Posted by: Jack Mankin (MrBatspeed@aol.com) on Tue Apr 26 11:09:40 2005

>>> Equating the hand speed of Bonds with anyone in the major Leagues is unfair, attempting to use his hand path and speed as a teaching model for little league, jr. high, high school and college players is in my opinion is very unsound and wrought with swings that any trained eye will see as long, casty, loopy and filled with holes...what Bonds can do hand speed wise has never been seen or equaled in the history of the game.

Bonds stands virtually on top of the plate, so it stands to reason that a pitch on the inside black with a CHP would at some point (his hands) be outside the baseballs path...? From his starting position on this pitch how far away do his hands get from his chest (especially if his first move is perpendicular to the flight of the ball)...if he is as you say 'never outside' the pitched ball, then this path is by far much more angular (A to B) than rotational or circular.<<<

Hi Scott

It is not just Bonds, almost all the great hitters' (past and present) hand-path is in the 22 to 24 inches range, they have a 4 to 4 1/2 frame swing and make contact with the back-arm still in the "L" position. Teaching a young hitter to extend their hands (A to B) to contact is a prescription for mediocrity.

Scott, when a batter keeps a fairly straight lead-arm across the chest as he rotates, the hands do start their arc perpendicular to the flight of the ball. However, the hands barely protrude past the back-shoulder (maybe 3 to 5 inches). This means the circular path of the hands is only 3 to 5 inches wider than the rotational path of the back-shoulder. The meat of the bat is more than 20 inches from the hands at contact. --- I just cannot understand why you would think the hands could go outside the ball with this circular path.

Jack Mankin