current baseball techniques

Question
QUESTION: Are there differences in the techniques of baseball within the past 20 years?  I have been searching for instructional dvds to help my son in little league.  He is 9 years old.   Dr. Bragg Stockton's skills and drills series apparently was published in 1988 and on its 3rd edition.  John Savage, head coach of UCLA baseball, has an Elite Baseball Instruction and touts that it uses the most advanced production technology today but doesnt say when it was published but I assume not 20 years ago.
Of these two, would you recommend them?  If not, do you have any recommendations that would teach hitting,infield and outfield catching and throwing techniques, pitching,baserunning etc.(Pretty much the whole game)
I find it easier when my son sees a video with description on what to do and why its being done.  We have the PLAYBALL! dvd collection for little league and we followed what was taught.  But this  year, he is learning to throw with his glove hand in a 90 degree angle instead of glove hand pointing at the target.  
Obviously, a different technique than what he was used to for several years.  I figured that I would purchase DVDS that have the "newer" technique.
I dont know if it is "newer" but I do know that it is different than what he was used to.

Any recommendations will be appreciated.

ANSWER: James,
         There are many difference in the teaching of the swing in the past 20 years and every coach seems to have a different idea on which way is the right way.  Pitching or throwing is usually the same across the board because of reducing injury.  Their are some differences in throwing like you mentioned with pointing the glove.   This doesn't matter too much because it doesn't effect the players arm and is more of a comfort issue.  
         What is different from coach to coach is hitting.  The two main hitting styles is rotational hitting and linear hitting mechanics.  I teach rotation hitting mechanics and with my experience linear hitting uses too much upper body and hands.  
         For throwing or pitching I like the styles of Dick Mills (www.pitching.com) and The national pitching association (www.nationalpitching.net).  
         As for hitting make sure your son uses rotational hitting mechanics.  There are a lot more mechanics to this style but if perfected you son will be ahead of most hitters his age.  I am currently writing a book for Nokona Baseball Factory on hitting mechanics which should be published by next year.  We are also coming out with a bat speed video that I will be producing with Miguel Cabrera featuring the Bratt's Bat.  If you are looking for a book or video now check out www.mikeepsteinhitting.com.
         Please let me know if you want me to explain the rotational hitting mechanics in depth.  My book is currently 250 pages so their is a lot of detail to the explanation but you son will be better of in the long run.

Thank You,
John Priest
Nokona Batman
www.nokonawreckingcrew.com

---------- FOLLOW-UP ----------

QUESTION: Can you explain the rotational hitting mechanics and what is the difference between that and the linear hitting?  Also when will you have your hitting DVD available?
By the way, I looked for a Mike Epstein Hitting DVD but it showed a Final Arc DVD with a Jim Mankin .  Is that the same?

Answer
James,
I just recently finished writing an instructional book about the stance and swing that should be published by the end of the year.  This book is about 300 pages long.  You can see that I could write for days and not even scratch the surface to answer your questions.   I will answer your question and touch on the most important aspects to the stance and swing for a rotational hitter.  The hitting DVD will be ready for the 2008 American Baseball Coaches Conference, keep checking our web site for any updates.
        First, the stance starts with the feet.  If you line your front foot up with the middle corner of home plate you are a good depth.  For distance, put the end of your bat in the middle of the plate, lay it down across the middle corner, and put your front toe at the end of the knob.  The back foot should be parallel to the front foot.  Toes should point straight ahead or slightly pointed in.  The weight should be balanced in the middle and on the balls of the feet like someone is sliding a piece of paper under your heel.  If the weight goes too much to the heels you will become a defensive hitter and not likely to attack the baseball.  
        The knees and hips should be slightly bent and relaxed.  Just make sure your knees don't knock inward.  
        The grip of a baseball bat is taught many different ways.  After speaking and working with many major league baseball players their in one way that seems to be the best.  The bottom hand is the power hand.  This hand should hold the bat slightly firm and slightly behind the last set of knuckles toward the palm.  The top hand is the control hand and should be held slightly behind the middle knuckles and held loosely.  When the hands are together the middle knuckles of the top hand should line up between the middle knuckles and big knuckles of the bottom hand.  The wrist of the top hand should cock back with the palm toward the pitcher to get this line up.  
        It doesn't matter where your hands start in your stance.  It only matters where your hands end up when you take your initial step.  To make things easier and to avoid excessive movement start your hands chest to shoulder high.  Front elbow should be down and the back elbow should be up higher than your front elbow but no higher than your top hand.  The angle of your bat should be about a 45 degree angle about an inch above your back shoulder.  When you set up like this you should see a square.  The square is made from your front shoulder down to your front elbow, across your forearm to your bottom hand, up your bat to your shoulder, and across your chest to your front shoulder.  
        Your head should be looking towards the pitcher, making sure that you can see the pitcher with both eyes.  Make sure your eyes are level with your chin up.
        That will make up the basic stance.  Now I will get into the start of the swing and into the finish after contact.
        The weight should start like I explained before on the balls of the feet and in the middle.  You shouldn't have to think too much about weight shift as long as you stay balanced and stay behind your front leg.  Once your take the step your weight should go slightly back.  The step should be short, quick, and light.  The step should land on the ball of your foot and maintain balance.  As you step your hands will load.  Again, you don't have to think about this too much because your hands usually go opposite of your feet.  If something goes forward something must go back in order to keep your balance.  The hands should go back slightly and maintain the square as I described above.  The bat angle should also remain the same and not wrap around the back of the head.
        Now you will be ready to make your movement toward the baseball.  This is where the rotational mechanics will start.  Rotational mechanics is a way of saying that the hips will rotate the hands around the body to the baseball.  
        The first motion to the baseball starts with the back foot.  The back foot will rotate on the ball of the foot, followed by the back knee, hip then shoulder.  The entire back side will rotate toward the pitcher.  As this process occurs the back heel should start to lift and point behind you.  The axis from the back knee to the back hip and to the back shoulder is your axis of rotation.  This axis should be vertical and stationary.  Stationary meaning that it does not move toward the pitcher.  As long as this axis is vertical you will be able to rotate as fast as you possible can giving your hands a faster rate of speed.  While your are rotating the front foot needs to stay closed, meaning the front toe should point to home plate and not open toward the pitcher.  Also the front leg and knee should be firm.  This means that the front knee should be slightly bent but not beable to become loose and bend more or be too firm and lock out.  Locking out will make your front foot open up and you will pull away from the baseball.  If the knee becomes too loose and bend your axis of rotation will not be able to stay stationary and your backside will start to slide toward the pitcher.  
        Once the rotation is done the hands will begin to separate from the shoulder.  The hands should be maintaining the square during the pivot and rotate around the body on the swing.  The bottom hand is the power hand an extends and lifts.  The top hand is the control hand and it will punch and tighten up as the swing occurs.  As you go through the contact zone make sure the top hand stays palm up and the bottom hand stays palm down.  Force your hands to go through the contact zone with out rolling over.  This will make your hands flip as you come up over your shoulder on your follow through.  Rolling the hands is bad but flipping your hands at the end is good.  
        Throughout this entire motion your head should be still and pointing forward.  You should always track the baseball with your eyes and not your head.  If you swing with your head down your hands will follow and you will swing down on the baseball.  The correct swing is a very slight upper cut.  I tried to cut and past pictures here but it won't let me.  Do a google search for MLB  hitters and you will see that as they swing the back shoulder will be slightly down and the swing goes slightly up.  This is very hard to explain with out pictures.  
        Other thinks to consider when hitting is to stay relaxed and let the baseball come to you.  Wait as long as you can and focus on hitting the baseball to the opposite field.  This will let you see the baseball the longest time possible and give you the best chance to hit the ball hard and with power.
       I don't have much experience with linear hitting but it is a style that focuses on the hands and arms with a weight shift forward.  The linear path is made by the hands on knob of the bat straight to the baseball as the weight shift comes toward the front foot.  I don't like this style because it relies too much of the hands and not enough of the hips and rotation.
        I hope this help and is clear enough to follow.  It's hard to explain some things without pictures.  If you need me to explain anything further please let me know, I am happy to help you out.

Good Luck,
John Priest
Nokona Batman
www.nokonawreckingcrew.com