Posted by: tom.guerry (tom.guerry@kp.org) on Fri Sep 15 10:52:32 2000

grc-

I will answer as best I can with limited time.Remember these things are happening fast dynamically and we are likely to see what we want to see or expect to see rather than what is really before us,so it's good to get the opinion of a fresh set of eyes(fresh in the sense of looking with a particular swing model in mind).So assure yourself you are seeing ,to the degree possible,what is really there.There may be lots of room for interpretation.I am interested in your opinion.There are some great Sammy shots from this year's homerun derby.

1-It's helpful to see Sammy from the back with the pitcher in the shot and to watch a clip that includes the stance,not just the swing.That way you can see most of the preswing ritual.He has a two step stride where he steps in with the inward turn,then out with the loading of the hands.

2-I believe lowering the elbow facilitaites the top hand pulling back to start the swing on plane with top hand torque.

3-The timing of initiation remains somewhat subjective even at 30 fr/sec.If a batter has good "connection"-the front arm has the slack taken out and the hands are in good position,then initiation of forward turn will translate immediately into forward movement of the bottom hand,so you can identify which frame the bottom hand starts forward at as the frame of initiation,or that initiation happens just before or after this frame.This will not be the case if connection is poor.

4-I would not refer to the back elbow action as chicken winging even though it looks like that.I would reserve the term instead for the front arm coming up away from the torso as the backside breaks down,usually because the arms have started the bat swinging down vertically out of plane.This is the classic uppercut/loopy swing.One drill to prevent front arm chickenwinging is to keep a towel squeezed between the arm and torso,but you need to address the underlying cause by starting on plane.

The back elbow motion is a very natural one that comes up as the bat cocks and down as the bat uncocks in the preswing.This would not lengthen the swing as long as the position at launch(initiation)is good and it can shorten the swing by increasing batspeed.