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Aaron Hicks and the French Mistake


jimbo92107

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Just figured what Aaron Hicks is doing rong at the plate. In the movie "Blazing Saddles" there's a dance scene where gay dancers push their hands forward while pushing their asses backwards, singing, "...that's why they're doing the French Mistake..."

 

Yup, Hicks is doing the French Mistake. It's not as obvious as in the comedy, but the effect of letting your rear hip trail behind the swing accomplishes the same thing: no power, no reach, lots of weak pop-ups. The rear hip has to torque in front of the swing, dragging your hands along for the ride. Right now Hicks is faking it, trying to make it look like he's turning his hip, but it's actually trailing. The result is a weak arm swing, not a body swing.

 

The only real way to cure the French Mistake is to whip the bat thru the zone as hard as you can, over and over, then do that when you're at the plate. Turn the hip, then let it rip.

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Absolutely. Calling Parker . . .

 

Hicks, even with all his struggles last year, still generated some power. This is completely absent this year (same with Florimon, and it is the same problem).

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It seems like watching this video of Jose Bautista for a couple hours would help with the hip rotation thing immensely. They are similarly built, and Bautista took a few years to find his groove:

 

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So when he cocks his wrists to swing he's also pushing his hips back at same time?

 

i am more and more convinced the Twins should crowdsource their coaching and front office duties to Twins Daily readers :)

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I wonder if this is institutional since Cuddy and Morneau had the same problem. Players have this problem when they can't catch up to major league heat and have to cheat (step in the bucket or open up early). But it can also be a way to try to force the ball to the opposite field by keeping everything closed at the sacrifice of base and power. This certainly sounds like something the Twins would teach. Think about how many times you hear Twins officials talk about staying back rather than hitting off a stiff front leg. It's the difference between driving the ball to right and pushing it. Mauer and Colabello inside out pitches the other way and thus can still hit with a stiff front leg and generate power.

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