Posted by: JJA (jjanagnost@worldnet.att.net) on Tue Oct 21 12:08:14 2003

In Jack's video, he emphasizes that the hips and torso move together during rotation. He does mention that this is a point of some contention. As many are aware, one of Epstein's big teaching points is that the hips lead the torso, so that the upper body is acting somewhat crudely like a coiled spring to presumably increase bat speed.

In the golf world, this a well known fact, the so-called "X-factor" of noted golf instructor Jim McLean. Analysis of power hitters like Daly and Woods show that the amount of differential angle between the hips and shoulders shows almost a one for one correspondence with driving distance.

Surely, there is a differential at launch position of hips and torso (I think of Griffey who has huge shoulder rotation). If the hips and torso are to move together, when does that happen in the swing?

I'd appreciate any comments that might clear up this point of confusion for me.

Sincerely - JJA