Posted by: Jack Mankin (mrbatspeed@aol.com) on Wed Sep 3 01:30:23 2003

>>> Jack,many hitting instructors and scouts talk about having strong hands or quick hands and I agree with them.However they feel that it is the hands that are responsible for the power that gets generated into the bat.I however feel that what is happening is that the whole process of rotation and [rear elbow getting in the slot] createstht.My videos have showed that while the elbow is coming down and the top hand is pulling back the front shoulder is turning forward and out which pulls the bottom hand forward thus causing tht early.Now all the energy is going thru the hands and they are also applying whatever they can but the pressures that sre felt on the hands that make people talk so much about the hands are really created by a combination of body rotation and the way the body applies pressure to the bat [torque early thru late in the swing.]Let me also mention that one of the 1st problems I have when I teack rotational mechanics and I tell them to use their hips and shoulders to lead the swing ,they do not apply torque in the swing thus it drags thru the zone,it is almost like linear leading with the hands with no rotation except opposite because the hands are not connected properly able to apply torque properly.I have found if I have them lead with the hips 1st it keeps the hands back properly while the sequence gets underway and then drive the hands to the ball hard but make the shoulders stay ahead of the hands.This seems to keep torque being applied while rotation fuels the swing. <<<

Hi rql

I have not found that hand strength is a big factor in the rotational swing. In fact, gripping the bat too tight can lead to many problems. I think batters might be better off loosening up the hands and thinking more about finesse in their swings. But, I have found results similar to what you described with batters trying to apply THT before they were ready. Therefore, I recommend that a hitter have sound mechanics that can generate good bat speed for a period of time before learning to apply THT to the swing. I had rather have them hold the bat in the normal launch position (behind the head in the plane) and impress upon them the importance of having the hands close to the back-shoulder as shoulder rotation begins. Having them use the top-hand to pull the hands to the back shoulder as they initiate rotation will set a good foundation for teaching THT later. --- Most students want to set up like Bonds or Sosa and attempt to use pre-launch torque with far less than satisfactory results. (But, I have also been surprised by a few)

I can say with almost certainty that when a batter finishes shoulder rotation with the bat lagging far from contact, that they are generating little from their hand-path. This places them quickly behind the power-curve and they wind up trying to muscle the bat with the back-arm. I have them take their normal launch position (with the heavy bag). Then replace their bat with my training bat (the one in the video with the swivel handle) and have them use their top-hand just as usual. Many times the bat-head will not even make it to the bag (near zero bat speed). They soon learn that extending the top-hand gains them little and find the best results by keeping the back-elbow back at their side and rotate.

After they have practiced enough to become proficient (around 50 mph) with the training bat, I have them swing their bat with just the top-hand (no tight grip) as they did the training bat. To their great surprise, many of the them could get as much, or more, bat speed with one hand and a circular hand-path as their old mechanics could generate with two hands.

Jack Mankin