Posted by: BHL (Knight1285@aol.com) on Tue Feb 3 20:56:18 2004

>>> However, I did read this particular post, and would like to point out a few key items.
> >
> > First and foremost, I would like to say that your objective above is essential to understanding how the swing works, and, prior to doing drills, people must understand just what they are trying to achieve. Nevertheless, I feel that some of Mike Epstein's cues allow me to put these principles into practice.
> >
> > The first item that I believe is de regueur to hitting is dropping the front heel on time, which is best accoplshed by opening the front foot at a 45 degree angle, while keeping the shoulder under the chin. Remember, the stretch position does not occur until that foot lands, which means that the shoulders are not being pulled to a premature positon. Nevertheless, once the heel drops, the front leg begins to straighten, the backside releases, the top elbow tucks in, generating significant THT. This is the "early batspeed" you talk about on your DVD.
> >
> > One should also not forget to work the lead elbow up for pitches down, and vice-versa and keep plenty of flex in both elbows. Here's why. If the pitch is down, the lead elbow working up will put the bat on the right trajectory to meet the pitch going down, and establish rotation around a spint tilted backwards. Once the elbow works up, all forward movement is thwarted at heel plant, and the body must rotate. This means the bottom hand is causing BHT.
> >
> > If the pitch is up, the front elbow works down slightly, causing the body to spin around an axis titled forward. If the pitch is right down the middle of the plate, you would then be rotating around a vertical axis.
> >
> > In the case of the DVD, John Elliot is swinging at a high pitch, which is why his weight ends up against his front thigh--rather than back thigh--at contact. If the pitch were lower, Mike's "L" position in his back leg would look even more like an "L."
> >
> > Now, I am not arguing that the back foot becomes light at contact; I'm just saying that more weight ends up against the rear thigh on a low pitch.
> >
> > As for the circular hand path, once the hitter chooses the proper axis, the shoulders rotate, and so do the loose elbows, especially on the low pitch, where the "chicken wing" forces weight back against the shoulder, forcing it to rotate back. The hands follow suit, and so does the bathead, brought around by shoulder rotation. In order for this to happen, the back shoulder must dip. Even Elliot had a very slight dip of the back shoulder on the high pitch.
> >
> > All three of these components mean 180 degrees of bat rotation.
> >
> > Please respond ASAP. <<<
> >
> > Hi BHL
> >
> > Just a couple of points regarding your statement.
> >
> > Most hitters drop their heel, straighten the front leg and lower their back-elbow to their side. However, very few generate significant acceleration of the bat-head back toward the catcher. For a batter to apply THT, the direction of force of the top-hand must be pulling back during initiation. Other than the best hitters, the top-hand is directing its force forward at initiation ? not rearward and all those cues will not solve this problem
> >
> > You stated, ?One should also not forget to work the lead elbow up for pitches down, and vice-versa? ? The lead-elbow should always remain in the plain of the swing. If the pitch is higher, the swing plain (and lead-elbow) must also be higher (and vice-versa). As I read it, this is a very bad cue whatever name it is given.
> >
> > You stated, ?As for the circular hand path, once the hitter chooses the proper axis, the shoulders rotate, and so do the loose elbows, especially on the low pitch, where the "chicken wing" forces weight back against the shoulder, forcing it to rotate back. The hands follow suit, and so does the bathead, brought around by shoulder rotation. In order for this to happen, the back shoulder must dip. Even Elliot had a very slight dip of the back shoulder on the high pitch.? ? Far too many good hitters keep their lead-arm fairly straight for the "chicken wing" cue to applicable to most hitters. I think it is more of one person?s style than a cue for all. ? Loose elbows may lead to loose linkage (or connection).
> >
> > A batter should not think of dipping the back-shoulder. Once the axis is set, the shoulder will rotate to the lower position according to the axis angle.
> >
> > Other than those points, we are in agreement.
> >
> > Jack Mankin
> >
> > Hey Jack,
> Need a little help on the exact sequence of the THT. here's what i see happening.
>
> You're in your stance and you pull the hands back to the armpit area for launch. this is accomplished by pulling the top elbow backwards.
>
> The hands can continue their path back toward the armpit by pinching the right scapula towards the spine(RHB).
>
> Now here's where it gets tricky, so let's set the sceen so we have some reference points. you're sitting at your keyboard right hand palm down. turn your hand so your thumb is pointing towards the ceiling and palm facing left. put a pen(the bat) in your right hand. it is now pointing toward the ceiling. cock your wrist back so the pen is pointing toward your right shoulder. is this the first movement of THT?
>
> If you loosen your grip and pull the top of the pen down it will now be pointing at the middle of your bicep. inorder for this to happen your fingers had to loosen, but not the ore lock(thumb and forefinger). it appears that with this small movement we've gained some potential bathead displacement for the BHT to take advantage of??
>
> Now with the pen pointing at the bicep muscle rotate the thumb so the palm is facing up. don't uncock anything. is this part of the THT?
>
> Is the uncocking of this sequence what you call BHT? and does it happen during the hook or is it uncocking the moment the forearm is parallel to the ground? the uncocking is what throws the bat at the ball... the longer we wait the more momentum from the shoulder rotation to assist?
>
> Just a few thoughts as i look at my daughter's swing. thanks, Rich

Dear Jack,

I have three questions for you, concerning weight distribution on high-inside and low-inside pitches, cues for triggering hip rotation, and, finally, switch hitting. Each respective topic will be labeled as A, B, and C. I would appreciate if you could give me brief answers to each topic.

A) I've watched many tapes of baseball, and it seems that on high-inside pitches, the weight seems to be against the front thigh at contact. Yet, on low-inside pitches, the weight seems to be against the back thigh at contact. The back foot will become light, but will bevome lighter on high pitches than on low pitches. Do you agree with my logic?

B) In this site, you advocate squishing the bug on the front foot for soft-stride hitters. I use a slightly different approach, and want to share it with you. Working with individuals (yes, I instruct now as a volunteer), I instruct them to stride onto the ball of the foot, opened 45 degrees, and to drop the heel. If this is done correctly, at contact (i.e., on inside pitches) the front foot has rotated to the point where the toes face the pitcher, and the back leg forms an "L." If they still cannot master this movement, I instruct them to do the following:

1) Drop the heel, but roll onto the outside part of foot

and, at the same time

2) Lift the back heel off the ground slightly (no squishing)
3) Turn the back knee down and in slightly
4) Turn the back hip around the axis (spine) slightly.

Do this until the movement becomes unconcious, and all that needs to trigger the hips is the front heel drop. Any problems with this approach?

C) This is theoretical, but if a person can hit lefty with some degree of success, does what side of the plate you hit from have any bearing on how far you can hit a ball?

I would appreciate a response.

Sincerely,
BHL
Knight1285@aol.com