Posted by: Shawn (mariner0324@yahoo.com) on Wed Feb 23 09:46:07 2005

> >>> Thanks for responding to my question. I have read this site for years and have hesitated to post because I have a hard time understanding a lot of the terminology. To me one interpretation of the linear approach is that in the initiation of the swing the hands come forward at the same time as the body and there really is little or no rotation. In my son's case I don't think he is even doing this. He is trying to rotate his hips because he has been told that he should over the years. So, I don't think he starts for a good launch position. However, he has gotten into this bad habit of beginning his rotation early so his front hip opens up (toward third base for a right handed hitter) and his hands a left behind leaving him with no power, as he ends up swinging with his arms only, because his hips have already opened.
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> So, in an effort to coordinate his movements, so he is using is hips and legs during his swing, I thought he needed to have a point of reference as to when to trigger his hands. Since he does do the knee and hip rotation already, I thought that he could cue the initiation of his hands at the same time as the knee begins it's rotation. If you look at all of the video's on this website (http://www.youthbaseballcoaching.com/swings.html), every one of those guys have their hands starting forward when the back knee begins it's turn. And actually if you look closely at the timing of the hands and back knee throughout the swing, it is almost as if there is a rope tied between them, because their movements seem to be so much in synch.
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> I could be way off base here, but I am trying to give him an easy way to get his swing together. Hi Rob
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> It will be a great benefit to your son that you are studying the swing mechanics of the best hitters. I must point out though that many batters with lower bat speeds rotate their hips while bringing the hands forward. I have received hundreds of videos for swing analysis of hitters who have rotated the hips while extending the hands. The problem is - their bat-head is still lagging 40 to 80 degrees behind where it should be.
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> I impress on these students that they will never become great hitters with mechanics that concentrate on accelerating body rotation and the hands but leave the bat-head dragging. Great hitters generate great bat speed because their mechanics apply forces to the bat that accelerate the bat-head around the entire swing plane. This means that during initiation, the bat-head is first accelerated rearward (toward the catcher) before it arcs around toward the ball. This keeps the acceleration of the bat-head in sync with shoulder rotation instead lagging farther and farther behind the power curve.
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> Rob, there are some drills I use that help a batter learn to rotate the bat-head in sync with body rotation. However, they do involve terms like CHP (circular hand-path) and torque (applied by both the bottom and top hand – THT & BHT). You indicated a reluctance to use these terms but if you are interested, I can post them.
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> Jack Mankin

>>>>>>My 14 year old son has a problem where he opens his front side too soon and his hands tend to drag. I have had trouble finding an easy way for him to stop from doing that. Recently I have noticed with most every good hitter that when the back knee begins it's turn the hands should begin to move forwards as well. So, I am telling him to pretend his hands are connected to his back knee and when the back knee starts to turn, the hands starts to go.