Posted by: dougdinger () on Sat Mar 20 11:16:46 2004

Hi, I'm a high school sophmore and my coach has been trying to change many things in my swing that follow Jack's teachings. This past week he has told me that I need to have an A to B hand path and that I am bringing my hands outward, or perpendicular to the path of the pitch. He says that as a result of this my arms are casting and its useless because it takes more time for my hands to reach the ball. This is hard advice for me to follow because I know that once the top hand has finished applying top-hand torque and the rear elbow has lowered to the side, the bottom hand begins pulling the hands in a CIRCULAR path, not a straight (A to B) path. In order for the hands to develop circular hand path, the direction must first be outward, correct? He also tells me that the hips should lead the hands and both arms should be extended at the point of contact for all pitches.
> Jack, in order to hit the outside pitch, shouldn't the hands make more of a circular hand path than they would on an inside pitch? I would think that the if you saw an overhead shot of a hitter on an inside pitch and an outside pitch, the circular hand path would differ beetween the two. On the inside pitch, the the path of the hands would be a more compact arc, while the arc on the outside pitch would be much wider, right?
> Is this about your coach changing your swing or about hitting the outside pitch? Are you already hitting well the way you are right now? If so, who cares what about what your arms do, it only matters if you can hit. Anyway,to answer some of your questions:
"In order for the hands to develop circular hand path (CHP), the direction must first be outward, correct?" The CHP comes from the rotating of the shoulders which brings the hands 'around', makes sense right? The hands do not fire outward at all. They stay fairly close and gradually move away from the back shoulder thruout the swing. Look at any overhead rotating swing and you'll see the hands don't fire outward at all.
" He also tells me that the hips should lead the hands and both arms should be extended at the point of contact for all pitches." In a sense the hips lead the hands. Ask him if he has any pictures of anyone making contact with both arms fully extended. I can't think of any hitter who does.
As for hitting the outside pitch, I just think about reaching out more with the arms. I'm not exactly sure what really happens, I'll leave that to Jack. He probably has some old posts here regarding hitting the outside pitch too.