Posted by: Jack Mankin (MrBatspeed@aol.com) on Thu Jun 22 22:30:26 2000

>>>jack..as mentioned in my post 6-13-2k, i would appreciate your comments regarding pettica's notion of pressing bat to triceps (although i think shoulder would be better).....i know he says a lot of off-the-wall stuff, but just your opinion on the bat-pressing-against-triceps concept...thank you....grc.<<<

Hi grc

Sorry for the delay in my reply to your post.

I wanted to review his article again before commenting on it. --- I would agree that if a batter held the bat as he describes (bat-pressing-against-triceps) and rotated his body the bat head would accelerate. During my study I referred to that type of mechanics as the "Welded Wheel Effect." I used that term because I thought of it as though a bat was welded to a rotating flywheel.

The "Torque" for this type of mechanic actually comes from the legs (and torso muscles). The legs rotate the body - the bat is locked to body. --- But this only explains about 1/2 of the bat's travel. The body will only rotate about 70 to 110 degrees. The bat-head will rotate through 180 to 250 degrees. He gave no explanation for what accelerated the bat through the other 90 or so degrees. -- What adjustments are made for outside or low pitches.

Note: If the batter has a good circular hand-path, the bat will be displaced the same number of degrees as body rotation without the "bat-pressing-against-triceps."

Jack Mankin