Bat Speed -- Baseball Hitting Forum

Posted by: Jack Mankin (MrBatspeed@aol.com) on Fri Apr 1 00:34:05 2005

>>> Ever since ordering your dvd my kids have improved tremondously and i wanted to give YOU credit for getting it RIGHT. my question,my son is hitting the ball hard but he seems to be really skying the ball.I would bet if he can line the ball more his hits would go further instead of up...some of his shots are very far but also very high.id love to take some of that height and turn it into distance.he is also struggling low.I want to encourage him to just drop the bat head and go.would that be the right cue? I do notice when he keeps that lead elbow up he wont hit ground balls .that is a great cue for us.any others? <<<

Hi Mark

When working with your son’s mechanics, it is important to keep in mind that the lead-arm (and elbow) should always stay in the plane on the swing from initiation to contact. Having the lead-elbow drop below the swing plane can lead to the premature rolling of the wrists. Read: http://www.batspeed.com/tf03.html.

However, having the elbow higher than the plane often results in a wrist bind I refer to as the “reverse wrist roll.” I refer to it as the reverse wrist roll because in this case the bat-head drop well below a productive swing plane. This bind is often seen with batters that accelerate or drop the bat-head too vertically during pre-launch acceleration and it passed down through the plane instead of sweeping into it.

Mark, I can not say for sure without seeing your son’s swing, but from your description, he may be dropping the bat-head below the plane during initiation. This could result in too steep an up-slope to contact. If the wrist bind is also occurring, significant potential bat speed is also being lost.

Note: With the “premature wrist roll,” the lead-elbow drops below the plane causing the top-hand to roll over the bottom-hand prior to contact.

With the “reverse wrist roll,” the top-hand rolls too far under the bottom-hand, which elevates the lead-elbow –or the lead-elbow is held to high causing the top-hand to roll to far below the bottom-hand.

Jack Mankin

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> >>> Ever since ordering your dvd my kids have improved tremondously and i wanted to give YOU credit for getting it RIGHT. my question,my son is hitting the ball hard but he seems to be really skying the ball.I would bet if he can line the ball more his hits would go further instead of up...some of his shots are very far but also very high.id love to take some of that height and turn it into distance.he is also struggling low.I want to encourage him to just drop the bat head and go.would that be the right cue? I do notice when he keeps that lead elbow up he wont hit ground balls .that is a great cue for us.any others? <<<
> 
> Hi Mark
> 
> When working with your son’s mechanics, it is important to keep in mind that the lead-arm (and elbow) should always stay in the plane on the swing from initiation to contact. Having the lead-elbow drop below the swing plane can lead to the premature rolling of the wrists. Read: http://www.batspeed.com/tf03.html.
> 
> However, having the elbow higher than the plane often results in a wrist bind I refer to as the “reverse wrist roll.” I refer to it as the reverse wrist roll because in this case the bat-head drop well below a productive swing plane. This bind is often seen with batters that accelerate or drop the bat-head too vertically during pre-launch acceleration and it passed down through the plane instead of sweeping into it. 
> 
> Mark, I can not say for sure without seeing your son’s swing, but from your description, he may be dropping the bat-head below the plane during initiation. This could result in too steep an up-slope to contact. If the wrist bind is also occurring, significant potential bat speed is also being lost.  
> 
> Note: With the “premature wrist roll,” the lead-elbow drops below the plane causing the top-hand to roll over the bottom-hand prior to contact. 
> 
> With the “reverse wrist roll,” the top-hand rolls too far under the bottom-hand, which elevates the lead-elbow –or the lead-elbow is held to high causing the top-hand to roll to far below the bottom-hand.
> 
> Jack Mankin

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