Posted by: Jack Mankin (MrBatspeed@aol.com) on Sun Jan 13 10:58:27 2008

>>> I was an assitant baseball coach in a small town where baseball was king. Baseball was taught the way it is suppose to be taught. I've recently moved back to my home town where the fundamentals of baseball are lacking. Good hitters are the good athletes but there is no proper teaching of the fundaments to make the good hitters great and the average hitters good. I've went back and have read many of the previous post over the past few years and still have a problem with hand placement. I have copied and pasted a post you gave last year. My question is, do you have any clips or videos showing the hands in a "normal launch position". I would love to have some clips/videos so the players can see what I want them to do.


Frames A through E describe the pre-launch mechanics used by hitters like those Steve mentions in his post (Soriano, Bonds, Ortiz, Sheffield, et. al.). I would suggest you first understand how THT is applied from the normal launch position before cocking the bat toward the pitcher and attempting more advanced mechanics.

Andy I understand the concept of pulling the top-hand rearward instead of driving it forward goes against what we were taught – and even what feels natural. It appears my written description did not help much. Maybe this video clip - http://www.batspeed.com/media/THTHigh.wmv – of me demonstrating THT will help you comprehend it better.

Jack Mankin <<<

Hi John

I am not quite sure what position you are referring to. All high level batters will have their hands at about the same location as they initiate their swings. They may have the hands in various positions in their stance but they all will arrive at the same position as rotation is initiated.

If your question involves how PLT and THT is applied, I will soon start a thread (with video clips) that will address those mechanics. But feel free to ask questions you have in the meantime.

Jack Mankin