Posted by: Jimmy () on Fri Dec 14 04:57:04 2007

> Jimmy,
>
> Do you believe that the shoulders should turn in at all on the load or are you just shifting your weight back with your legs? Do you believe that the hands are turning the barrel rearward or is the pulling on the knob with the lead arm/shoulder is what lays the barrel flat? What gets the barrel on plane?
>
> Graylon

Graylon,

I think that in a quality load the hitter tries to shift his weight
straight back with his legs. That being said, his hips and shoulders will slightly rotate inward naturally as a result of a proper lower-body load.

I think that the hitters that try to accomplish the inward turn consciously cause too much of it to happen, and it happens out of sync with the rest of the body.

As far as how the barrel flattens out... I do not think the hitter should try to turn the barrel rearward. Doing so means he has less focus on the ball.

It flattens out naturally as the hitter starts to initiate his swing after his load. Both the front side and the back side are working on the handle of the bat together, so it is not just the pull of the lead arm/shoulder nor is it conscious THT that flattens it out. It is a delicately balanced relationship between the front-side and the back-side that slot the barrel into the swing-path.

And if the hitter is thinking about trying to flatten the barrel out, he will fatten it too soon and probably too much.

Jimmy