Posted by: Jack Mankin (mrbatspeed@aol.com) on Tue Dec 23 13:03:13 2003

Jack Mankin's comment:

From the Swing Mechanics Page:

Frame #2

Great hitters produce their tremendous bat speed by constantly supplying torque and rotational energies to the bat from initiation to contact. --- Average hitters also generate their bat speed by applying these same forces (CHP & Torque) but over a more limited portion of the swing and therefore attain limited results.

Note that from frames 1 thru 5 the legs rotate the hips 80 to 90 degrees and the shoulders about 110 to 120 degrees. But the position of the lead and back arm stay in about the same in relationship to the turning body -- lead arm remains across much of the chest – back-elbow stays back at the batter’s side as the forearm rotates around and down toward the horizontal ("L") position.

If the pitch were headed more toward the outside portion of the plate, rotation of the shoulders would need to slow and allow the lead arm to cast out away from the batter’s chest. This results in the hands also arcing out into a wider and path to reach the ball. The batter will therefore have less benefit from shoulder rotation but can apply top-hand torque over a longer portion of the swing.

A wider hand-path with the same rate of angular displacement will generate greater bat speed. Top-hand-torque mechanics aids in maintaining that rate. With these mechanics, the batter can reach the outside pitch with little or no decrease in bat speed. – Some of the longest home runs ever hit were outside pitches.

Jack Mankin