Posted by: Jack Mankin (mrbatspeed@aol.com) on Mon Feb 16 22:56:31 2004

>>> Sorry for being long-winded. The answers to all of your questions is yes, and the angle I advocate is 25-30 degrees, as you suggested. One more point: Mike believes in "soft elbows," but I am the one who recommends the 25-30 degree angle remaining between the forearm and biceps of both arms during the swing. <<<

Hi BHL

Thanks for your straightforward answer. -- Mike asks a question that I have always wished I had originated. The question is, “Do we actually teach what we see?” In other words, are the mechanics we advocate as being productive found in the swings of the games best hitters?

Before I posted my question to you, I went to http://www.youthbaseballcoaching.com/swings.html and studied the lead-arm of those great hitters. BHL, I could not find one whose lead-elbow angle was less the 120 degrees or so at contact. Most were 145 to 175 degrees approaching contact. If you can find even one of those hitters whose elbow remains anywhere close to 25 or 30 degrees during the swing, please point it out to me.

Jack Mankin