Posted by: Brandon () on Thu Aug 5 01:19:30 2004

Keeping the back elbow up before you initiate your swing allows you to apply Top Hand Torque (THT) by pulling the bat back toward the catcher with your top hand (while simultaneously dropping the back elbow). By breaking inertia this way, you gain a large amount of bat speed before the bat is even in the hitting zone.
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> I would like to point out that pulling the bat "back" builds up nothing since the bat has to stop and go forward.
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> S. P.

If you take a look at any player's swing that follows these rotational mechanics (perhaps except Jeter), you will notice that the pull back of the top hand does not mean the bat will stop. On the contrary, momentum is gained.