Posted by: Dave (cdpaetkau@telus.net) on Thu Oct 21 10:13:39 2004

>>> Should bht's tourqe feel like tht's tourqe when applied? If I'm understanding bht correctly then I would say that tht has more tourqe. Is it because tht starts while moving slow (from a near stand still) and bht is applied to the bat while moving faster? Hope I make sense. I'm trying to teach my son how to maximize the "spank" given to the ball when bht is applied. <<<
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> Hi Tonyd
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> The top or bottom hand does not apply torque independently of the other. To apply torque, each hand is supplying a fairly equal force at the handle but from opposing directions. At initiation, shoulder rotation pulls the lead-hand around toward the pitcher as the top-hand is pulled back toward the catcher. This applying force from opposing directions continues throughout the swing as the body rotates. By the time the bat rotates around toward contact, the direction of the force of the hands will have reversed. Body rotation is now driving the top-hand around toward the pitcher while the rotation of the lead-shoulder to the 105 degree position is pulling the bottom-hand back toward the catcher.
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> As I stated earlier, torque is constantly being applied throughout the swing. I termed torque applied during initiation as Top-Hand-Torque because it is the most active hand at that point. It is being pulled around a slower moving bottom-hand. And, at contact, the bottom-hand is being pulled around a slower moving top-hand – thus BHT.
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> Tony, it may feel like the hands are exerting a greater force at initiation. However, in a smooth swing, pressure sensors indicate the force remains fairly constant. --- Most hitters have never felt the sensation of a bat accelerated from BHT. Their bottom-hand is still sweeping forward at contact as they attempt to extend the top-hand past the bottom-hand.
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> Jack Mankin
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Hi Jack

Your last paragraph make a lot of sense that it is the feeling of extending the top hand forward is the true sensation of BHT. Players who have a shortened swing (roll over the wrists early) have almost no chance of having a powerful swing because the energy goes into a vertical direction at the barrel head. The other thing that I just noticed when I was doing the roll over motion of the top hand was that the back elbow moves toward the plate and exites the slot.

Another note to this question of feeling the BHT would be this example of one person pulling and one person pushing a parked car. When you initially start to move the car both people are initating movement to the car and they can really feel both motions of pulling and pushing but once the car gets going the strain become less even if the energy output is the same because both sides are working together to move the car and it moves faster. If the pusher stops pushing then the puller will feel the strain again and the car will slow down ( the bottom hand goes through without the top hand extending through to the pitcher and you get bat head lag). If the opposite happens the pusher feels all the strain ( the top hand pushes past the bottom hand and you get wrist rollover). Therefor in order to realize maximum velocity both hands must be exerting equal output and only if there is an imbalance between the two will you feel the motion. Does this make sense to you or am I swinging around the wrong tree? The example is not perfect because the hands would be working in opposite directions not the same direction as in the example but I think it demonstrates a concept within the swing.

Dave