Posted by: Shawn () on Thu Jan 13 13:31:24 2005

>>> Frame 20 <<<
>
> Hi Teacherman
>
> It your intention is to help the readers develop a better understanding of the swing, it is time for you to drop the “one liners” and give them a detailed analysis of what takes place at Frame 20 and why it is key to hitting.
>
> Jack Mankin
>

Jack,

Saying it is key might be stretching it. There was study done once, I wish I still had it, that talked about backwards rotation and how it carried up through the bat. The hitting sequence starts with trunk coil. This trunk coil goes up through the body to the tip of the bat. There are two things that happen during the launch position, or attaining the launch position. One is for trunk coil to take place and the other is for the hips/body to travel in a linear fashion.

What happens is this trunk coil and linear movement is suddenly changed as rotation begins. What this does is create a change of direction, seen in the launch position or while attaining the launch position. It's a point in the swing when the hitter goes from load to unload. Now, you can have a good swing without an obvious change of direction, but with many of the good hitters this change of direction is rather obvious and easy to see. Compared to most amatuer hitters the change of direction is not present.

I'll to explain it further if you want. What teacherman is saying is the hips are like the handle of the whip. They are the first segment to change direction, prior to the upperbody. It's like Ted said the hips lead the hands.