Posted by: Chuck (cwindle@faseb.org) on Thu Aug 5 14:43:50 2004

I am very skeptical about the importance of top hand torque. I have one a couple points/ questions concerning the application of THT:

1. If THT is so important, why can't we swing a bat harder by seperating the hands? Is not the top hand in a better position on the bat to apply torque if it is distanced from the bottom hand?

2. Question 1 leads me to this: I really feel the swing is the result of a transfer of energy from the hips/legs and shoulders to the bat head and that the hands torquing the bat will actually dissapate this energy. Try swinging a rope. If done correctly, a rope will actually accelerate in the exact position of a bat head upon contact. I believe that the application of top hand torque dissapates energy too early in the swing and that a lagging bat head that accelerates just before impact is optimum for the generation of power.

3. I wish I had a picture of Miguel Tajada's grip in the home run derby. He was actually overlapping the bottom two fingers of his top hand over his bottom hand and his bottom pinky was below the bat. Obviously, this is not a good grip to apply top hand torque, but he was crushing the ball 500 feet.