Mechanical Breakdown Series, Volume 40 --- Gold Ed

grand Hi everybody, welcome to another edition of the Lab Epstein Hitting Podcast episode 135. Thank you for making us a part of your day. And subscribing to the podcast as well, Apple Google Spotify, wherever you get your podcast, leave a review as well, and watch the show on YouTube. The Lab Epstein Hitting Podcast page, which we'll come in handy today because we're doing a mechanical breakdown.

This is a mechanical breakdown series volume 40, a gold edition breaking down the swing of Derek Geter. So let's get right into it. Let me bring in professionally value-weight or successful business owner, my former coach, friend and co-host. I give you a list of guys we could have done a few weeks back and you picked Derek Geter. So I think you should be pretty excited. I'm

assuming you are for today's episode. I am excited and then doing some of the video research. Just kind of refueled every playing note. I remember about him, but uncovered some other aspects of his minor league video. Some of his, I mean, you don't even see minor leagueers that look like him anymore. He was skinny, he was scrawny, he wasn't like. If you looked at his footwork,

he was catching ground balls before his feet were getting into position. I mean, it was just the amount of development players receive now at a young age is so much different and it does make it harder on Scouts because now guys, yeah, their footwork is great when they're 16 years old, you know, at shortstop. Their arms are great. Yeah, they hit them all, but you really

have to see them in games. And it's mind-blowing to watch some of Geter's scouting video and I urge you to do that. Yeah, I urge everybody to dig some of his minor league games. He's hitting the ball like 80 miles an hour off the bat, 85 miles an hour bat. It's just such a different game, but somebody somewhere saw something so special from a tall, lanky,

6'4 shortstop that has this special knack of performing at his best when times are toughest. And I don't think you can teach that. That is something that I'm going to say. Yeah, I'm going to say that some guys have and they're able to slow the game down and they're able to flourish in the moment and he might be the best of them all. You know, it's

interesting with Geter back in his day. Remember some of the superstars that were playing around him. Mani Ramirez, Alex Rodriguez, just name a couple. They were always booed. And a lot of people said some bad things about them. They were hated. I mean, I don't say a lot more. But they were hated. And you look at today's superstars, Bryce Harper, Mani Munchelle. They're out of those

guys that go to every ballpark outside their home ballpark and they get booed. They're hated. But when you look at Derek Geter and you just think back to him as a superstar. And I mentioned all those guys that are superstars. Not just regular major league players who didn't always get booed or would get booed, but it'd be a smattering of booze. It wouldn't be full-fledged booze.

When you look at Derek Geter, though, when he was on the road, he certainly would get booed. But even with Boston and their fan base, I can't think of another guy, maybe Ken Griffey Jr. Who was a superstar like Derek Geter, who was just universally loved. Everybody loved Derek Geter and respected his game. What he did on and off the field. Yeah, you're right. And he

didn't. In Boston, that would be probably the one place he would have gotten some booze. But nothing like when A-Rod stepped up in the box. Yeah, just an interesting guy. One of the clips I saw was I think Bert Blileve. And I don't know what you hear this was. He said, he said he was a clean cut, hardworking kid that enjoys playing baseball. And you can

see it out there. When he would play, he would hit. He was thoroughly enjoying himself playing the game. And I think sometimes players get caught in the moment of, I have to perform for my teammates or for my team or for myself, or for the fans. Instead of just doing what they grew up doing the stadium now has three decks on it. And I think sometimes

that's really hard for players. But Jeter was, he was, he, he, he, he just held himself well. He didn't say anything. I don't know what kind of bad sound bites you ever got from him. His personal life somehow stayed out of the New York press for the most part. He admitted though a while on his documentary series on ESPN that if Instagram and all of these

things were around back then. He is the personal life would have been more on display. Although I don't know because, you know, here's the thing about that too because Jeter is really smart. Yeah. He would have found a way and used logic to work around that because there were cameras back then too. And he went to clubs in New York. And you know, yeah, a couple

of celebrities. Yeah. I think he would have figured out a way not to look at Aaron judge, for example. Right. Same. He's the same thing. There are all these cameras around Aaron judge. You never see judge slip up in public. No. I don't know. And maybe the New York press wants to keep their heroes, their heroes. That's true. And that could be. But yeah, I mean,

he wasn't married. You know, it's not like he was doing anything. He shouldn't be doing. He was a single guy in New York and he performed every day and he dated, you know, whoever we wanted to date. But it's not like he was sneaking around. You know, it's not like that was ever going to be an issue with him. So anyway, just he did. He lived

a very good New York life. And he is well deserved too. The guy. Pretty much took that franchise and kept him relevant for a long time. And it's just now they're kind of digging out of that with judge. And they're able to get to the postseason consistently. Well, I don't know about that because the Yankees now, they have a lot of holes in their pitching staff.

Everybody's getting hurt. Yeah, they did. Going on there. Yeah. Everybody's getting hurt. They're down to two guys now. Yankees pitching staff. Everybody's getting hurt. A lot of people are getting hurt and spring training this year. Yeah. By the way. Also, yeah, be sure to subscribe to the podcast again. Apple Google Spotify. We've got some good topics coming up and watch the show on YouTube. The lab

Epstein hitting podcast page. You can see our beautiful faces. Although when I when I sell Jake today, he I asked him how how the lighting on my end looks and he says it looks good. Usually you look horrible. And he said it with a straight face. So I have. I have good practice. It's just it's more incentive for all of you listeners to actually watch this

episode on YouTube. How good Jim looks. See, how good I look today. As compared to previous episodes where I'm really ugly. Apparently, yes. Yeah. You said, brother, I didn't. You said it. Not me. You're right. We got some good topics coming up in the coming weeks. Next week, we're talking about managing expectations. That'll be fun because Major League Baseball is starting up this week. And that'll

be the first weekend of live actual Major League games and managing expectations. The topic that stretches across. High school college pros will be talking about that next week. Episode 136 again. Subscribe to the YouTube page. Watch the show on YouTube. The lab Epstein hitting podcast page and subscribe on the audio side. All right. A couple of things I do want to get to solve some things

on Twitter this week. Hashtag Cancel Spring Training speaking of all these injuries. I saw John Smolt. He made a comment that got people into not so much an uproar, but but they tried to make John Smoltz out to be an idiot. And I want to make those people now out to be an idiot, but I want to talk first about Shohei O'Tani. And I want to

get your opinion on this in the World Baseball Classic. That just ended and what better way to end it too with O'Tani on the mound. Mike Trout in the box at the plate to the best players arguably on their respective teams. It's kind of hard to believe too that those two players are on the same Major League Baseball team. And they haven't made the playoffs in

years and the angels probably aren't going to make the playoffs this year. It's amazing to me. It's astounding that those two guys are on the same team. And they're not going to the postseason. They haven't been to the postseason. Probably won't go this year. Nevertheless, though, besides the point with Shohei O'Tani, we did a mechanical breakdown on him a couple of years ago. And the one

thing I said this scouts talked about Shohei O'Tani and said he probably wasn't going to be a very good hitter at the Major League level, probably just a one way player, which would have been him as a pitcher. You said a couple of years ago, I agreed with you that Shohei O'Tani could be a really great hitter when he puts on more weight. He gains more

muscle and more importantly, he gains more strength. And you look at Shohei O'Tani for lack of a better term. That guy's a beast. He put on the muscle. He got stronger. And he's arguing, I'm saying this is my opinion. I think he is the best. No of this respect to Babe Ruth. He is the best two way player that we will ever see. And I hope

people are taking snapshots in their head of this moment of time watching Shohei O'Tani play in his prime as a two way player, both a pitcher and a hitter. It's almost like his shoulders grew. Six inches in width since the time he came up. He is so big and strong. And by the way, fast. I mean, he beat out a routine ground ball to the second

baseman who's playing deep in the World Baseball Classic. He beat it out. Like I've run, he's so fast. He's so athletic. He's not getting hurt. You know, he's going full speed. Maybe he's on a different program than everybody else says. Maybe everybody, everybody's pitching program needs a little bit more maintenance. And a little bit less whatever's going on with all these pitchers getting hurt. Obviously not

a pitching expert, but we are seeing a lot of that the last few years. But getting back to O'Tani, he is fantastic. He is great. And honestly, when I first saw something, I was like, I don't know. He finds barrels. It's kind of funny looking. His lower body stretches out. But also, he's got a lot of energy. And I'll tell you what, the dude creates some

serious bad speed. And his timing is very, very good. So his swing plane doesn't have to be perfect. It's just kind of that. That's how it is. And he hits the ball so hard that when he just misses it, it so goes over the fence. So he's an amazing player. And yes, pay that man his money. You know, he's going to get you a 10 or

15 wins a year on the mound and maybe be a shutdown guy in the playoffs. And he's also going to hit, you know, whatever two A's going to drive him close to 100 runs. He's going to hit 40 home runs like, I don't know. I don't have a problem with paying that. He had $50 million a year. I really don't. So I'm looking up. Show, O'Tani

last year. This is kind of, I don't know, kind of a little low to me, maybe. Yeah. But he finished last season with a war. Winds above replacement as a position player, 3.4. But a five win position. Okay. So, okay. So his war last year is a position. I don't know. I'm looking up what his war would have been if you're into that sort of thing.

What is your weapon as a two way player last year? All right. I can't find it. There's three. Yeah. I don't know if I've seen that stab. They should make it. Yeah. It was 4.9 in 2021. But still seems kind of low for show. O'Tani, right? You mentioned, you know, 15 wins on the mound. And then as an offensive player, something. I don't know. Maybe they

had the analytical departments haven't crunched the numbers yet. Yeah. I mean, offensively, he's, he's, he's good, right? But I don't, you know, he's not like what did he hit? What did he, last year? So I was pretty close last year. He hit 34 home runs. He had 666 at bats. That's a full, full season right there. So, you know, he struck out 160 times. He had

273. Good year. 95 runs batted in. You know, that's a solid year. The year before he hit 46 home runs and hit 257, right? It struck out almost 190 times. So I mean, he's, he's, he's not the best offensive player in the league. But the fact that the dude, you know, goes out and wins 15 games a year makes it unbelievable. Meaning he's going to fit

in the middle of the lineup of any team out there. I just, it really is an amazing what he's able to do. And he doesn't really, he's not going to be able to do anything. He can take batting practice on the field much. You know, he takes it in the tunnel. He takes off a machine. And he's just, he's so smooth and dedicated to his craft.

I mean, you have to be super organized, right? To be a two way player. I don't know. I can't wait to see where he ends up and know how much money he gets. Because he's worth it. He's sturdy too. I mean, I guess he was hurt pitching a couple of years ago, but we need to tell me John, right? Right. Once you get that, you got

six good years again. Everybody's got a blow out there, elbow. Right. Just ask the nationals, Kate Cavali, Steven Sprostberg, right? Yeah. Everybody. Then he gets five good years. I hate to say that. But it's like, that happens. What do you know? You throw that hard. It's going to go. Um, what do you think with Otoni? I would love to. Yeah. I know you don't know. Probably

you don't know his mindset. Right? I mean, you may have a glimpse of his mindset. We don't know what's in his mind. But do you think he just has so you have to look at it from this perspective. He probably has so much fun as a two way player. He probably doesn't look at it like, okay, I have to do or a list of things that

he has to do cross off to get prepared for his next start or get prepared to face a certain pitcher that night. I mean, he probably says, okay, on this state, I'm scheduled to pitch. And then he looks forward to that. And then the next day, he probably, it's probably what I'm trying to say is it's just fun compounding with fun compounding with more fun. He

doesn't look at this like I have to get prepared for this. I'm sure he does get prepared and knows how to get prepared. And it's obvious that he does because he's so mobile and so flexible, flexible. But the mindset, it just has to be something that is extraordinary. And we don't see it every day from. Yeah, I don't, I don't know. I wish I knew what

it was. Is he so relaxed that it's, oh, I'm pitching in two days, but he's not sitting through a two hour pitching meeting, right? Where he's got all these all this stuff going through his head or and maybe he's not going through a two hour hitters meeting either. Because he's got a full bullpenner. He's got to stay sharp. You know, I wonder if it's just old

school like, Hey, you're hitting the night and you're, you're going to pitch every, every five days. And he's like, okay, like I'm good with that. There was something I saw about, you know, does the Japanese national, this, you know, the world baseball, their national team. This, do they are they into analytics as much as, you know, the US team you touched on that last week. And

I would be hard pressed to think that the Japanese weren't. Pretty sharp with their analytic stuff. But maybe I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I could be wrong there. You know, and maybe show his

just kind of like a ball player, right? Which is, which is what it is. I have a player from Colorado that I trained since he was a young kid anyway, the, the brewers we drafted him two years ago. He's big. He's a two-way guy. So the reason he signed with the brewers is because they let him hit. You know, they, it's because he throws really hard.

He's six, seven. I think he's six, seven now. Anyway, but he hit like 99 or 100 miles an hour the other day, like on the mound. And I'm like, they're not going to let you hit anymore. And he's like, all I want to do is be show Hey, you know, and he maybe he could be. You know, like he's athletic. He could swing a bat. Will,

will they give him? And so he made the comment of if I wasn't in the US, if I grew up somewhere else, they'd probably let me hit all the time, you know, because I'm a pretty good hitter. But, you know, do we pigeonhole players sometimes? And I think we're going to be getting in the United States and stuff. I said, well, if you only through 93,

then they'd probably let you keep hitting. But you're putting up numbers like that. Good Lord. But it'd be fun to have another guy. Another guy in the minor leagues that gets to hit, you know, when he's pitching. Who, who's the guy who? His name's Quinn Low. Quentin Low. Quentin Low. Yeah. And Quinn's probably 20, 19, 20, still like, still kid. And you work with him. And

all his brothers. One of four. So he was drafted at high school. He was drafted at high school here. Chatfield, high school, you know, in like Littleton here. Now far away. He was, I had two guys that year that I had worked with. Quinn, obviously, personally, the other guy, Tristan, I can't think of his last name. He, he was, he's Canadian. And he was part of

the online Academy for years. And then he got drafted by the brewers again out of Southern Illinois. University and killed at his first two years of my leagues. And then he got traded. He was in, he was in a, I don't know where he is now, but he was, he was a guy that they, anyway, he was a big league trade. And he was the minor

earlier. But I had two guys. That was really cool. Cause, you know, I do my lists and all the players that I need to go through and, and do reports on. And then it was like, Hey, I know these guys. Yeah. That's, that's pretty cool. Cause these are the top, you know, couple of hours. Did you see him play in person in high school? What's that?

Did you see him play in person? Yeah. In high school. When, when we were scouting and kind of looking at his swing. Yeah. But that wasn't, I wasn't there to scout him. I was just there to be as hitting coach and as, okay. Let's see. I want to make a point though that that's which Jake, you helped Quentin reach his full potential, right? Yeah. Still. Oh,

that's what you get. But that's still there. Yeah. I mean, that's what you get if you sign up for the Epstein online, you need to get him. Oh, that's right, Jim. Reach a full potential. You get a chance, man. You get a chance. All I can do is give you everything that I got all my knowledge. Cause that's right. I was telling somebody. Another day, I

just, I want baseball to be fun for kids. Yeah. And that's why I do what I do. That's why I do the online Academy. And that's why I work with coaches and I work with leagues because I want eight year olds to be playing when they're 14. It's too great of a game that teaches too many life lessons, not to be available to everyone. And if

kids don't hit, if they have catastrophic issues, then they quit. I'd quit. If I wasn't a good, if I stunk at tennis or golf or whatever, I'd be like, hmm, I'm not going to go out there and fail all the time. So I'm trying to get people to tools to succeed as much as they possibly can, whether you, you have show his eye hand coordination and

timing and athleticism, or you have mine, you know, or Jim, well, what throw a gem on the steak, you know, you go where you go. Right. If you're top, if you're ceiling is high school baseball, man, I want you to play high school baseball. If you're ceiling is division three, I want you to play division three. If you're ceiling is to be a major leagueer, then

that's what we're trying to reach. So in softball too. If you know 100% yeah, there's a girl that we just started with. He probably seen she's on social media a lot. Lillian, Mark now, who plays baseball. She's a plays high school baseball in Texas. She's a varsity high school baseball player. Decided not to play softball. Her sister plays softball and she can swing it. She absolutely

can swing it and she works her tail off. And it's like, you know, if I can give her one thing to make her a little bit better. That's what I'm doing because she had a great swing and we're trying to clean up one little move and definitely check out our Twitter page at Epstein Hitting because we're kind of working through the online stuff like, you know,

updates on how she's doing. She's going to accomplish controlling her barrel a little bit more. So it'll be kind of a fun journey. But yeah, girls played softball. Girls play a baseball. Girls rock. I sat down. My dad was over. Who's 80. He's old now, right? But he's pretty sharp. And he knows sports. And we've watched a lot of baseball and softball. And he hadn't seen

a softball game in years. So on the TV, we had Alabama against Tennessee. You know, it was like the number two team against the number one. And he's like, this is unbelievable. Like these girls are diving all over the place. They're they're making. He's like, I don't even care that it's they're diving. He's like, look how smooth that third baseman made that play. Just came in

on a chopper, picked it through its sidearm. He's like, gosh, you just never saw that. And it just goes to show the development of athletes now at a young age. And you know, whether it's offense or defense, you know, get your kids out there playing throw the ball up against the wall. I think we we met a generation where that went away, you know, where kids

just ridden side all the time and playing video games. I think now we're starting to get outside a little bit more and throwing a ball up against the screen or a garage. Just keep moving kids. And I'm telling you you're going to get better. You are a jakey plug today. Jakey plugs. I'll tell you that I don't even know where that I had got off on

a ramble there. No, it's fine. You promoted your Twitter. You promoted Epstein online hitting. You promoted what's your new garage door painting service. Who? Grudge door painting services. Who are they? Well, the people that have to repaint the garage because you've been throwing the ball up against it. All right. Okay. I thought they were real company like an idiot. Okay. Okay. By the way, speaking of

Alabama, join Cassie Riley Bolshin, I cross functionality a new episode this Wednesday where we talk about players feeding the mistake. You want to know what that means? You want to know what we actually are going to talk about. And the points we're going to make when it comes to that. You're going to get a bunch of things. You're going to have to listen on Wednesday. Sorry.

Wednesday at 9 a.m. Apple Google Spotify, wherever you get your podcast and the softball strength Academy YouTube page to watch the show. By the way, I don't know if you saw the comment on Twitter about John Smolts. He was the comment color commentator for baseball classic. And he made a comment. I think it was in the championship game about how the USA he knew going in

the United States was going to have to score more runs or outscore their opponent to win. And I was really surprised by the amount of pundits, air quotes, the amount of podcast host who talk, all they do is talk about baseball on a daily basis. Again, podcast host air quotes. And how many of them actually took that literally. And so this is what and I'm going

to I'm going to put us on a pedal. You already put me on the stake today by saying I had had no skills in that I was ugly. Well, jeez Jim. I don't think I put it that way. I mean, I meant all of that, but I didn't come out and say it. You did you did say I was ugly in the beginning. Are you alluded

to it? I want to put out but I now want to compliment us both and say this is what separates the two of us and our deep knowledge of the game of baseball. Jake is more knowledge. I mean, that's understandable. But we have more knowledge than not just the average person watching baseball, but the people who think that they have more knowledge than they actually do.

What John Smolts meant by that. Just so what did they what did they took it is they took it literally and like you know when like John Madden when the John Madden used to do this too when he was commenting on the game. He'd say if this team scores more points than the other, they're going to win. And nobody really understood what that meant. John Smolts

did the same thing in the World Baseball Classic when he said, you know, Team USA has to outscore their opponents to win. What he meant by that is that the pitching staff for Team USA wasn't very deep at all. Both starters and the bullpen, but their lineup was stacked. And if that lineup went cold, they had no shot at winning. That's what he meant. And I'm

amazed. And he was right. People did not understand that literally. And didn't understand what he actually meant by that. Yeah, it was, you know, Derosa was handcuffed that championship game. Now he's in quarantine. You know, because he could he had no more pitchers. You know, they they're on pitch counts. They can't throw they can't throw over it. Guys got to get themselves out of trouble. I

don't remember who's pitching some some guy with a short last name, but oh, he just lost it all of a sudden with two outs. And I think he walked three guys. And he couldn't and then or he hit somebody and walked a couple and then he they couldn't they couldn't bring anybody else. And because they didn't have enough pitchers that day for the championship game. And

that's exactly what's more to say. And it's like we got we got a hit and let alone Japan's like, oh, show Hey, he's going to come in the ninth and shut the door. Right. The US. It really didn't have that luxury. They didn't have guys that were just going to put it out on the line for their. But how do but how do people who say

that they watch all this baseball don't understand that? I don't get it. Maybe they're just trying to have a sound bite or something. I know I just think they're stupid. Yeah. Or they know. I think they think they know more than they actually do. Yeah. Nothing worse in life than somebody who know things they know more than they actually do. That's nothing. Cheers. Cheers to that,

Jim. And then and then they start a podcast. They do it every week. So I just want to put throw throw that message out there. On a more serious note that Jangan I know a lot more than all of you. It's well for those. Our baseball, not baseball and softball knowledge quite frankly is 10 times deeper than any of you combined. And that includes all of

you listeners, by the way, on a weekly basis. Sorry. That's to be said. It's true. Anyway, all right. I know you're you're being you're leaving me out there on my own to just you know, yeah. I'll throw you a life in a second. Now I'm going to get you ready for when you give me the give me the cue. All right. Also, there was another thing

on Twitter this week. The when Reese Hoskins of the Phillies got hurt. Oh, yeah. There's a hashtag cancel spring training. Yeah. And no, that's not going to ever happen. Again, Twitter is the worst thing to ever be invented. By the way, yes, even even even worse than TikTok. Cancel spring training. That'll never happen because there's too much money involved. God. Twitter really. There's some things on

Twitter this week. Got me a little little fired up. Speaking of. It's going to happen at some point, whether I mean. If the season had started it would have happened in a regular game. Yeah. Exactly. There's non-contact injuries that those you can't, you know, if I get hit in the hand. Yeah. Then you may have an like an outsuva in the world baseball classic. You may.

You may have an argument, but if it's a non-contact injury, then you just, you know, I everybody's homework assignment this week. Learn one thing about the game of baseball that you didn't know and come back ready to go next week. Now, it includes everybody on Twitter. Everyone. Everyone on Twitter. By the way, you can follow us on Twitter at social or at Jim Tara and at

Epstein hitting on both Twitter and Instagram. So give us a follow up. Give us a like. And then when you follow us, you'll actually learn something. Something tangible about baseball. We do have a listener question. We have to get to. It's a good one. And I listen to questions. It has to do with the world baseball classic. Actually. So this question this week comes to us

from Bill. Hello, Bill sent to us via Jimbo podcast 21 at Gmail dot com Bill writes. Hi guys. I'm a great person to see the world baseball class and seeing how many good players, both pictures and hitters or on team Japan. Why don't more Japanese hitters get signed by Major League teams besides the two or three that come over to the United States annually. Not sure.

There's a definitive answer to this. But thought I passed the question along great show every week. Thanks. And that comes to us from Bill. He didn't say where he was from. That's okay. But that comes to us again from Bill sent to us via Jimbo podcast 21 at Gmail dot com. Jake. I'm going to ask you a question. What's the answer? Well, I don't know, but

I like some of those Japanese hitters. I'm with Bill. God, they're rhythm. And for years, you know, the Japanese players have kind of always had their hands out that vertical and a very slow early rhythm, right? With the leg kick and they will turn in. It's just what they're taught at a young age talk about development. They don't mess around with development in Japan. So why

aren't there more? Well, a lot of times it's not like signing a free agent or drafting someone. So they have to pay the professional clubs and they have to pay the athletes. So sometimes that risk is a little bit greater if you don't know for sure. So I think that the fact that some guys are outliers and they shine above and beyond most. Those are the

guys that come over and the people that are maybe, you know, on the cusp, but they don't know about. They're going to give those guys a couple more years before they, you know, essentially by their contracts out from the Japanese organization. So that would be my best take on it. That's the one that's that's something that that can't be glossed over either to. Yeah, you have

to pay the posting fee and the lot for teams a lot of times. It's a lot of money. And that prospect that Japanese player better be worth it. If you're paying that huge posting. It's not always very big. But for the posting fees that aren't very big. Those players probably can play major league baseball and succeed over in the United States as much as they would

in Japan. Yeah. But I think the talent pool in Japan is fantastic. I think they do a. They do a great job of developing. It's one of the, you know, why are why are there's so many great major leaders that come from the Dominican and come from, you know, Venezuela. Even though the pools are even Puerto Rico, right? There's not a lot of players in those

or there's not a huge population in those countries. Well, that's the main sport. You know why are soccer players in in in Europe. So great. Because you know, they don't play American football. And there's not a lot of like basketball that goes on. So the best athletes at a young age start playing that sport. And I think in Japan, you're, you're getting that. You're getting baseball

is one of the main sports there. And so you're getting the top tier athletes. I mean, what was I think I commented the other day. I think it was Shohei was Sada Haro. Oh, they took a picture together. And I think Oh, could have fit in Shohei's hand. I mean, he looked like a little. You know, he was all time home run. He had her this

guy. I don't care. He had to square up a ball and hit it pretty far to get it over a fence. And this guy is, you know, half the size of the current greatest, you know, Japanese player that we that we have. So it just shows that athletes are bigger, stronger, faster, more developed now. But, you know, if Shohei lived in the US, he probably would

have grown up being a defensive end or a tight end. Or maybe a wide receiver, if he could run. And he probably wouldn't have played much baseball. So that's why I think the jet, the jet. And so, I think the Japanese players are really going to continue to to come in and do very well and majorly baseball. Alright, so good question. Thank you Bill. Any questions

email us. Jim podcast 21 at gmail.com. Alright, let's get into our main topic today. This is mechanical breakdown series volume 40. Eric Jeter, a gold edition doing gold edition this week with their. We've got a lot of good breakdowns coming up that this one in particular. I'm looking forward to. Because he was one of the best, I think, contact hitters, one of the best gap to

gap hitters in the late 90s early 2000s. I think with Derek Jeter, I mentioned that tease this last week. I said that there were some instances where he was. In parts of his game that were overrated others that were underrated. I think I'll start with the overrated part first. I think that his range was very overrated. I think that whole jump throw play was ridiculous. You

never see a shortstop. You don't see Lendor, Karea Turner. Throat a superstar shortstop. I'm missing in today's game. You never see him do that jump throw from the hole. Jeter did it because he didn't have the range in my opinion. He didn't have the arm straight. Not with standing. He had great athleticism. And that oftentimes was underrated and not looked at 100% fully. I also believe

that Jeter was underrated when it came to his offensive game his power. He had more power than people led on and his back to ball skills were incredible. Jake, there were some of the bet in my opinion. Some of the best back to ball skills that I've ever seen. I've seen in my life. I agree 100%. Pitches, I mean, he would take pitches. He cheated so

much to hit balls away. But he could still get to pitches in. It wasn't always pretty. But he could still get to them and he could still get barrel to them. And he just, he great instincts. You know, he great instincts. He saw that pitch out of the hand well. His motor skills were impressive. And I would totally agree with the bet that ball skills. And

any of the things that he did was really good. He was wippy. Like people don't realize he was wippy and he was built for whip right. He's six, four, 200 pounds. Lanky. And he really hit the ball out in front. When people look and they say, Oh, Derek Jeter hit the ball, you know, deep in the zone and went to right field. It wasn't always that

deep. Yes, he hit the ball to right field. But he wasn't always, you know, hitting it off of his back hip. He was just set up that way. So, in fact, the video we're going to look at here is a pitch away that he hits over the fence into right field. It was elevated. And he was a little bit. And that was his game. You know,

he just loved right center field. He had so much time that with two strikes. If, if he could sit on breaking balls, he could still get jammed and hit a fastball in the right field. And he had no problem doing that. He found a way to get on base. And maybe that's why he was so clutch was because he had that confidence in himself. What do

you make of his hands and his stance change when he was an amateur, when he was in the minor leagues, his hands were next to his back right. He was right handed, battered next to his back right shoulder. And then he moved his hands up. And he talked about in his book a little bit about why he made that change because he wanted to be straighter

to the baseball. That's not an easy change to make. You know, you make that change when you get to the professional level as an 18 19 20, 21 year old kid. You made that change actually prior. I think it was to the 1996 season. So he already had a taste of playing in the major leagues. What do you make of that change? Because that again, to

me, it seems like a small change. But it's a bigger change. Then what people lead it on to be. I think you felt stronger there. You know, I think you get your hands up there. And you know, he was a guy that thought about really pulling in. We'll see that here pulling his hands forward. Which I don't know how many times on Twitter yesterday. I saw

and chopping down in the on deck circle. He hasn't even stride or swing down when he gets in the batter's box. Like his, but that's his feel. Right. That's what he's working on. So I think with Jeter, you know, he really liked to set his hands. I think we got his hands up almost like a golfer sets their hands at the top. It's an interesting move.

Cause it's almost like a cast. But then he resets it with his hands in the in the bat. And it's why he was so wippy. And when he did get balls out in front, he hit balls far. Like he hit the ball over 400 feet when he would actually pull it and get his bad head to release. And so he set that up. So maybe it

was a feel. Probably not a huge difference. If you were to look at his launch position. When he was 20, 21 versus, you know, when he was 35. I bet that at heel plant. His hands were probably in a similar spot. I just think he kind of loaded them up a little bit more, which a lot of guys do. If you look at Matt Olson for

the braves, you know, he starts with his hands way out over home plate. And then he lifts them way up over his head during his load process. And it's like, well, you would never think he got his hands there unless you slowed it down. I think Jeter was probably probably the same way it made him feel stronger because he was a thrower. You know, he was

a guy that tried to throw the barrel out there. And sometimes, you know, when you lift your hands a little bit in the load, it gives you that feel. So before we get into his mechanical breakdown. This week again, mechanical breakdown series volume 40 gold edition breaking down the swing of Derek Jeter today. What are the things about his swing that stuck out to you both

positive and negative? Mechanically, he was, he had a cl- he closed down with a stance. So that's one thing that he, he set up his front foot always came in towards the plate when he landed. His front shoulder stayed in very, very well probably because his hands were up a little higher and he was thinking right field. And then probably the last thing was he really

did lead with the knob. You know, he gets his hands in front of his body, even though like this pitch, he hits out to right field. You know, he's not letting it get super deep. He's utilizing some of that, that whip out in front. So his hands were great. He stayed inside the ball. He did have a wrist roll, but it wasn't because of his hands.

It was because of his elbows. So if you threw him inside, he would get tied up. And anytime you get tied up and aren't able to get your hands through, then your barrel works up into your fall through. I do that with a lot of people. That's why. So if you're a player that has trouble hitting the ball in the air to the pole side, that's

usually why we're letting it travel and our elbows are getting crunched and we're not extending through the ball. So that would be, you know, the tendency was you want to try to get him out in. You want to try to run balls in, but you better get it in because he was so quick and efficient with his body. If he had to turn, the dude could

turn like his hips were, hips were narrow and they moved fast and it pulled everything through. So if he was looking middle and he could still close off with his stance, but he could still, he could still get the pitches out in front. And, and again, the reason he was clashed and found a lot of barrels is because he could look away, away, away, and still

fight off a pitch in, right? Not necessarily hit a ground ball, but hit a, hit a soft line drive in the right field just because of his, like you said, bats and balls skills. All right. Well, let's get into that. Let's get into it. His swing and again to watch this is at the YouTube page, the lab Epstein hitting podcast YouTube page. Let's get into his.

Jim swing. Can I real quick? I'm sorry. I forgot to mention this, but I don't know what year it was. He was really struggling and they set him down to do a no stride technique. They took his leg kick out. And he always had a leg kick his whole life. And he was hitting, I don't know, 190 or something to start the season. And he was

terrible. It was in spring training or something. They gave him the no stride and he was 2010. Yeah. It was bad. Like he was very uncomfortable. And I said it publicly. Some, I don't remember if I wrote it and my dad had an article or something, a collegiate baseball news, but you can't just do that to somebody that's been taking a stride for so long. The

reason is, his strides either got into big too fast or too late, right? That's what would cause him those issues. So anyway, they sent him down. I don't know if he had like a quasi injury or whatnot. And when he came back, he had his leg kick back. You could tell he worked down and he got his leg kick and then boom, all of a sudden

he ends up hitting you know close to 300 by the end of the season. So when you're a player, the reason I don't like to do a no stride at a young age is, if you have to all of a sudden go to a stride to get rhythm and to get more power and you've never done it, your timing is going to be horrendous. So I'd

always rather a player have a leg kick or a stride at a young age, figure out how it works. You know get a thousand at bats under your belt before you make that decision when you're 14 or 15 or 15 or 16. If you really do need to go to a no stride and I'm a big no stride guy like with two strikes, you want to

do that. Guys don't really hard. You're uncomfortable. But I never want to take a stride away from someone. Yeah. Yeah. All right. So sorry to get that out. No, no good point. Let's get into the breakdown. All right. So here's Jeter for the podcast. This was a home run to right center field. This is the same swing, even though we're looking at a front view on

the left and then the side view of the same swing on the right. It was a home run to right center field. And I want to talk a little bit about number one, his footwork. This is a big dive. So we're looking at the front view right now. Look at the catcher start with his glove up and then go down. How different is that than today

where they start with it on the ground. Okay, I digress. But as Jeter comes down out of his stride, look how quiet the number two is on his back. Okay. As he's planning his foot. I would say 90% of amateur players that I see and work with do not keep their shoulder. It's quiet like this. As they're swinging. Okay. Now those shoulders are starting to turn

usually as the foot's coming down. And that creates a lot of problem for adjustability and for creating separation. So there's Jeter at toe touch. You can see his his heel line is almost facing right the second basement. Maybe the three four hole something like that. That's where his body is facing. That's where his his foot line is facing. He gets to heel plant. And you can

see that. And see him sink into his front hip. Okay. So that's why it works. I'm going to highlight his left hip here from toe touch to heel plant. Look how much his hip starts to rotate back. Okay. At the same time. Look how we could still see the number two. It hasn't really changed much hasn't. Okay. That's where your initial power source comes from. And

again, he was built for that. I remember Ted Williams saying, telling my dad that you know guys that are tall and lanky. They're going to get. More torque. They're going to have a bigger torque angle guys that are stockier. They're not going to have as much. But those muscles are tighter. And they're going to explode more. Okay. So somebody like Jeter versus. I'll use. Geez. I

don't like. Swarber instance. Right. Yeah. We use shore. He's who's thick. And you know he's not going to get this kind of separation and flexibility out of his body. But what he doesn't he he has so much strength. Or it doesn't matter. All right. So there's his long position. Excellent. You can see his hands kind of. Up by his ear, which we see on the right.

I'm going to try to take that swing on the right. The side view. That's probably the same position right there at heel plant. Okay. One thing you notice is. His his angle between. And this is not something that I would teach. Okay. The angle between his bat. Try to draw it in here. Okay. I tried to do a better job. Okay. His bat in his forearm

is a pretty big angle. Okay. It's 128 degrees. Most majorly players are 90 or less in this position. Okay. That bat is almost wrapped around their head. So why is this good or why is it bad? Well, if it moved back from here, if it started at 90 degrees and then it went to 128, that would be really bad. But he's going to go from 128.

Now watch him. We're looking at the side view. Now watch him pull that knob forward and watch as elbow getting in front of his Yankee. Emblem on the front of his. So then as he pulls his hands forward. If we draw a line. There is forearm and the bat. I mean, it's a different view. But you can see how much tighter that angle is. So that's

like a golfer. That's what a golfer does where they hinge their wrists kind of on the downswing and they create tension. So notice how far out in front the knob is of his body in this position. This is amazing. Look how short the barrel is. I mean, the barrel is only like 10 inches. Behind his back. Okay. This is a very short approach to the ball.

So I'm going to bring that back again. And as he wrote it, again, he's pulling the knob forward. Think about, you know, if you're lifting weights and you have the the stack weights. Set up and you use the rope. Right. We all know the rope for your triceps. And you put it there. Essentially what he's doing is he's pulling those stack weights kind of down and

forward with the knob. Yeah. He's pulling and it's creating tension. And then he gets that knob out in front. So in this position. So Jim, I brought it to a position where the barrel is now released away from his shoulder. Okay. But his front arm is like almost straight. His right elbow is nowhere near his rib cage. Right. Everybody talks about you got to keep that

elbow next to your ribs. It's got to be dug into the ribs. No, it doesn't. If you do that, you're going to spin off usually. Okay. You're going to run out of bat. You're going to hit balls off the end of the bat. He gets that elbow out in front. And then by the time you're going to have the time he releases the barrel. Okay. I

have he's hitting it so far out in front. I got to move the video over. There he hits it. I mean, that does not look like a home run to right center field. Okay. But how was he able to hit a ball? See the space between his hands and his body. Okay. That's awesome. Okay. Look for that with all my players. This this nice kind of

hole right in here between the arms. Again, this is a contact. This isn't post contact. There's the ball on the barrel. I would consider that barrel. That's about as good as it gets. Okay. So now why was he able to hit this pitch that far out in front. Now it looks more out in front here because of the view of the camera. But it's definitely at

his front toes. Okay. It's as at his front foot. The reason is because he closed his stance down. So when you close your stance down and everything faces right field. It allows you to hit the ball out in front more to right field. Okay. And this pitch was what it was like ball. Trying to see where he hit it. I would say this is like ball

five and this is a good pitch to hit. Right. So here's ball one there to three. For pitch is about belt high to the other half. It's probably ball five. I get it's a good pitch to hit and he didn't miss it. But if he didn't dive as much. If he didn't extend through the ball as much. So I'm going to go a little bit further.

Look at his right arm extend through all the way. So not only does his right arm get straight. Look at that. Look at how his right palm is still up. Okay. That's how you don't roll over balls. Okay. And then if we look, I'm just going to put a little vertical bad angle line here from the front. I have him right after contact. His bad vertical

angle is. Hmm. I don't think I drew that quite right. Okay. Again, it's well, maybe I did 24 degrees. Okay. What do most people want? They want 30s. Not Jake. Just look at my glass. I'm going to go to the video and your library. Online Academy people. There it is again, Jim. But look at his barrel after contact. It's still 24 degrees or right around 24

degrees. That's how you extend through without manipulating the barrel to either hit under the ball more or over the ball more. Okay. So it's just a solid swing. The guy was mechanically compact. He had that the the one outlier move. I would say that he had was was that. When he launches his swing, his knob isn't at the catcher. Okay. That's kind of yeah. Everybody talks

about. I got to have the knob at the catcher. No, but the catcher his knob is almost facing right behind the, you know, his right behind home plate where most people I'm going to draw a line in there. Their knob and their bad is kind of facing there. It's next to their helmet more, which is what I teach. Okay. If somebody did this. What jeeter is

doing. And then but by the time they pulled it back. So now I'm looking at the side. Do you see how that back comes right down next to the trap muscle there? So that's a that's a hand pull. I don't care what you call it. Some people call it pushing the hand. Some people call it pulling the knob. I don't care what it is. It's a

great move that everybody does. And notice how that bat maybe starts open and cast it. But then he slices right down over the top of his shoulder is trap muscle. That's a great move. So if I had somebody that did that, I'd be fine with it. Now if a player is starting, again, we're looking at this video on the on the right from the side. If

the player started with a bat, where the knob was facing the catcher. And then their first move was to throw the bat back away from the head. That would be bad. That we would have to change. But if it just starts here, think Ronald Acunia kind of does the same similar move. If it starts there. And then it actually pulls closer to the box size. He

also guide the target with pea fence. How do we look at this too? behavioralism.? 1, you know, as you process that four drain out ones. Remember, if your kid uses them that boleh be the idea of you're gonna make thatncia to a winner. He commanded respect from his teammates. And he played hard pretty much every inning of every game he was out there. And by the

way, his swing mechanics were pretty good. They were I agree. They're very clean, clean mechanics. Yeah, very wiry guy like you mentioned, though. Great point there. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. He was very lanky, but he was deceptively strong, I think. His core was incredibly strong. For sure. I think what the, but the most amazing part of that video of the swing breakdown we just looked at where

that pitch was on the outer half. And how far he hit it out in front. And he still made it. And he managed to hit it over the wall in right center. Well, right center is only 340 feet, I think. And it's, but I'm, so my point is it's rare though. It's rare to see a hitter hit a ball that far out in front. A pitch

on the outer half. And hit it out in front and go to right center with. Yeah. And not hit it off the end. Most guys are going to hit that. I don't think he wanted to hit it that far out in front. Right. That wasn't his goal. But the fact that he stays on plane in his extension is good without coming up too much or down

too much out in front and enabled him to get to the ball. So where, you know, maybe 95 other major ligers on that same pitch. With that same timing hitting the ball at the same point of the swing out in front by his front foot. Most of those guys are going to hit it a little bit towards the end of the bat. And it's going to

be either a ground ball to the pole side or kind of a weak fly ball to right center. All right. Well, great work this week. Mechanical breakdown series volume 40. A goal to be in position Derek Jeter next week. The topics right on the screen. If you're watching on YouTube, managing expectations. First weekend of regular season action across Major League Baseball. So we'll be discussing managing

expectations for your season, whether it's high school college or pro. Do you have any other plugs you have to get in before we get out of here? No, sir, just all my players, all my online Academy players. Make sure you're doing your homework. That's right. I always know if you're not. When was the last time you did this drill? That's right. Now, stay sharp. I know

it's season. So the reason I said that is we're in season. We're playing games now. Our schedule is a little different. After school, we have practiced, you know, every day if you're your high school player still make time. Still trust the process. Trust your routine that we've built all winter long and you'll have a good season. All right. Perfect. Thank you for watching and listening. Everybody

be sure to subscribe. Emails. Questions, Jimbo podcast 21 at Gmail.com and we will talk to you next week. Take care.