Posted by: Jimmy () on Tue Nov 20 09:31:39 2007

Teacherman,

Nice try again. I'm sure that post took some time to put together but again you are still just shy of a good explanation. You seem very passionate about what you say and I'm sure that helps to sell your reasons.

The premise is good but the details that you fall short on are very misleading details.

You state...""The baseball swing is much like winding a rubber band...twisting it...then holding one end and releasing the other. The energy is release instantaneously.""

Muscles contract at the command of the brain and central nervous system. The contraction of a muscle can last much longer than "instantaneous".

At the point of "go" there are a large number of muscles contracting in harmony to produce what you think looks like a "rubber band uncoiling".

This also leads to another misconception of the high level swing.

You state...""the stretch is created....notice the hips opening against the upper body before "go'.....then the barrel is launched rearward.""

The illusion that the hips "open" before the upper body comes through happens because the delivery of the barrel is the last portion that comes through.

During the "go" portion of swing, the back leg, the back hip, the back shoulder, the back arm, and the top hand all come through at the same time. What you see is the front hip opening before you see the bat coming through.

The start of the back side force is what initially opens the front side.

And one more thing. I never stated anything about any knobs to the ball. That is a poor que and is not a part of a quality swing.

There are indeed rotational forces that produce strength in the swing but they are not uncoiling "rubber band" forces as you have described.