Posted by: Major Dan (mjordan@dht.com) on Tue Oct 10 07:24:40 2000

>
> > Hi Major Dan
> >
> > It's unusual for a batter to show immediate results where first attempting to learn top-hand-torque. So you obviously did an excellent job of coaching.--- The younger they are, the less old muscle memories you have to overcome.
> >
> > Here are a couple of point you may find helpful.
> >
> > (1) As the elbow lowers, pressure felt in the fingers of the top hand will accelerate the bat-head in an arc back toward the catcher. It is very important that the bat-head be accelerated into the same plane (or in-line with) the lead arm. If the bat is accelerated to vertically, or out of line with the lead arm, it becomes hard to establish a consistent swing plane.
> >
> > (2) The hands (as a unit) are brought around to the contact zone by the rotation of the body - not the extension of the back arm. The top hand should stay back and act as an "oarlock" for bottom-hand-torque as I pointed out to RQL in a post below.
> >
> > (3) The batter should remain loose and more relaxed during the swing. Think of smooth, steady acceleration - NO EXPLOSIONS or quick jerks. Believe me, the bat will have plenty of acceleration without tense, hard motions.
> >
> > Jack Mankin
> >
> >
>
> Dan and Jack-
>
> I have also found it very important as Jack has stressed to get the hands up behind the head in line with the pitcher or you can't get on plane.
>
> The smooth acceleration is sometimes hard to feel,but two things that have worked for me are-
> 1-taking lots of cuts until the dominant top hand back arm finally get tired and are easier to pull back,and
>
> 2-starting the hitter by showing bunt,then pulling the bat back to the launch position,then rotating at thr right time.this is an exagerated way to overcome the tendency of the top hand to be pushing forward and can give the right feel without necessarily confusing the body too much.

Thanks. I am really starting to see how the lead arm guides the swing into the plane of the ball.
It seems like the front side elbow usually points down at about the inside corner of the plate. Any pitch 'inside' the line of the front elbow will be difficult to hit as it is hard to pull the elbow down more. However, as the back elbow starts to drop, the front elbow starts forward AND rises until it locks in on the flight of the ball.

This launch of the swing is powered by the back elbow drop. I think this is the way hitters apply top-hand torque. The elbow up, even for a moment, provides potential energy that gets turned into power through top hand torque.

Once locked into the swing plane, both hands are, in RQLs words, one big hand going to the ball; or in Mr. Mankin's words, the rest of the swing just happens.