Posted by: Jack Mankin (mrbatspeed@aol.com) on Fri Nov 21 10:40:20 2003

>>> There was a young hitter at our HS that during BP could hit more out than anybody that has played there in 33 years. For a year I watched this in amazement. He had a little back and forth waggle sort of in front of his body like Sheffield, lifted his front knee (toward his rear shoulder), swept the bat tip behind him and flatter at toe touch and killed the ball. It comes clear now what was happening....he had a pretty good swing when you boiled the style and excessive movement away. His down fall was lack of consistency. While he had power to all fields he hit many off center balls,pop ups etc. My son hits it farther with the sweep but will he likely give up his consistent line drive pattern? Do you recommend more sweep hand action vs. starting in a high cocked position? <<<

Hi Donny

Many (if not most) top Major League batting averages are from batters who use Pre-launch and Top-Hand-Torque (THT) in their swings. But I would agree that a batter while learning these mechanics could have a problem with consistency.

One of the major reasons for the lack of consistency while applying Pre-launch Torque is due to waves in the swing plane. These waves are the result of wrist-binds that occur when the batter accelerates the bat-head back toward the catcher, but in too vertical an angle that cuts down through the swing plane instead of sweeping behind the head and into the plane.

There is another mechanical flaw that also results in wrist-binds and an inconsistent swing plane. This flaw occurs when the batter brings the hands forward (away from the back-shoulder) while accelerating the bat-head back toward the catcher (THT). The batter must have the hands at, or coming to the shoulder, as the bat-head sweeps rearward.

Whenever a hitter complains of discomfort in the hands or wrists while practicing Pre-launch and Top-Hand-Torque, he or she is most probably experiencing hand or wrist-bind. A video analysis will invariably reveal that one or both of these mechanical flaws are present.

Jack Mankin