Posted by: Jack Mankin (MrBatspeed@aol.com) on Mon Jan 22 00:18:12 2001

>>>I would like to furnish a visual reference to compare the amount of lead arm barring that you feel is acceptable. You'll find the replies (and the replies in part) that I originated my question from below the dashed lines. <<<

Hi Terry

I reviewed what I stated (below the dashed lines) in relationship to Edgar’s swing and found nothing that I am not comfortable with. I have also stated that on an inside pitch, which it is evident Edgar is swinging at, the lead elbow must bend in order to bring the hand-path in tighter.

Terry, the reason I stress keeping the lead arm across the chest and not allowing to much bend in the lead arm is because of the mechanical problems I find while doing video swing review analysis. One major problem is when the batter extends the top hand instead allowing shoulder rotation to accelerate the hand-path. Extending the top hand ahead of shoulder rotation causes “slack” to develop in front linkage (front shoulder to the knob end of the bat). The batter then must flex the lead elbow to take out the slack. This results in straightening the hand-path and separates the lead arm from the chest. The batter is now getting behind the power curve and must rely mainly on the arms to bring the bat-head around.

So, much of the great lower body mechanics, separation torque, or kinetic chain that rotated the shoulders is wasted. The shoulders may rotate, but without strong linkage to the bat, it is a low-load rotation that contributes little.

Tim Tolson’s son has very good swing mechanics. But working on keeping a constant and stronger linkage from the lead shoulder to the bat will help him reach his maximum potential. This will be especially helpful as bat weights increase.

Jack Mankin