Posted by: Teacherman () on Sun Nov 4 05:13:54 2007

""Teacherman,

Would you say that the force applied by the back shoulder of a hitter has a more positive effect on batspeed than the force of the front shoulder? Or the other way around?

And I guess this question is relevant to the back hip and front hip as well.

Your thoughts.

Jimmy""


It's a ridiculous question. Irrelevant. They work together.

But...they don't rotate.

Jack's video presentation of Bonds...

http://www.batspeed.com/media/Bonds_shoulder_tilt.wmv

...clearly shows "distortion" of the spine....not rotation around it. Look at the final frame...the position Bonds is in. Compare that to his starting position. Bond's spine bent laterally as he launched his swing. The rear shoulder has lowered and the front shoulder has raised. The top of the spine is more toward the catcher and the base of the spine is more toward the pitcher than it was pre-launch. That movement happens together. It's just not rotation. It is lateral tilt. And the lateral tilt is in the direction of the ball. It provides a linear platform for the hands to turn the barrel against. It provides a "path", not circular, for the arms to line the hands up with the ball....all while the hands are turning the barrel. That allows the two most important ingredients...."early batspeed" and "high adjustability".

http://www.teachersbilliards.com/hitzone/Guillen1.gif

In the above clip you can clearly see the "path" the arms move the hands on....toward the ball....not around the spine....not ciruclar....while the hands are turning the barrel....a great example of the importance of the diagonal swing plane. If it weren't for his hip rotation that hand path would be linear. But the hips turn...therefore everything above them is going to turn. That does not mean the hitter is trying to create a ciruclar hand path.

It means....he's lining up his diagonal swing plane, set by the direction of the lateral tilt and the hand swivel (forearm rotation), with the ball, by using the arms to take the hands, which are turning the barrel, toward the ball. In/out...up/down...long/short...wherever they need to go based on the pitches location and the hitters timing on that pitch.

htp://www.teachersbilliards.com/hitzone/Guillen2.gif

Same hitter...different pitch location. Exact same technique. The main change is his lateral tilt and hand swivel direction. His "early batspeed" and his "high adjustability" allows him (and most all mlb players) this flexibility.

The early batspeed....the turning of the barrel in the hands rearward, frees his arms for "adjustability". In both clips, his arms extend toward the ball. Not seen in all swings. But, an absolute necessity for plate coverage and for dealing with offspeed.

IF the arms were used in the powering of the swing....like is claimed in the "shoulder rotation swing theory"...which is evidenced by the statement....."the lead arms connection to shoulder rotation"...IF that is true, then there is little to no adjustability available to the hitter. Because in that theory, the arms are preoccupied with their role in powering the swing. They are preoccupied with "staying connected" so as to tranfer the momentum. And even though, in that theory, the hips and shoulder turn generate the power, the arms are critical to deliver it to the bat. Their role is to "stay connected"...to "maintain the hinge angle" etc etc and that simply so isn't what video of mlb hitters show.

And any change from that role will degrade the swings speed and quickness.

That threory then suggests that it's the posture that makes those adustsments. Keep everything aligned. Maintain the angles. Adjust the posture. Sorry. Get in the batters box against top speed (a machine is good enough to expose this) and try to make a posture adjustment to pitch location. The posture simply can not be adjusted quick enough. It is a slow moving vehicle. You will hit the snot out of every ball "down central" and you'll struggle with every ball not quite there.

Now, imagine you're in the batters box and you have to deal with offspeed also.

It simply is a failed theory.

The swing is not "around the body" or "around the shoulders" even though it may "appear" to be so at or near contact. The swing is launched "in front of" the body in the diagonal swing plane.....from which it can be adjusted by the arms. The power pack for the swing is not "withing the swing plane" it is "along side of it". The high level swing is generated by the release of the "stretch" created by the separation of the two hemispheres, which is created by both a lower body running start (notice how early Guillen's hips open compared to the actual launch frame) and the proper hand action....the turning of the barrel with the forearms. At the appropriate moment...the shoulders laterally tilt combining or joining the actions of the two hemispheres...that were working in opposite directions...and the result is the whip of the barrel into the ball. The cusp.

This explanation reconciles the mlb hitters insistance on the use of their hands and how strong their forearms need to be.

http://www.teachersbilliards.com/hitzone/Guillen3.gif

A third view showing the same technique on yet a third pitch location.

Hips open early. Barrel is turned rearward by the hands. The hitter is using his "wait" time effectively by creating separation as these this begins long before "go". He's reading the pitch, makes his decision and swivels the hands and laterally tilts the shoulders in the direction of the ball at "go". The platform for the hand path has been determined...and set...and now his "radar" can adjust the already turning barrel to the ball.