Kevin's blog

Mostly, Ichiro's hitting style is similar to all Japanese hitters. They hold the bat straight up, almost like carrying a flag, with their elbows low and the butt of the bat facing the ground. It helps produce a level swing, but not as much power as the American hitters, who have more typical swings: Back elbow high to produce loft in the swing and to create backspin, the butt of the bat facing out toward first base or third base to generate more power. The idea of both styles is the same: to get the butt of the bat to the ball (staying inside the ball) as quickly as possible and whip the bat head through the zone to hit the ball hard. The difference is the bat head for American players takes a longer path, like Albert Pujols, who seems like he's got a long swing, but drops the butt of the bat to the ball in an eye blink.

Ichiro's hand-eye coordination is his greatest strength. He stands upright and keeps his legs close together and then takes a full stride. That's a lot of movement in his swing mechanics; Pujols has a wide stance and barely strides. The less movement, the less that can go wrong. Practically every hitter, with sound mechanics, has very little movement. When he played in the Hawaii Winter League in 1997, Ichiro had a sweeping leg kick and slapped the ball all over the field. I did a story on him and asked if he wanted to play in the majors. He said it was a dream of his. The big question was could he handle a major league fastball, with movement and better velocity than anything he saw in Japan? He answered with a .350 batting average and the Rookie of the Year award and MVP in 2001.

To this, my question is, can Ichiro's style of hitting be taught effectively to kids here?

Here's a link to one of the best Ichiro stories I've read.

New York Times: An Artist Who Makes the Field His Canvas

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