Posted by: Jack Mankin (MrBatspeed@aol.com) on Sat Aug 9 10:58:57 2003

I purchased the Final Arc video, and am working with my 11 and 13 year-olds on perfecting the swing mechanics. They are running into two major barriers that I just can't seem to get them past: 1) bringing the bat head back toward the catcher to begin circling the top hand around the bottom hand, and 2) pulling through on the front foot instead of "squishing the bug" as they say with the back foot and pushing through. These are perhaps the two most crucial elements of a rotational swing. I've tried practically everything I can think of, but after countless hours of practice time, they are still not executing either one properly. Any tips anyone can pass along for teaching these two techniques properly?

Hi BigZ

If lead-arm is tight across the chest and the hands are allowed to stay back at the back-shoulder as body rotation is initiated, then the bat-head will automatically accelerate back toward the catcher before arcing around toward contact (creating a circular hand path). The pulling back of the top-hand as the elbow lowers to the batter's side can increase bat-head acceleration (back toward the catcher). --- But most hitters do not hold (or pull back) the top-hand back as they start their swing, they thrust the top hand forward which causes the bat-head to just slide over and trail behind the knob (creating a linear hand path).

Most hitters have a natural tendency to rotate the back hip forward (i.e., squishing the bug). The purpose of rotating and extending the lead-leg is to get the lead-side more involved in generating rotation. This will create a more powerful rotation around a stationary axis. I would express the importance of having the lead-shoulder rotating (or pulling) back-toward the catcher at contact. I find that when a player is concentrating getting the lead-shoulder pulled back, there is much less tendency to lunge forward and the lead-leg extends properly.

Jack Mankin