Posted by: Marcus Boyd (marcus@hourofdeliverance.net) on Sat May 21 03:32:23 2005

> My son aligns his 2nd and 3rd hand knucles. His coach has recommended that he lines up his 2nd knuckles (knocker knuckles). He is uncomfortable with this, and has done well with the grip he presently uses. I think it's important that he be comfortable and if it aint broke, don't fix it.
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> I understand my son's grip is called a "box grip" and is used by quite a few Major League players.
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> Does lining up the knocker (2nd) knuckles make a difference or should he do just as well with his box grip? Thanks.

I'm not really an advocate of the "knocking knuckles" alignment nor the "box grip" either. My grip would lie somewhere in between the two. That being said, at contact my "knocking knuckles" end up pretty much in alignment...at the palm up, palm down contact position. The key (in my opinion) is to have enough play (looseness) in the hands so that the bat can move in the hand...especially the top hand.

I was noticing Bobby Abreu hit the other night (he hit his 9th homer in 10 games, so he's zoned in right now), and his hands were barely around the bat handle. Just about every one of the top hitters will say they have a loose grip.