Pivotal Swing -: How to Fundamentally Change the Game of Baseball !! or - How 'YOU' Can Help Change the Game of Baseball !! Review
The general objective of the book is to improve the hitting process. The specific object inside of that is to see .400 hitters in MLB again. This book is about change! And the context is baseball, more specifically, the “hitting” process. I have strategically and effectively blended the art and science of hitting by developing a robust design methodology that will impact the game of baseball forever. Caution: if you read this book, you will never think about hitting the same way ever again. Legitimate, positive change in any endeavor is not possible without process improvement methods. This book provides an actionable Six Sigma - process improvement methodology that, if applied according to the detailed instructions presented, will result in improved hitting performance. Even if you have never played the game of baseball, this book will provide insight into how anyone can go about improving any aspect of their life. This book is like a David & Goliath situation. I (as David) am an ‘outsider’ of the formal baseball industry (as Goliath). The book is to show how ‘David’ can and should take-on (challenge) the huge ‘Goliath’. With knowledge, specific skill and precise execution a ‘regular’ person faced ‘Goliath’ and slew him. We are told in the Bible some of the history of ‘David’. We are not told the history of ‘Goliath’. I think that is applicable here too. To me it is important for the readers to know enough about the path I have been down to be able to see how ‘David’ could put all these pieces together and improve something the ‘Goliaths’ (inside experts) haven’t been able to do. My experience includes extensive work with Six Sigma and process improvement (PI) application and deployment in the corporate world. In that world I have seen Six Sigma and PI applied to every process imaginable. There have been very dramatic results in some cases. It was no stretch for me to decide to apply these methods to the hitting process. I am very excited about how successful the effort was. The challenge now is to communicate the development and results to those that can benefit from it. There are various ways the readers can join the endeavor. As a result of extensive work, it is clear that process improvement (scientific methods) tools have not been applied to the hitting process in the past. The book gets into the details of some very easy items that should have been done long ago if those methods had been used. It also shows the development of new elements needed that improve the most important output of the hitting process. A clue on that is that it isn’t base hits. They are very important for historical purposes but that is not the best measure of whether the hitting process is optimized or can be improved. The value of a better hitting process is very high. Players of all ages have been trying to improve since the start of the game. The difference today is the application of PI tools. The use of practical and logical Six Sigma methods allows us to see any process dramatically differently than without them. As described in the book I believe the Pivotal SwingTM method is a core level process improvement. If the 2nd level testing confirms that, we will then be able to gather data on how much. The statistics are clear that a change of 30 points will be enough to ‘fundamentally change the game’. If the change is in that range or higher, a player or team that doesn’t use it may not be able to compete with those that do. As a player, you can bet you wouldn’t catch me on the short-end of that stick. Competition is what this world is all about. In many aspects of life we are seeking to gain a ‘competitive advantage’ that will set us apart from the crowd. Everyone wants to win the ‘World Series’ or be a ‘Champion’ in some endeavor. Those that choose to implement and perfect the Pivotal SwingTM will have a ‘competitive advantage’. Roger U. Hart www.PivotalSwing.com
