Posted by: daw (daw@bellevue-law.com) on Mon Jul 7 20:42:49 2008

> Hi All
>
> This past month I have analyzing the swings of a good number of MLB hitters who are performing well below their normal numbers. In almost every case, the problem can be traced back to their initiation mechanics. I more I study, the more convinced I become that understanding a Bio-Mechanical principle I have posted here before is an absolute key to developing or teaching efficient swing mechanics.
>
> The principle states: “A ballistic motion, once initiated, produces trajectories that can only be changed at its’ margins.” – This means that the forces (and the direction of those forces) applied through the hands and arms to the bat during initiation, produces trajectories of the torso, limbs and bat that can be only be efficiently altered at the margins for the balance of the swing.
>
> Other than applying torque at the handle, the other force during initiation that generates the angular acceleration of the bat-head is the “Pendulum Effect” induced from the CHP. The most efficient CHP occurs when the batter keeps his hands back and allows the rotation of his shoulders to swing the hands around the swing plane. I would also add that if the batter has the wrong vision of how the swing should be initiated, the chances of him applying the most efficient forces are greatly reduced.
>
> As I alluded to above, the pendulum effect is maximized during initiation when the hands are accelerated into a circular path. This means that from their launch position (hands at the top of the circle), the direction of the hands should not be extending back toward the pitcher. Rather, the first movement of the hands should be perpendicular to (or directed across) the flight of the incoming ball. As the swing progresses, the rotation of the shoulders will pull the lead-arm and hands around so that by contact the direction of the hands will be more toward the pitcher. But that is not the direction they should directed at during initiation
>
> The problem is, I can think of no batting cue available to coaches that would encourage the batter to direct the first movement of the hands perpendicular to the ball. The “Keep your hands inside the ball” cue certainly will not. Whenever I ask a coach or player to demonstrate keeping the hands inside the ball, they all exhibit a straighter path that takes their hands across their body. That hand-path induces little pendulum effect and places the batter behind the power curve right from initiation.
>
> Below are a couple more posts from the Archives I wote on this topic.
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> <a href="http://www.batspeed.com/messageboard/4788.html">staying inside the ball</a --
>
>
> <a href="http://www.batspeed.com/messageboard/9979.html">Inside the Ball Question</a --
>
>
> Jack Mankin



Jack, I don't know if this is original at all, there are so many posts on this board that it may have come from something I read here, but....we have had a bit of success in communicating with kids lately about CHP, by analogizing their swing to the type of drawing compass schoolkids use (or at least used when I was in school) to draw circles.

We ask them to visualize their front shoulder as the "pin" on one "arm" of the compass and their hands as the "pencil point" on the other "arm". Just as turning the drawing compass while keeping the pin in place on the page will cause the pencil to move on a circular arc, rotating the front shoulder while keeping the arm relatively straight will cause the hands---and therefore, the bat---to travel a circular arc.

I'll use their bat to "draw" an arc in the dirt, keeping the knob in one spot and rotating the bat around it. This (rough) analogy has seemed to help the kids "get" the importance of initiating by blowing the shoulder around with the front arm straight, and seems to help them click on the critical fact that doing so correctly begins accelerating the bat head immediately.

This keeps the front shoulder as the primary, "unifying" cue.

If this is of any use, I doubt I thought of it. If it's confusing and stupid, I take full credit.

daw