Posted by: DJC () on Wed Apr 28 14:53:17 2004

To All:
> >
> > It has become commonplace in men's slowpitch softball to use an overlap grip. In fact, Ken Harvey of the KC Royals used it last year (don't know if he still does). Having said that, can the techniques taught on this site still be used with that style of grip (especially THT)? Furthermore, because slow-pitch players (similiar to golfers) have lots of time to swing, most try to hold-off on snapping the bathead until the last possible moment (store and release). I think this may go against some of the teachings here. Thanks in advance for the responses. DJC.
>
> Hi Folks
>
> This last post brings up a great point. DJC, what exactly is being stored and released, in the opinion of the people that teach such a method? How is it created, how is it stored and what muscles or actions are responsible for releasing it?
>
> Melvin

Hi Melvin,

As I understand it from the golf lessons I took, the theory is that as the clubhead (bathead?) travels along its swing arc as influenced by the circular hand path (as Jack teaches), the clubhead builds up inertia, which is released as the wrists unhinge. The best example that I have seen was a still shot of Sergio Garcia. His hand path was circular, but the clubhead lagged well behind the hands, once the wrists unhinged, the clubhead snapped into angular displacement (I think that's what Jack calls it). I am certainly no physics expert, but when I look at still pictures, I know what I see. When I see Jack swinging a bat via a steering wheel handle, I see the bat swing without any hands on it. That's enough for me to believe in a circular hand path. I'm just not sure about the early release (Top-hand Torque?) of the bathead. Maybe for baseball, but not for slow-pitch.