Posted by: Jack Mankin (MrBatspeed@aol.com) on Mon Apr 21 09:46:57 2008

>>> I have got into a bad habit of flipping/rolling my wrists at contact. I would take my hands correctly to contact but just flip/roll right when I hit the ball making it bounce or pop up.
How can I break the habit? <<<

Hi Melissa

What you are describing in your swing is usually caused from relying to heavily on the arms, especially the back-arm, to extend the hands and bat to contact. This results in the batter extending the knob toward the ball but leaves the bat-head trailing behind well into the swing and the wrist often rolls prematurely before contact.

The value of what we commonly think of as “wrist snap” in the baseball/softball swing is way overblown. Keep in mind that the muscles that control wrist action are comparatively small and can only add a small percentage of the energy required to swing the bat-head around to contact. With good swing mechanics, what some perceive as “wrist snap” is actually the push-pull action of the forearms that is applying the torque that accelerates the bat-head around to contact.

In order to solve your wrist role problem, I would suggest practicing drills that rely on the rotation of your body rather than the extension of your back-arm to bring your hands and bat around. I am placing below a video clip from our Instructional DVD that demonstrates how to use the rotation of the lead-shoulder to pull the hands in a productive path for generating torque and bat speed. This will also keep your hands in the proper palm-up/palm-down position through contact.

Aaron/Julie from Final Arc 2

Jack Mankin