Posted by: Marcus Boyd () on Thu Aug 5 07:46:43 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.

S. P.,

Hey there. The bat doesn't stop when pulled back. Rather, it arcs around the back of the head into the swing plane. This should be a smooth, natural movement to build momentum as the bat comes into the swing plane.

Marcus