Posted by: tom.guerry (tom.guerry@kp.org) on Thu Dec 14 10:27:33 2000

Hi Bob,
>
> It is not unusual for a player to have a drop in performance while making substantial changes to their mechanics. I have found that one of the changes many batters have problems with is the top hand. The role of the top hand at initiation for the rotational swing is quite different than the thrusting forward used with conventional linear mechanics. Even when the batter has great lower body mechanics and rotates the body around a good axis, many (if not most) still want to thrust forward with the top hand which really kills progress. Note: I do not mean that your son must apply a lot of top-hand-torque, but he must keep the top hand back as rotation starts.
>
> When the batter understands and practices the proper role of the top and bottom hand, the balance of his/hers mechanics seems to fall inline and advancement becomes rapid. Bob, although your son may perform somewhat better now using mechanics he is more familiar with, I would hate to see him revert back to linear principles that will limit his progress later.
>
> E-mail me, I would be more than happy to work with both of you once I understand his problem -- a video of his swing would be helpful.
>
> Jack Mankin

Bob-

If you think the dominant top hand may be hurting the swing,see what you and Jack think about this.

It is a prevalent teaching now to keep the back elbow down before the swing.This makes it easier to push ahead with the back arm at initiation.There is fear that having the back elbow up will slow/lengthen the swing,however,this is a good position to encourage swinging the bat back appropriately at initiation.The important thing is that the beck elbow get down to the side at initiation.So, if you want to encourage starting right,try it with the elbow up then down at launch as mentioned in Jack's mechanics illustrations.

Big Mac is famous for a low elbow,but he has a lot of strength and discipline and gets the bat started well from this position.Most don't.