Posted by: Jack Mankin (MrBatSpeed@aol.com) on Thu Sep 23 12:15:54 2004

>>> Make sure he swings as if he wants to throw the bat at second base. Make sure he gets his arms extended and throws the bat head at the ball. <<<

Hi Louis

I agree with you that it is important to throw the bat at, or to the right, of second base (right handed batter). This means the bat will be about perpendicular to an incoming ball as he releases the bat. However, I disagree that the back-arm should be extended at release. This may be true for more linear mechanics where the bat-head trails behind the hands and is not released until the back-arm nears full extension. With rotational mechanics the bat-head is accelerated around the swing plane (first back toward the catcher) during initiation and is accelerated to perpendicular with the back-elbow still back in the slot at the batter’s side. Therefore, at release the back-arm is not extended when throwing the bat (or hitting a ball) straightaway.

Jack Mankin