Dallas Sports Fans Talks With Rusty Greer

Editor’s Note: Recently Dallas Sports Fans featured author Cody Dunlap sat down with Texas Rangers great and RBI Pro Swing Spokesman Rusty Greer. Below is the transcript from Cody’s talk with Rusty Greer on the RBI Pro Swing and what Rusty is up to now.

Have you ever looked at a major league on-deck circle?

I mean, really looked at one?

It looks like a garage sale. You see batting donuts, bat weights, extra bats and other items presumably designed to get a major league hitter ready for his next at-bat. One of the best hitters in Texas Rangers history, Rusty Greer, has taken to using a new tool to help teach hitting fundamentals, the RBI Pro Swing. RBI Pro Swing is a weight that fits over a player’s bat and gives “immediate feedback” on whether or not the player is getting the best power and contact out of their swing. According to Greer, the ideal swing in baseball is short and direct through the hitting zone, which RBI Pro Swing reveals with a quick, sharp sound. A long, sweeping sound from the weight means a longer swing through the zone, which is incorrect.

“My kids use it, and they’ve used it for awhile. Now they don’t use it every day, but when I feel like they need some tuning up, they use it,” said Greer. “It’s geared toward everyone, but I think the people it really benefits is your younger kids.” Greer says that those kids between the ages of eight and 14 benefit the most, because of their increased passion for baseball and habits that Greer says take a while to be broken if they’re the wrong habits.

RBI Pro Swing was created by Rick Miller, but it was Bobby Witt, former Rangers pitcher and friend of Greer’s, that got Greer involved. “Rick had come up with the RBI Pro Swing, and he was really looking for a hitter’s feedback on what the product might need or changes it might need to happen,” said Greer, “and so I just got involved with Rick, and through the course of time, began to kinda change – help him change some things.”

Greer currently coaches his kids’ teams along with a separate Little League team in addition to giving private hitting lessons. His aspirations run a little bit higher than that, however.

Last fall, Greer was one of a host of candidates interviewed by the Texas Rangers to replace the departed Rudy Jaramillo as the team’s new hitting coach. While he was not selected for the position, Greer was happy to get a call.

“I interviewed with them about their open job, and of course they ended up hiring Clint Hurdle, but I had a great opportunity with those guys and can’t thank them enough for giving me that chance,” said Greer.

Greer compiled a .305 lifetime average, highlighted by a .332 mark in 1996, and stated that coaching at the major league level would be a goal of his if the time was right.

For right now, Greer is focused on coaching the teams he has, with the help of the RBI Pro Swing. While the product wasn’t around in his native Alabama when he was growing up, Greer would not have turned the chance for help from the RBI Pro Swing.

“If I would have had access to something like this, then I definitely would have used it,” he said. “I believe it would have helped me. I would have definitely at least given it a try.”

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Photo Credit: Daily Life