Posted by: rql () on Sat Sep 13 20:43:02 2003

Someone asked about flattening of the hands as a que and I think Jack did not think it was right.I agree with him and here is how I see the work of the hands and how they create tht.As I have said at about toe touch I see about 4 things coming together front heel down rear knee in, rear elbow down and lead shoulder turn.I would like to say that thr front shoulder appears to be taking slack out of lead arm and feels like we are taking it right at pitcher [hence keeping front shoulder in]at this point I think the bottom hand is pulling down and forward though rear elbow is pulling down faster and pulling top hand back.The fact that the top hand is being pulled back faster [angle that rear elbow is working against top hand creates more speed .]The fact the top hand is pulling back faster is what flattens the hands out even though the bottom hand is pulling down towards the ball.I have heard that torque is 1 hand still and the other pushing 1 way or another but I feel that better torque is when the 2 hands are applying pressure in opp. directions.In this situation the top hand pulls back driven by rear elbow and the bottom hand pulls down and forward ,once the lead shoulder really starts turning forward and elbow gets down in slot lots of torque is being applied to bat and it carries on thru into bht or hooking hand path.The question though of flattening hands is caused by the top hand pulling back faster than bottom hand pulling down and forward so this is why top hand dominates and flattens out the hands and this is why the lead elbow begins to work up as the back side begins to drop into tilt.There appears to be less elbow up on higher pitches .Why I would'nt use flatten hands que.if you are just trying to flatten hands to begin with ,with no lead shoulder turn then there is less torque because only back side is pulling back,and front side has stayed still.also I think this would really allow the rear elbow to get ahead of the hands since they would not being pulled forward from the beginning by7 lead shoulder and there would be so much power pulling down from rear elbow that it would be hard to keep control of swing plane.In conclusion I feel more torque and more stability to swing plane is created by pulling down and forward with lead hand via lead shoulder while top hand pulls back via rear elbow and allows hands to beat the elbow to the ball.rql