Posted by: BHL (Knight1285@aol.com) on Tue Sep 5 11:08:51 2000

>>>JACK,I AM TRYING TO GET CLEAR IN MY HEAD THESE TORQUE IDEAS AND ONE PROBLEM IM NOT CLEAR ON IS DO YOU USE ONE OR THE OTHER TORQUES OR BOTH.IT SEEMED LIKE ONE WAS FOR INSIDE PITCH THE OTHER OUTSIDE PITCH.THIS IS CONFUSING TRYING TO ALTERNATE SO I WOULD LIKE TO ASSUME 1 OR THE OTHER.I REALIZED MY QUES ABOUT 1 BIG HAND STEMMED FROM MY LINEAR HAND MOVEMENTS.I HAD TROUBLE STOPPING THE HANDS COMING FORWARD SO I PUT THE MIDDLE OF THE BAT AGAINST MY BACK SHOULDER AND THE HEAD BEHIND MY BACK. I PRESSED THE BAT AGAINST MY BACK SHOULDER AND MAKE THE LAST THING TO HAPPEN IS THE BAT LEAVE MY SHOULDER.THIS SEEMS TO THROW MY HANDS OUT PERPENDICULAR INSTEAD OF FORWARD AND ALLOWS MY HIPS AND SHOULDERS TO ROTATE BEFORE THE HANDS COME INTO CIRCULAR HAND PATH.THE ANGLE SEEMS TO GIVE ME MORE OF A LEVEL SWING HOWEVER I BELIEVE IF I RAISE MY BAT BEHIND MY HEAD AND USE THAT TOP HAND TORQUE IFEEL THE UPPERCUT MORE AND LIFT THE BALL SOLID MORE WITH GREATER DISTANCE.MY LAST NOTE I HAVE BEEN SWINGING FROM A TEE AND GOING FROM LINEAR TO ROTATIONAL TOP TO BOTTOM HAND TORQUE AND STRIDE TO NO STRIDE.AND MY LONGEST BALLS HAVE COME FROM NO STRIDE AND TOPHAND TORQUE.IM CONTRIBUTING THIS TO NOT HAVING TO WORRY ABOUT WEIGHT SHIFTING FORWARD WITH THE STRIDE AND BEING ABLE TO CONCENTRATE ON THE ROTATION AND HAND TORQUE BUT I COULD BE WRONG .IM USING A HITTING THOUGHT OF FLEX AND TWIST FOR MY HIP ROTATION, AND IM HAVING TROUBLE KEEPING THE INSIDE PITCH FAIR WITH THE TOP HAND TORQUE.ANY THOUGHTS WOULD BE APPRECIATED. <<<
>
> Hi RQL
>
> It sounds to me that you are on the right track. Keeping the hands back (as you described) is the first step in converting to rotation mechanics. You can start your practice with the back elbow down. This will mean that little top-hand-torque is being applied and the bat-head is being accelerated mainly by the body's rotation and torque supplied by the pulling of the bottom hand by the lead arm. -- This action is similar to rowing a boat where the top-hand serves as the oarlock as the bottom-hand pulls the bat-head around.
>
> To practice this mechanic I strongly suggest you use a heavy bag (50 to 75 lbs) as I showed in the video. It is very important that the body has the correct form and all the energy is expended at contact. Expending the bat's energy into the bag will allow you clearly check your progress. Then you can hit a few balls of the tee and then back to the bag to see if the swings are consistent.
>
> Once you have mastered the technique of applying bottom-hand-torque, you can raise the back elbow and add more cock to the bat. You are now in a position to start applying top-hand-torque. As you pull the top-hand back toward the catcher, the back elbow lowers to the side. -- This the same position you used in the above drill - but now the bat-head has a running start.
>
> >>>I RAISE MY BAT BEHIND MY HEAD AND USE THAT TOP HAND TORQUE IFEEL THE UPPERCUT MORE AND LIFT THE BALL SOLID MORE WITH GREATER DISTANCE.<<<
>
> RQL, there should be no more of a "uppercut" when applying top-hand-torque. If you pull the bat-head back inline with the lead arm, it will stay in the same swing plane as before. Make sure you don't accelerate the bat-head to vertically - problems, problems.
>
> I don't want the post to get to long. So I will cover the relationship of the "outside pitch" and "top-hand-torque" later.
>
> Jack Mankin
>
> Dear all,
To me top hand torque and an inside-the ball swing are synonomous.

Sincerely,
BHL
Knight1285@aol.com