Posted by: ray porco () on Thu Dec 14 22:16:11 2000

some questions for guys i respect:

tom.guerry quote:
"the rotational baseball swing does not work well with wrist snap, it requires continuous application of torque from launch to contact."

question 1.
what is the difference between wrist snap and the bottom hand torque that jack promotes?

comment: in jack's video i was very impressed by the demo with brian taped up and sitting in the chair. on the last swing into the bag, jack asks brian to use a little more pull on his bottom hand. in two frames (the last two preceeding contact with the bag) the wrist's torque and the bat appears to travel at least 2 to 3 feet. don't you consider this a snap? is this wrong? should the torque be applied over more frames?

tom, your quote again:

"in a few cases there can be some casting/extension through the ball (starting slightly before contact) after maximum batspeed is reached and the bat pulls the bottom hand away from the body. ...in other words, extension is late enough that it doesn't significantly degrade the swing..."

question 2.
do you think full extension at contact is bad?

comment: watched the tape of "the science of the swing" and was simply captivated. quote by mcguire: "i worked so hard to get total extension on my swing. a lot of young kids come up today and they hit like this... (here he demonstrates leaning backwards while swinging).
i used to be one of those hitters when i first broke in. a high fly ball hitter. the ball would just fall over the wall. now, my ball is...(he demonstates a rocket shot with his hand).

george brett then comments on mcguire: "everytime he swings now he takes that top hand off and he's swinging through the ball. he's not swinging to it and falling backwards like he used to.
and that's why he's hitting the ball 650 feet rather than 450 feet."

maybe the point is - extension is ok at contact if your not simultaneously falling away from the ball. your rotational adjustment is on a somewhat tilted axis to put the swing on the same plane as the pitch (slight upswing). many things can result from this position and full extension -- back shoulder dipping, back leg collapsing, etc. these things decrease the power of the swing, but perhaps putting full extension INTO the ball is what mac is talking about. something that would be very difficult to achieve, but very rewarding.


major dan - your quote to me:

"full extension of the arms before contact reduces power as well."

question 3. how about full extension AT contact?


question 4 for jack. should bottom hand torque be applied at full extension?

question 5 for jack. on sat., dec. 9 you asked the forum 4 questions, got a variety of responses and left us (or at least me) hanging. what are YOUR answers to your question?


post script:

tom.guerry - your paragraph on "pre-extension" in the golf post to chuck was crystal. made an impact on my son.

major dan - your post at dave's on pontificating experts was stirring.

thanks,
ray porco