Posted by: Lamber () on Mon Dec 22 11:15:55 2003

Jack,
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> When I started the Vlad-Mac thread I was interested in understanding the role of the top hand arm in the swing. Following is a reference to a clip of Nomar. This is not an unusual swing for him. The more my son has worked on keeping hands tied to shoulder (hitting the bag) the more his swing path has started to resemble Nomars. There is a concept being talked about by Lamber (?) and maybe others that the hands don’t move at all (or very little) after the elbow has slotted. That the elbow never gets away from the body. Nomar has this type of a swing. However, my observation of clips has been that for most hitters the angle between the back forearm and the upper forearm (which starts at say 45 degrees) is releasing into contact to 90 degrees or more, with the hands going forward into contact even as they are rotating. I have numerous clips of Bonds releasing the back arm into contact. It is very hard for me to understand how the technique used by Nomar in this clip can produce a more powerful swing than one where there is a little back arm extension into contact. That is what I am trying to get to the bottom of.
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> Nick
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> http://webpages.charter.net/nickkio/Nomar06.mpg

Nick

My opinion is.....the rotational hitters whose rear arm goes from 45 degrees to around 90 degrees are making pitch speed and location adjustments.

The only two adjustments a hitter can make on the fly are posture and arm extension. If a hitter is linear he only has one adjustor...posture.

The rotational hitter has the ability to extend the arms (or pull them in) to adjust because his power source is the rotating torso, not aggressive arm pull. Therefore, I think what you are seeing in your video clips is consistent with good rotational hitting.

However, Arod extends his arms on every pitch. He launches from his high setup position with aggressive arm pull and arm extension down to contact where the swing levels out due to the rotating torso.
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