Posted by: tom.guerry (tom.guerry@kp.org) on Thu Dec 14 09:45:34 2000

> I ordered Jack's tape and watched it. At first, I must admit, that I thought he was full of it. I almost sent it back. There were no experts in the tape confirming what he was saying and that made me skeptical. I picked up a bat and did some dry swings and his methods did not seem to work for me.
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> However, 3 days later I was was watching a golf show and they talked about "casting your hands." I remembered Jack equating the golf swing to the baseball swing. I asked myself "could I be casting my hands?" So, I took out his tape again and viewed it one more time.
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> After viewing his tape I took out my bat, then attached the "stroke maxxer" so I could tell how fast I was swinging. I then realized that I was casting my hands and that was robbing me of almost 10 mph of bat speed.
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> I have not tried Jack's method at the batting cages but I have had an epiphany. Power comes from torque generated by the wrists. Powerful arms are not needed. The swing should feel effortless. And once you feel the correct path of the bat, there is no doubt.
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> Now, I feel less stress on my back and arms while generating 15% more bat speed. I am looking forward to next season. I play softball and last year, by casting my hands, I could hit the ball well over 300 feet. I can't wait to see what I can do next year!
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> Thanks Jack
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>

Chuck-

Here's some golf perspective on the swing Jack documents.

It is a big advantage to be familiar with the golf swing,especially since the big consumer bucks have driven high tech swing analysis and teaching to the grassroots level.Tiger has the optimized swing,analagous to the big mac type mechanics Jack has observed in baseball.Almost everyone teaches the universals that Tiger exhibits.

If you golf,Jack's golf club drill is very illuminating.Because of limited reaction time,the swing for baseball must be much shorter and quicker thanthe golf swing.This is done by shortening the swing radius(slack out of front arm,hands close to body instead of extended front arm,circular path still required to transfer centripetal force causing angular acceleration)and applying torque throughout the swing.When you swing the golf club with a straight front arm,then apply torque with the other hand at the start of the downswing,it is amazing how quickly/early the club gets to maximum speed(although this may not be as high a speed as you could get at the end of a long swing with a long club and wrist snap).

In golf you do not use torque.Instead you use the long swing radius and snap the wrists at the end.This works well because you can build up great clubspeed using a long buildup.

If you are going to torque the bat,it makes sense it is going to take a different grip and different back arm action,which it does.

The casting flaw in golf and hitting is the same because both depend on a circular handpath to transfer energy from the rotating torso to turn the club/bat.In the case of casting you get extension between launch and contact which straightens(disconnects)the handpath and shuts down energy transfer lowering club/batspeed.In hitting this can be called "pre-extension" or premature extension.It also commonly happens as Jack points out because of "loose connection".The hands are not fixed to the torso at launch,so the torso starts,leaving the hands behind(extending prematurely)forcing the arms to whip to catch up and generally ruining the swing.

Wrist action in the rotational swing is very different from golf.

The slowpitch swing is the most similar to golf-straight/extended front arm at launch,long swing,wrist snap at end.

The fastpitch arm swing(1-2-3) swing is the least like golf since it uses a whipping linear hand path that stops torso rotation followed by sequential extension at the Shoulder,Arm/elbow,Wrist(S-A-W)>In this case only the wrist snap and grip are the same as golf.

One more extension wrinkle-

The rotational baseball swing does not work well with wrist snap,it requires continuous application of torque from launch(or even before/"pre-swing torque)to contact.In a few cases there can be some coasting/extension through the ball(starting slightly before contact) after maximum batspeed is reached and the bat pulls the bottom hand away from the body.Paul Nyman at setpro shows some of the best hitters doing this and refers to it as "mini-casting",in other words,extension is late enough that it doesn't significantly degrade the swing and can increase the chance of making good contact by better matching the trajectories of the bat/pitch.