Posted by: Jack Mankin (MrBatspeed@aol.com) on Tue Jan 18 12:43:41 2005

>>> Jack,i dont like that towel idea either and am sure that is not what shawn thinks[imo] however some people broughtme video of 3 teams of hitters in bp and only 1 kid had proper hip and shoulder rotation that faced the pitcher by contact. True most did not load right either but the body not turning gave them no chance to acquire the connection. The only 1 that did turn well happened to be the best hitter of them all. <<<

Hi Rql

As I mentioned earlier, the first think I look for when doing a video analysis of a student is the frame of their contact position and the frame just before it. Around 90 percent of the time, the hips and shoulders are facing the pitcher. In fact, most of these students will have rotated their hips and shoulder to facing the pitcher well before the bat has accelerated to contact.

However, only the better hitters will have the lead-shoulder pulled back to the 105-degree position. Many of them will not have the lead knee fully extended at contact as well. I have found that working only with a batter's lower body mechanics does not solve the problem unless they understand its importance to accelerating the bat-head around the swing plane.

Once the hitter starts utilizing more efficient transfer mechanics to maximize acceleration of the bat, the greater the load to shoulder rotation, and therefore, the greater the separation between hip and shoulder rotation. The more the batter concentrates on making productive use of the lead-side, the more he extends the lead-leg to get the shoulder back to the 105 position. The more the batter concentrates on keeping the hands back at initiation by pulling back with the top-hand, the more the hips will lead the hands, and etc.

The bottom line is that the lower body will drive the hips and shoulders to supply the most productive rotation when accommodating sound transfer principles. Without sound transfer principles, the hips and shoulders experience a lower load rotation that leaves the bat-head lagging behind.

Jack Mankin