Posted by: Jack Mankin (mrbatspeed@aol.com) on Fri Sep 19 11:58:03 2003

>>> My 9 yo has a very smooth swing. He makes good contact but has two 'problems' (for lack of better word) that I'm having difficulty explaining to him...

#1...Once he loads, his bat is angled behind his head, thus making his swing longer having to move his barrell further then most.

#2...Once contact is made he doesn't tend to follow through...His swing just kinda of stops. When he does follow thorugh completely, it's usually no higher then chest high, and usually just above waist high...

He's a golfer and completly understands the concept of following through, but the impact with a golf ball is no where near the force of a baseball...

Any good advice on correcting these two glitches in his swing...

Thanks in advanced...

Joe <<<

Hi Joe

With good swing mechanics, the follow through is more powered by the momentum of the bat and not as much from the batter continuing to accelerate the bat through contact. The bat is only in contact with the ball for 1/2000 second. During that time the bat only moves forward about ¾ of an inch before the ball is gone. Therefore, it is the bat speed (and the weight of the bat) attained by contact that is important.

In order for the bat to power through contact, the bat-head must have good velocity (+ weight). In doing hundreds of video swing reviews, I find the main problem is, most hitter’s mechanics accelerate the hands and the knob of the bat while the bat-head lags weakly behind. The advice and drills I suggest are based on the fact that what is important in the swing is the speed of the bat-head – not the speed of the hands.

Below is an e-mail and reply I recieved today regarding this topic.

> comments: I need help i find my self inside outing the ball to right field instead of pulling the ball to leftfield. i could be out infront of the ball by two days and still hit it to right field. I need to know how to prevent this. I've tried everything. If you can Jack please send a reply.
Brad<<<

>Hi Brad

Almost all the swing mechanics taught (and used by players) stress accelerating the hands with the idea that the bat-head would somehow just snap through. Well, it doesn’t and many (if not most) hitters have the same problem you have described. --- Brad, to get the bat-head into the contact zone quicker and with more pop, you must quit thinking of having “quick hands” and start concentrating on mechanics that will accelerate the bat-head – not the hands. Think of keeping the hands back (lead-arm across the chest) and allow shoulder rotation to fling the hands and the bat-head.

Best regards,

Jack Mankin <

SIR YOU ARE A MIRACLE WORKER.....my power has increased remarkably in the last few weeks. I have hit one monster homerun and several other hard line drives.
Thank you so much
Brad