Posted by: Donny Buster (donnybstr@aol.com) on Tue Nov 25 16:23:53 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? <<<
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> > Hi Donny
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> > 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.
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> > 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.
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> > 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.
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> > 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.
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> > Jack Mankin
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> >>Donny I also have a similar hitter who scouts drool over but I may bat him 6th because he has'nt been able to hit 300 in H.S. yet with 6.5 speed in 60 and great batspeed.I chalked it up to poor hand eye coordination but if you find the secret let me know he could be devastating if he did'nt pop up to center and oppo so much.
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> rql,

I initially surmized that "John" had so much upper body movement in his hands /wrist that his bat angle at toe touch was never the same. He also failed to flatten it at launch to get the bat on plane with the lead arm. That in conjunction with his "cross the body" knee move that he used to cock his hips during his stride created another variable. When you throw in the timing difficulties that the pitcher can create the odds of a center hit on plane with the pitch were too low. He never understood what was happening and finally petered out at the Jucu level.. a terrible shame. My occassional attempts to put his hands in a consistent high cocked position came too late in his career and did not fit his style. He could have spent more time studying and filming but that is not done around here enough.