Posted by: Teacherman () on Tue Feb 18 12:03:19 2003

Jack in his video said something about the KNOB of the bat going in the direction of the opposite batter's box; and emphasizes a circular hand path and talks about swinging a ball on the rope.
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> > > > > Linear people talk about taking the KNOB to the pitcher.
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> > > > > From what I see on video it looks (especially on inside pitches) that the Knob goes linear or to the pitcher that is probably where the cue get inside the ball comes from and then the circular hand path.
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> > > > > Does anybody see anything different? Is it all circular and NO LINEAR at all? What about on an inside pitch? Can you keep the ball fair if you are all circular? If you are all linear - then no power, right? In order to have a short, compact swing it seems like the good ones start the knob to the pitcher or inside the ball and then rotate. Hey TOM, isn't that what your buddy Epstein teaches with his propietary FENCE drill. The knob definetly goes linear before circular. Is it all or nothing or is there such a thing?
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> > > > I pulled out some video of MLB hitters and I see the opposite - it looks like to me that most of them go circular to start and then linear or push or extension or flex of the top hand or lose the L or whatever at the end of the swing. They really push that top hand through contact - even though the ball might only be on the bat 1/3000 of a second, there must be some reason they push through contact. I think it is a timing issue; it gives them a greater hitting area and they are so strong that even if they are pushing and thus decelerating the ball is still going to jump. The only time the knob looks like it goes to the pitcher is on the inside pitch and for sure it doesn't go to the opposite batter's box - the knob goes in front of the body and then the knob pull across the body. That is very interesting too tract what the KNOB does. Is there some standard guidelines on what the KNOB is supposed to do? And does it vary on pitch location?
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> > > > haj
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> > > Too bad you did not have one of those gizmos like they have on ESPN where they show the path of the bat head. That would be a helpful tool to figure out what is going on.
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> > > You raise a legitimate question, Georger, how can you tell if a swing is purely circular or whether it has some linear characteristics to it? Is the KNOB a factor to consider in this determination?
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> > > I do know there is no consensus (in theory or practice) on whether the bat head remains truly circular throughout the swing, but I do not know what the underlying differences or reasoning is. I'll stay tuned to hopefully find out.
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> > The knob goes where the body's rotation takes it. There is little or no independent movement of the hands therefore know. It's called staying connected.
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> You must be watching different MLB hitters than me cause what I see is big time movement of their hands and your right the knob goes all over - some hitters just circular, some just linear, most circular then linear, and a lot linear then circular. The question is why such a variety and is one a better method than the other.

Disagree. The hands remain connected to the rotating body. They remain almost still on the back side of the chest (same spot as they are when the elbow is slotted). As the torso rotates the hands move to contact. At or near contact the hands move because the force of rotation causes them to and the follow through begins. This should be after contact. Since they are connected to a rotating torso the hand path is circular.