Posted by: Jack Mankin (MrBatspeed@aol.com) on Fri Dec 15 22:28:26 2000

>>>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 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? <<<

Hi Ray

The muscle groups that control the cocking and un-cocking of the wrists are a comparatively small group. Considering the bats' mass, they could only add a small percentage of the energy required to generate good bat speed. Also the baseball grip is constrictive to wrist movement. Therefore, the value we attribute to wrist action in the baseball/softball swing is way overblown.

A great hitter will keep his hands back during initiation and the application of top-hand-torque causes the arcing bat-head to keep pace with the advancement of the hands. So the wrists stay fairly straight during the swing. Much of the bat's early angular displacement takes place while the back-forearm is still in a more vertical position where the wrists can rotate instead of being forced to flex. Therefore, the wrists of a rotational hitter can stay much straighter during initiation. What some may refer to as un-cocking the wrists is actually due more to the rotation of the back-forearm (and wrists) as it lowers rather than the un-flexing of the wrists.

With linear mechanics, the extension of the hands do cause the wrists to flex. However, what some perceive as "wrist snap" is actually the push/pull action of the forearms applying torque to the bat. As the lead arm reaches full extension, it acts more as a pivot point for the back arm to push the bat-head around (torque). Basically the same is true when applying bottom-hand-torque but reversing the role of the hands and arms. In either case it is the push-pull action of the arms that generated angular displacement - not wrist snap.

Jack Mankin