Posted by: rql () on Fri Mar 5 17:14:26 2004

>>> Jack,
>
> So this would not get lost I moved it to a separate thread:
>
> A while back I wrote this on the HS Board:
>
> THT: Perhaps we can get to the bottom of it here: if I hold a bat out in front of me pointing to the sky, I have several movements I can make involving my wrists, lower arm. (1) I can move the bat away from me in a hammering type of move. (1a)I also have a little range of motion toward me, opposite the way I would hammer something. (2) I can also move the bat left and right, about 90 degrees in each direction. Shefield exagerates this move. (3) I can combine these activities and make the end of the bat go in more of a circular motion.
>
> To me the activities of the swing involving the hands. wrists would go 1a, 2, 1 in that order. I believe 1a and 2 are done in a more of a circular manner. Are 1a and 2 Top Hand Torque? Or is there something else? Which clips do we have that show this the most clearly.
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> Jack, I know I've expanded the discussion, but I think it cans shed some light on what form me has been a difficult concept to grasp. <<<
>
> Hi Nick
>
> All the wrists movements you described occur during the Pre-Launch Torque phase. For a batter to sweep the bat-head (from a more vertical position) behind his head and into the swing plane as he applies Top-Hand-Torque, the wrists must roll inward as he pulls the hands back toward the back-shoulder to initiate the swing.
>
> Pre-Launch Torque is not solely wrist and hand movement. In order to apply THT as the batter pulls the hands to the back-shoulder it also requires the top-forearm to be pulling rearward. --- If the batter starts with the bat already in the swing plane (no Pre-Launch Torque), then obviously the wrists would not need to roll while applying THT.
>
> Nick, in an earlier post you stated, “So we are clear what I am calling scap loading: it is the pulling back of the back elbow.” – From my studies, I defined Top-Hand-Torque as the pulling back of the top-hand. Would you not agree that pulling the back-elbow back also pulls the top-hand back?
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> Jack Mankin
>
> Jack,Nick on this subject I feel you can pull the hands and elbow back correctly and incorrectly.You can pull the hands back without pulling the elbow back[awkward],you can pull the elbow and hands back toward the catcher,which I feel does not load the scap and takes hands away from shoulder too much.We can pull the elbow back toward the dugout behind you which pulls the hands back and in a better position to the shoulder,this is what I consider to be scap load.We can see this in the clip of Guerrero from behind.