Posted by: bart () on Fri Jul 23 08:02:57 2004

jack...in section truism or fallacy, “keep your shoulder in there”you say “”the rule certainly has merit during the stride and pre-launch positioning, but far too many coaches think it also applies during the swing....

i have noticed that about 90 percent of the mlb hitters have their shoulder tucked in about 15-20 degrees at frame -5 (one frame before swing starts)...this is epstein’s “torque position”....we can call it what we want, but i would not consider the frame immediately preceding the start of the swing “pre-launch positioning” (some might even call it “launch positioning)....

what i would like to hear from you is the exact point in the swing or “pre-swing” that you feel the shoulder is no longer “in”....it is an important concept because even with so many different styles of pre-launch/strides out there, it does seem that in the end all these styles are are techniques to end up at frame -5 with the shoulder in....

and you don’t need to discuss the cons of trying to SWING with the shoulder in....i don’t think any of us think we should...the issue is where the shoulder is one frame prior to starting the swing, 5 frames prior to contact...

respectfully, grc....