Jaime Cevallos and the Mkanx Training Bats recently featured in Baseball America, Yahoo! Finance, Fanhouse.com and DRaysBay.com among others.

Why Has The Inventor Of The Mkanx Training Bat Been Featured In Baseball America?

Jaime Cevallos, hitting guru and inventor of the patent pending Mkanx® Baseball Training Bats, works with hitters to improve their positions through the swing. In the winter of 2007/2008, Drew Sutton of the Reds and Ben Zobrist of the Rays worked with Cevallos and the Mkanx Training Bat. Though it was just weeks before the season was to start, the two committed to the Mkanx Training Bat, using it for tee work and soft-toss. The improvement was instant. “During Spring Training, many of the coaches commented on how much harder the ball seemed to be coming off of my bat than it was last year,” said Sutton in September of 2008.

Finishing the year Zobrist earned the final Player of the Week honors in the American League, increasing his slugging percentage by 300 points to .505, second on the team behind Evan Longoria. Zobrist credited Cevallos and the Mkanx Training Bat for helping him improve.

“The numbers before I worked with Jaime compared to after speak for themselves.”
- Ben Zobrist

Drew Sutton more than doubled his home runs from the previous year and earned team MVP honors and a spot on the forty man roster for 2009. Sutton was interviewed by J.J. Cooper of Baseball America who wanted to know what the difference was from last year (2007). Sutton credited Cevallos and the Mkanx Training Bat for his improvement.

“The Mkanx Training Bat helps me to use my trunk to generate more power throughout my swing.”
- Drew Sutton

The Science Behind The Patent Pending Mkanx Training Bat

Cevallos had spent years analyzing video before realizing that the only thing that separates the great hitters is the ability to achieve certain key positions through the baseball swing. If a bat could be made, he thought, that would force a player into these positions while hitting baseballs, then that player’s power and consistency at the plate would improve instantly. (Cevallos’ book on the key positions of the swing is due for release in the summer of 2009)

In 2006, Cevallos had several test models made to find a bat with just the right dimensions and weight that would force players into the key positions of the baseball swing. After extensive testing, in the winter of 2007, Cevallos settled on the current design and within days the Mkanx Training Bat was being used by college and professional players. Just as he thought, his training bat immediately gave hitters more power and consistency.

“Players don’t lack ability, they lack knowledge; the knowledge of the key positions and what these key positions feel like in the context of the baseball swing,” says Cevallos. The Mkanx Training Bat breaks down the barrier that has always existed between the hitter and the feeling that the greatest hitters have felt through the swing. Hitters, therefore, can “step into the swings of the greatest hitters of all time” and feel exactly how to hit for power and consistency.

The patent pending design of the Mkanx Training Bat disables the wrists from supplying significant power so the player uses his bigger, stronger muscles to swing the bat. But it’s more than that; the Mkanx Training Bats let the hitter feel a more powerful and consistent position at the point of contact, a position that has been near impossible to change in a hitter up to now. With every swing of the Mkanx Training Bat, the hitter is learning and ingraining a more powerful and consistent baseball swing.

You can expect to see more power and consistency from your baseball swing after just one week of hitting balls off of a tee with the Mkanx Training Bat. Changing your hitting mechanics often comes in moments of clarity, when your muscles "realize" a better way of swinging. The Mkanx Training Bat is designed to let you feel and therefore "realize" a better swing. With consistent use of the Mkanx Training Bat, your muscles will begin to "memorize" the proper mechanics. That is when a powerful and consistent swing is yours.

“The Mkanx Training Bat, without a lot of conversation, allows a hitter to feel his hands get into the slot position that enables the hitter to drive the ball to all fields,”
- Steve Peterson, Head Coach, Middle Tennessee State University.

How Do I Use The Mkanx Training Bat?

The MP30 teaches you how to swing without using your wrists. When you take your wrists out of the swing, your big muscles in your legs and hips have to take over. Since most people under-use these muscles and over-use the wrist, the Mkanx Training Bat teaches you to use your big muscles the way they are supposed to be used for optimal power and consistency.

In a regular baseball swing, the wrists can add some power by adding whip to the bat, but most players mistakenly rely on this whip for their power source. The real power should come from the big muscles in your legs, torso and arms. The object when practicing with the Mkanx Training Bat is to swing the bat without using your wrists for power. You should still try to hit the ball hard, just keep the wrist-snap to a minimum. The thick handle of the Mkanx Training Bat will help in taking the wrists out of the swing, enabling you to feel how to swing with your bigger, stronger muscles. When going back to your regular bat, use the same swing, but now add the wrist-snap. There is your new, more powerful and consistent swing.

Use the Mkanx Training Bat in place of a regular bat when:
      1.   On deck
      2.   Doing soft-toss or front-toss
      3.   Doing tee work
      4.   Swinging indoors. Get better while watching television!

The more you swing the Mkanx Training Bat, the more you will work the proper muscles and feel a more powerful swing. Simply allow these feelings to naturally transfer to your game at bats to see an immediate increase in power and consistency.

The Wrists/Forearms Myth
The hands and forearms flex throughout the swing only enough to hold onto the bat. Any added tension in the arms will only decrease bat speed and consistency. The swing is controlled by your big muscles in your legs, torso and shoulders. Your forearms and wrists need to be strong enough only to grip the bat throughout the swing.

Hand/Eye Coordination Myth
The importance of hand/eye coordination in hitting is blown way out of proportion. By the time we reach little league, players have developed 95% of their necessary hand/eye coordination for hitting a baseball. There is very little room for improvement in this area. Yet every year there are new gadgets that claim to improve your hitting hand/eye coordination. The United States Patent Office is filled with such inventions. But the difference between the great hitters and the average hitters lies in their mechanics.