Posted by: Jack Mankin (MrBatspeed@aol.com) on Tue Dec 21 11:23:22 2004

>>> My daughter hit hard but too down on the ball....alot of choppers and grounder to 3B and SS.
I want to change those into line drives... what kind of drills can be done for this?
I'm thinking of something using back to back tees <<<

Hi Joe

Since the bat-head starts well above the contact zone, all batters will swing down. Then the arc of the bat-head will bottom out and start angling back up again. The key question is, did the downward angle of the bat-head bottom-out after or before contact?

Batters who thrust the hands forward at the start of the swing cause the bottoming out to occur more out in front of the body. Therefore, the bat is still angling downward at contact. However, when a batter keeps the hands back at the shoulder and allows shoulder rotation to accelerate the hands, the bat-head starts angling downward behind the shoulder and will bottom-out and start angling upward at contact.

Joe, below is a drill I have found very successful in helping batters hit more line drives and develop good rotational transfer mechanics.

Jack Mankin
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One of the main differences between linear and rotational mechanics is with rotational transfer mechanics, the batter keeps his hands back during initiation and accelerates the bat-head back toward the catcher before he/she rotates and directs their energy toward the ball. When the top-hand is pulling back (or just holding the hands back at the shoulder) during initiation, shoulder rotation will accelerate (fling) the hands into a circular path.

At the same time, the rotation of the lead-shoulder pulls the lead-arm and bottom-hand around toward third base. Pulling the bottom-hand (and knob) around toward third base accelerates the bat-head in an arc back toward the catcher. Now, the acceleration of the bat-head can stay in sync with the rotation of the shoulders as the forearm rotates from a more vertical position to the horizontal contact position.

I suggest batters practice the following drill to develop the correct swing plane and sound rotational transfer mechanics. The drill works best when practiced with a heavy bag (or tire) before hitting off a tee or soft toss. --- Remember, there are two keys to efficient rotational transfer mechanics. (1) Do not drive the top-hand forward at the start of the swing. (2) Make more productive use of the lead-side.

To help a student accomplish these keys, I have the student take their normal inward turn to the launch position – with one major change. I have the batter lift the thumb of the top-hand away from the bat and point it toward their back-shoulder. As the batter acquires a good launch position and initiates the swing, the thumb should be touching the shoulder. The batter should try to keep the top-hand pulling back so that the thumb stays in contact with the shoulder as the swing is initiated and the shoulders begin to rotate. The accelerating trajectory of the bat-head will cause the top-hand and forearm to rotate and lower to the horizontal contact position.

In order for the batter to pull the thumb to the back-shoulder and keep it there during initiation, he/she must continue to pull the back-elbow back toward the third base dugout. They are now learning the basics of how to apply Top and Bottom-Hand-Torque (THT and BHT) while maintaining a good Circular-Hand-Path (CHP).

Jack Mankin