Posted by: tom.guerry (tom.guerry@kp.org) on Tue Apr 27 08:31:43 2004

Ray-

These things are hard to discuss in writing.Just keep plugging away.I doubt you or Jack intends any ill will.You may have to meet inperson,even,to sort things out.

My particular interpretation of Jack's theory is as a 3 arc model.Hips as one arc,shoulder/arm/hand as second arc,bathead as thrid arc.Torso/body twists between hip and shoulder link.

At some point,hips and bathead turn forward during loading as shoulders/arm/hands turn/stay back (twist continues a bit even as shoulders turn forward because hips/lower body are turning faster-if connection/sequencing is good/not "rushed").

Loading is interrupted relatively sooner for inside.There is less separation between upper and lower torso.There is less stretching of the lead arm.swing radius is slightly shorter.This means the load/resistance to rotation is lower.This means the body turns more quickly and the bathead fires out later in spatial terms(contact slightly further out front).

Loading is interrupted slightly later for outside.There is more separation between upper and lower torso.There is more stretching of the lead arm and a slightly longer swing radius.Load is higher.When body untwists,torso turns less and bathead swings out more.

In both cases,the bathead needs to stay within the arc of the handpath prior to untwisting or the twist will be interfered with/interrupted by the bathead triggering unloading/untwisting prematurely.

In both cases the handpath needs to stay circular as untwisting starts via tight connection of the hands to the torso so torso turn creates the CHP.Bottom hand stays tightly connected as top hand on bat handle turns/works around it.Once the lower body arc has decelerated (torso/shoulder/upper body link fully energized),then the handpath can hook on the approach.

My interpretation of Jack's BHT (doesn't mean hands are producing most of the force,but rather shaping/transmitting/triggering things) is that this hooking of the handpath/prevention of extension of swing radius is timed to trigger maximum batspeed at contact.Another(suboptimal) way that this maximum batspeed can be achieved is to extend the handpath which is another way of depleting the torso,but this has unacceptable timing error/pushes the bat and is often followed by reacceleration by excessive torquing between the hands and maximum batspeed well after the desired contact point.

My interpretation of THT is that the uncocking of the bat assists in loading (reactively assists in aiding hands/torso in staying back) and swings the bat into the developing swing plane so that it can fire out more quickly for the high load situation.

Fire away !