Posted by: Jack Mankin (MrBatspeed@aol.com) on Tue Nov 6 23:09:35 2007

>>> i dont get it, i just dont. some coaches say keep the elbow down, and others say it doesnt matter as long as ur comfortable. ive taped my swing, and my elbow is about where albert pujols's is. is this ok? i mean albert pujols has perhaps the sweetest swing in baseball<<<

Hi Shawn

I understand your confusion. As the e-mail below illustrates, coaches have very different views on whether an elevated back-elbow is helpful or counterproductive. You can read this coach’s concerns and my reply. Hope this does not confuse you further.

Jack Mankin
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Dear Jack,
I too have been a student of the game of baseball for my entire life. I spent 10 years going to one of the premier baseball academies in the country and now I am a coach. I give private hitting instruction, as well as coaching a travel baseball team. I find much success and improvement in the students I teach and the way I coach the game. I am curious about something I read in one of the pages of your site. You stated that most of the good hitters in the MLB have their back elbow up and I feel that while you are disproving other "trusims" of the swing that this theory is one of the oldest and biggest fallacies in the game. If you look at a hitters swing who begins with their back elbow up in slow motion, you will find that the first thing the hitter does, is drop that back elbow. I was always taught to keep the elbows in an upsidedown v, or the top of a triangle if you will. This allows your hands to get to the point of contact quicker and as we both know quickness equals power. I believe it also allows the hitter to let the ball travel deeper in the zone. If you take a look at many of the up and coming stars of baseball, many apply this technique due to the coaches that teach this newer hitting theory. The back elbow being up also causes many young hitters to drop their back shoulder and pop the ball up on a more consistent basis. I am curious as to what you think.
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Hi

I would agree that with the average batter the lowering of a raised elbow is mostly wasted motion. However this is not the case with the great hitters. Great hitters generate greater bat speed because their mechanics first accelerate the bat-head rearward before they direct their energy toward the ball. With these mechanics, they have already generated considerable bat speed back to, and through, the lag position before directing their energy toward the ball.

The bat-head arcs through about 180 degrees from its launch position behind the head to contact. The bat first moves rearward 90 degrees to the “lag” position, and then 90 degrees from the lag position to contact. The reason the bat first moves rearward 90 degrees to the lag position is because a batter CANNOT generate maximum bat speed with a static bat at the lag position. Great hitters generate great bat speed because their mechanics is accelerating the bat-head around the entire 180 degrees.

Notably, most average hitters use upper-body mechanics that simply take his hands and knob toward the ball without first generate early bat speed by accelerating the bat rearward toward the catcher. Driving the knob forward causes the bat-head to just lower and trail behind the hands well into the swing.

Note in the clip below how Sosa’s THT mechanics uses the lowering of his elbow to help accelerate the bat-head rearward.
Sosa – launch to lag mechanics

Best regards,

Jack Mankin