters behind them more which really helps on things like hitting and running. Likewise, baserunners know the runners ahead of them more to know their tendencies.

Now, if someone is slumping and hurting the team, shifting them in the lineup might be necessary. I would avoid the shifty line-ups though at all costs. Larry Dierker, when with the Astros, seems to have a different lineup every night, and not just becasue the pitchers changed. I hated that.

Linear Hitting if you say so. To be honest I haven't ever heard the terms/philosophys of Linear versus Rotational hitting. But then i'm just a guy who volunteered to coach his daughters team a couple years ago and they keep calling me back. These were just some methods I was taught at some coaching clinics i've attended over the past few years.

Now, if I can only get my girls to throw strikes, walks are fricking killers.

~~~~~ Cross post reference.

This past Saturday, one of the board members came up to me after our game and reminded me that it was against the rules to use tobacco during the games or practices, I had been sucking on some Copenhagen during the game, though I wasn't spiting anywhere. I quipped, "I thought that rule was for the girls." She laughed.

Linear hitting became popular with the advent of artificial turf and aluminum bats in the early 70's when hitters were taught to hit ground balls.

That sounds like what we are trying to do. At this level we want ground balls, anything hit on the ground to the left side is pretty much a hit. We don't want fly balls since that is a chance for an easy out. There is no way the girls are gonna "drive" a ball into the gap.

You would actually be surprised at how well these girls concentrate/stay focused during the games and practices. Remember they are girls playing softball, they are essentially all "Tomboys" and probably haven't touched a barbie in 4 years.

I totally agree in another year or so, the fielding is going to catch up and surpass what the hitters are doing. I think that is where the philosophy differs between softball and baseball. Softball is definately a "small ball" approach to the game. We have the local HS coaching staff heavily involved with our league running the various coaching and player clinics teaching us and the kids how they want to see them playing when the few filter there way up their ranks.

Wags has a daughter that he brags about, I wonder what his comments are about this.*

I'm sure you're right but I think there's a couple of guys on my high school team who might still be playing with Barbies.

Give them a dip then send them to the outfield and hit them fly balls. The last one standing who hasn't puked gets to go home. Keep the others around to help rake and level the infield.


*No smack intended Wags, serious inquiry of your thoughts on the subject.

Mace wrote:

IndyFrisco wrote:I've always liked linear. It promotes consistency. Baserunners tend to know the batters behind them more which really helps on things like hitting and running. Likewise, baserunners know the runners ahead of them more to know their tendencies.

Now, if someone is slumping and hurting the team, shifting them in the lineup might be necessary. I would avoid the shifty line-ups though at all costs. Larry Dierker, when with the Astros, seems to have a different lineup every night, and not just becasue the pitchers changed. I hated that.

Thanks for your input. I'm surprised that Albert Pujols hasn't hired you as his personal hitting instructor.

Mace

I guess I did not understand your question. I thought you were talking about rotating lineups vs. using the same lineup game in and game out (linear).

atomicdad wrote:This past Saturday, one of the board members came up to me after our game and reminded me that it was against the rules to use tobacco during the games or practices, I had been sucking on some Copenhagen during the game, though I wasn't spiting anywhere. I quipped, "I thought that rule was for the girls." She laughed.

:D

Rack your comeback.

I guess I fall into the rotational category. When I played all my power came from weight transfer and hip turn. Nothing like hitting the sweet spot.

The linear method as you describe reminds me of the way the Japanese ballplayer approach hitting. The slap at the ball and try to beat it out. Not the way my pop taught me, kind of a pussified softball approach.

Everyone knows that chicks dig the longball.

Usually, I am.

Not the case here, unfortunately.

Guess I need to buy that Tom Emansky video to tidy up my technical baseball jargon before I coach my son's baseball team in a few years.

Mace wrote:

IndyFrisco wrote:Usually, I am.

Not the case here, unfortunately.

Guess I need to buy that Tom Emansky video to tidy up my technical baseball jargon before I coach my son's baseball team in a few years.

LOL! The Emansky video is a good one for young and old alike but, when he gets serious about hitting, get the Mike Epstein DVD.

Mace

Sometimes I get words mixed up.

Personally, I think you have to have an incredibly quick, smooth swing to be a rotational hitter. Guys like Pujols, Bonds, Sheffield, etc., have amazing bat speed that allows them to get the bat through the zone and really allow their hips to clear and drive the ball. The major drawback to rotational hitting that I see, is that players who have large holes in their swing will not be very successful hitters using this approach.

Linear hitting is better for players with a little less bat speed and who don't mind losing some pop in order to cover the holes in their swing.

I think it takes a much better hitter to be a great rotational hitter than it does to be a great linear hitter.

On a side note, it's funny watching baseball players try to make the transition to the fat mans game of slow pitch softball. Because most players are taught the linear style of hitting, they have to completely re-learn how to hit. Softball is opposite of baseball in that it takes a much better player to be a linear hitter than rotational.