Posted by: Kelvin (webmaster@speedtrainer.net) on Fri Sep 26 13:56:13 2003

>>> Jack, You say that hand strength is not a big factor in the rotational swing, and that gripping the bat too tight can lead to problems. Don't you feel that even with a relaxed grip at stance, that a hitters hands will firm up at impact? If that is the case, would not hand strength be of benefit to the hitter? Just because a guy has strong hands does not mean that he will grip the bat too tight does it? Would it be better to have weak hands? <<<
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> > Hi Doug
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> > At one time I also thought that a strong body position and firm grip would aid in driving through the ball. But a number of tests ran by bat companies proved this not to be the case. They found that for a given bat speed, a bat swung as a free object (like on a rope) would hit a ball just as hard as a bat welded to a heavy flywheel. Therefore, the firmness of the grip at contact has no bearing on ball flight.
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> > Jack Mankin
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> Jack, I would be very interested to watch a test being run. Do you not agree that a relaxed grip at stance will turn into a firm grip at impact. As far as hand strength goes, I will always feel that it is a must for a good hitter with power. With a rotational swing, it only stays perfect if the pitch is in your zone. A knee high pitch on the outside corner will not get the same rotational swing as a belt high, middle in pitch will. If you don't get a perfect pitch, you had better have strong hands to succeed, as the hands are part of the swing and will be a very large part on the tough pitch. A great rotational swing is "the swing", but not every pitch gives you the chance to put the perfect rotational swing on it, in fact most at higher levels don't. Before I would believe the test with the rope, I would have to watch the test myself. Are they trowing a baseball at 85mph towards a guy swinging a rope with a bat tied to it? At what speed is the rope being swung? The most important question is, why do all the top power hitters have strength and especially in their hands? How come weak guys don't hit for power?
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> Doug
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> Doug,

I think you're right about hand strength. But how about viewing the swinging of a bat analgous to a whip? The hands must accelerate along with the body to create speed but in order to whip the bat around the hands must actually decelerate to allow the energy to flow into the bat. This is highly complex and difficult to put into words. But imagine steadily accelerating one's hand while using a whip. The whip won't whip! It takes acceleration, then deceleration in order to transfer that speed. And that takes hand strength as well as hand speed to do that.